"And I tried with my eyes open," said Arthur; "so we have given ourselves every chance. It, too, had every chance. It was launched without a hitch, and the colours waved madly on the winds of heaven. Silly Billy, the 'Deuce of Spades,' the overhearing of it by Jack! All brilliant accessories! But the piece was damned from the first!" "It really is too shocking!" said Mrs. Leighton, with her mouth underneath her left ear. "Such a mistake on dear Mildred's part! Gracious powers below! did you see?" she said, pointing with her parasol at Jack and Marie in the tandem. "Yes, too heavenly, is it not?" she screamed at them. "Mildred has just passed, like Solomon in all his glory, with the Yorkshire terrier. And there are the lilies of the field," she continued, looking after Marie. "Poor dear Solomon!" "There is a decided flavour of the best French farces in the air," remarked Arthur. "Enter, also, Madame la Marquise." Lady Ardingly said something violent to her coachman, who drew up with a jerk. "Ah, my dears!" she said with extreme graciousness. "How are you all? Why do none of you drive with poor Mildred? I have just passed her all alone. I am alone, too--am I not?--but I am used to it." "Do let me come and drive with you, Lady Ardingly!" cried Arthur. "And leave these enchanting ladies?" said she. "They would say all sorts of horrible things, and not come to my parties any more, nor tell me the news! What has been happening?" "Jack and Marie have just passed in the tandem!" said Arthur. "Indeed! And Black Care was going in the other direction, not sitting behind them. So much better! Ah, here are the outriders! I am not fit to be seen." She put up an immense mauve-coloured parasol to shut herself out, and the others rose, as the carriage passed in a whirl of dust. "And what else?" she continued. "Well, it is supposed that Black Care has annexed Jim Spencer." "Ah, you have heard that, too? She has a genius for annexation. Your Government would have saved a world of trouble if they had sent her out to the Transvaal years ago. That is very nice, and we shall all live peaceably again now. Marie and Jack in the tandem, and dear Mildred provided for! Good-bye, my dears; I must get home. I am playing a little Bridge this afternoon. You are all coming to my party to-night, are you not? That is so kind of you! Drive on. What a dolt!" she said to the coachman. "There is only one Lady Ardingly," said Arthur in a reverent tone; "and I am her devoted admirer. How does she do it?" Mrs. Leighton considered a moment. "I would get a wig, and call my coachman fool, and ask everybody for news, in a minute, if it would do any good," she said; "but it wouldn't. People would consider me slightly cracked, and I'm sure I shouldn't wonder." Blanche got up with a sigh. "She takes the taste out of everybody else," she said. "I shall go home and practise doing it before a glass;" and she waved to her footman. Arthur Naseby rose also.