The Dowager never appeared in public until lunch time. She had, she told her friends, earned the right to this little luxury now that the struggle of life was nearly over. Doubtless her Ladyship knew best what she had done to deserve such an indulgence. But, be that as it may, her daily retirement gave her a much coveted opportunity for attending to matters in the private life of other people, and one of these affairs claimed her attention after the Secretary's arrival at Roberts' Hall. Stimson had finished her morning's budget; that is, she had retailed to her Ladyship all those things about which the Dowager declared pathetically she had not the slightest desire to know, but which, had the maid omitted to mention them, would have cost her her place. "And so, as I was saying, my Lady," Stimson concluded her recital, "Mr. Stalbridge, the butler, he tells me as there was a strange lady come to Coombe Farm yesterday, a foreigner like." "I do not know, Stimson, why you worry me with these trivialities," said the Dowager, "in which I can have no possible interest. You say she was a foreigner?" "Yes, my lady. A Spaniard, Mr. Stalbridge thought, and her name----" "You needn't trouble me to tell me her name, Stimson." "No, my Lady. I shouldn't presume, my Lady. But, of course, when I heard as it was Madame Darcy, I couldn't help thinking----" "I do not employ you to think, Stimson. I understand you to say that the lady's name was Madame Darcy? Surely my daughter met a Madame Darcy the other night, somewhere?" "Yes, my Lady, at Mr. Stanley's dinner." "It is quite immaterial to me where Lady Isabelle met this person. But, as you say, it _was_ at Mr. Stanley's dinner. So I infer she must be a friend of his." "She's not staying at the Hall, my Lady." "No," said the Marchioness. "I shouldn't have supposed she would stay at the Hall. Stimson, you may get me my bonnet and a light shawl." "But I thought your Ladyship said as how you was not well enough to go out this morning." "I said, Stimson, that you could get me my bonnet and a light shawl. Perhaps a little air will do me good." "If your Ladyship was thinking of taking a little stroll, it's very pretty towards the Coombe Farm, not ten minutes' walk across the Park to the left of the house." "As you very well know, Stimson," her mistress remarked with asperity, "I am too nearly tottering on the brink of the grave to venture out of the garden. Perhaps there is a side-door by which I can leave the house and be alone. I shouldn't have the strength to talk to anybody." "No, your Ladyship. I'll show you the way, and if Mrs. Roberts should send to inquire for your Ladyship's health----" "Say I have been obliged to lie down by a headache, and shall not appear till lunch." "But if anyone saw your Ladyship----" "In that case," snapped the Marchioness, "I should be obliged to dismiss you as being untruthful."