"Nor I either," I retorted angrily--"Suzette ought to know better now that I have given her everything she wanted--Will you let her understand please that this must not occur again--." "I'll see that the lawyer does it, Sir--that is the only way to deal with them persons--though Mam'zelle was the best of her sort. Seems to me Sir Nicholas, they are more bother than they are worth. I said it always, even when I was younger--They leave their trail of trouble where ever they go." How I agreed with him! So here was a fresh barrier arisen between Alathea and myself!--a fresh barrier which I cannot explain away. The only comfort I get out of the whole thing is that imperative necessity must have been driving my little darling--or she would not put up with any of these things for a moment, and would have given her _demission_ at the same time as she wrote. If money is so necessary to her--perhaps after all I could get her consent to marry me--The very thought made my pulses bound again--and all my calm flew to the winds! All the sage reasoning which was beginning to have an effect upon me evaporated!--I knew that once more I was as utterly under the spell of her attraction, as the moment when my passionate lips touched her soft reluctant ones--Ah! that thought! that memory--One I have never let myself indulge in--but now, all resistance broken on every side,--I spent the rest of the day dreaming about the joy of that kiss--until by night time I was as mad as a hatter, and more full of cruel unrest than ever--. I hate this place--I hate the sea--It is all of no use--I shall go back to Paris. XVI The first thing I learned when I reached the _appartement_ was that the Duchesse had returned, and wished to see me. This was good news--and without even telephoning to Maurice, I got into my one horse Victoria and repaired to the Hotel de Courville--. The Duchesse was sitting in her boudoir upstairs when I got in.--She had a quaint expression upon her face. I was not certain that her greeting was as cordial as usual--Has gossip reached her ears also? I sat down near her and she took my crutch from me tenderly, her instinct for "_blessés_" never failing her. I thought I would begin at once before she could say anything which might make questioning her impossible. "I have been longing to see you, Duchesse, to ask you if you could help me to find out who my secretary, Miss Sharp, is?--because I saw her here in the passage one day, and I thought you might possibly be able to identify her--." "_Tiens?_" "Her christian name is 'Alathea'--I heard her little sister call her that once when I saw them and they did not see me, in the _Bois_--She is a lady--and I feel Sharp is not her name at all." The Duchesse put on her eyeglasses--. "She has not shown a sign that she wishes you to know her history?" "No--" "Then, my son, do you think it is very good taste to endeavor to discover it?"