"Oh! you are hideously cynical!" she exclaimed. "I may be ambitious, but it is for my country's sake. If I reign, the Court of France shall be of a new type; we will at least show the world that to be a Frenchwoman is not necessarily to abjure morals." He shrugged his shoulders. "That," he said, "will be as you choose. You will make your Court what you please. Personally, I believe that you are right. Such sentiments as you have expressed, properly conveyed to them, would make yours abjectly half the bourgeois of France! Be as ambitious as you please, but at least be sensible. Do not think any more of this young Englishman, not at any rate at present. Nothing but harm can come of it. He is not like the men of our own country, who know how to take a lady's dismissal gracefully." "He is, at least, a man!" "Helène, why should we discuss him? He shall come to no harm at my hands. Be wise, and forget him. He can be nothing whatever to you. You know that. You are pledged to greater things." She moved back to her place by the window. Her eyes were suddenly soft, her face was sorrowful. She did not speak, and he feared her silence more than her indignation. When a knock at the door came he was grateful for the interruption--grateful, that is, until he saw who it was upon the threshold. Then he started to his feet with a little exclamation. "Lord Wolfenden! You are an early visitor." Wolfenden smiled grimly, and advanced into the room. "I was anxious," he said, "to run no risk of finding you out. My mission is not altogether a pleasant one!" CHAPTER XXXI "I MAKE NO PROMISE" A single glance from Mr. Sabin into Wolfenden's face was sufficient. Under his breath he swore a small, quiet oath. Wolfenden's appearance was unlooked for, and almost fatal, yet that did not prevent him from greeting his visitor with his usual ineffusive but well bred courtesy. "I am finishing a late breakfast," he remarked. "Can I offer you anything--a glass of claret or Benedictine?" Wolfenden scarcely heard him, and answered altogether at random. He had suddenly become aware that Helène was in the room; she was coming towards him from the window recess, with a brilliant smile upon her lips. "How very kind of you to look us up so early!" she exclaimed. Mr. Sabin smiled grimly as he poured himself out a liqueur and lit a cigarette. He was perfectly well aware that Wolfenden's visit was not one of courtesy; a single glance into his face had told him all that he cared to know. It was fortunate that Helène had been in the room. Every moment's respite he gained was precious. "Have you come to ask me to go for a drive in that wonderful vehicle?" she said lightly, pointing out of the window to where his dogcart was waiting. "I should want a step-ladder to mount it!" Wolfenden answered her gravely. "I should feel very honoured at being allowed to take you for a drive at any time," he said, "only I think that I would rather bring a more comfortable carriage."