"You mean his nationality?" said his friend, laughing. "That has puzzled me, too. He seems, at all events, to have had his finger in a good many pies. He escaped into Turkey with Bem, I know: and he has been imprisoned in Russia; and once or twice I have heard him refer to the amnesty that was proclaimed when Louis Napoleon was presented with an heir. But whether he is Pole, or Jew, or Slav, there is no doubt about his daughter being a thorough Hungarian." "Not the least," said Brand, with decision. "I have seen lots of women of that type in Pesth, and in Vienna, too: if you are walking in the Prater you can always tell the Hungarian women as they drive past. But you rarely see one as beautiful as she is." After awhile Lord Evelyn said, "This is Natalie's birthday. By-and-by I am going along to Bond Street to buy some little thing for her." "Then she allows you to make her presents?" Brand said, somewhat coldly. "She and I are like brother and sister now," said the pale, deformed lad, without hesitation. "If I were ill, I think she would be glad to come and look after me." "You have already plenty of sisters who would do that.'" "By-the-way, they are coming to town next week with my mother. You must come and dine with us some night, if you are not afraid to face the chatter of such a lot of girls." "Have they seen Miss Lind?" "No, not yet." "And how will you explain your latest craze to them, Evelyn? They are very nice girls indeed, you know; but--but--when they set full cry on you--I suppose some day I shall have to send them a copy of a newspaper from abroad, with this kind of thing in it: '_Compeared yesterday before the Correctional Tribunal, Earnest Francis D'Agincourt, Baron Evelyn, charged with having in his possession two canisters of an explosive compound and fourteen empty missiles. Further, among the correspondence of the accused was found--_'" "'_A letter from an Englishman named Brand_,'" continued Lord Evelyn, as he rose and went to the window, "'_apparently written under the influence of nightmare._' Come, Brand, I see the carriage is below. Will you drive with me to the jeweller's?" "Certainly," said his friend; and at this moment the carriage was announced. "I suppose it wouldn't do for me to buy the thing? You know I have more money to spend on trinkets than you have." They were very intimate friends indeed. Lord Evelyn only said, with a smile, "I am afraid Natalie wouldn't like it."