"I shall be very glad to know him. I had left Dungar long before he was there; and I have a grudge against him, Kate, for I fancy it was the remembrance connected with his appearance, that caused those tears, of which I can still detect the traces on your face." "No, Georgy, no, indeed" replied Miss Vernon, earnestly. "Now," she continued, "let me return to Lord Effingham, he heard, it seemed, that I was in the Palace-gardens, and came after me, to ask me what was the real cause of your indisposition, and to laugh at my _story_ of "a cold!"" "Indeed!" said Lady Desmond, with a slight start. "What other reason could he imagine?" "I do not know, but--" she paused. "Pray go on," said Lady Desmond, impatiently, "I hate to have things cut short." "Really," returned Miss Vernon, "I only hesitate, because it seemed so impertinent, what I am about to tell you." "Never mind--go on--dispense with preface." "Lord Effingham said, or rather by what he said, seemed to think, it was to avoid him, you feigned illness!" "He does," exclaimed Lady Desmond, with interest; then an instant after, with haughty indifference, she continued--"He gives me credit for more ingenuity, than I possess! yet--" and she leant back, resting one cheek on her hand, the expression of disdain, she had called up, fading into a look of pensive thought, almost sad. "How strange he is--how impenetrable; but these things are so much altered by repetition." Lady Desmond thought long and gravely, at length her brow cleared--a smile parted her lips-- "Perhaps I have disentangled this mystery," she said; "time will tell, at all events, _bella mia_, I know the world--Lord Effingham's world--better than you do. I shall not notice 'the impertinence,' as you deem it." "Indeed you do know best, Georgy dear, at least, in general, for you have experience, which I have not; but as to Lord Effingham, I have an instinct, worth whole a life-time of experience, that he is false and selfish--he admires you, indeed he said he was fond of you; but, oh, do not regard him with anything except the--" "Ah, Lord Effingham appears to have been making quite a confidante of you, Kate! a rare compliment let me tell you," interrupted Lady Desmond, laughingly, "of course he begged of you not to repeat his confidence?" "Yes, and I told I would." "Well, dearest, it is a strange intimacy that has sprung up between you, and this very Giaour-like peer," returned Lady Desmond, in her sweetest manner, and quite regardless of Kate's warning. "I know not where it--" "Lady Elizabeth Macdonnell," announced the footman; and the privy council was ended.