“Oh yes! Why, that’ll make him angrier than anything else! Please ring the bell for me, Mr Stillford; it’s just behind you.” The butler came back. “Who brought Lord Lynborough’s letter?” asked the Marchesa. “I don’t know who it is, your Excellency--one of the upper servants at the Castle, I think.” “How did he come to the house?” “By the drive--from the south gate--I believe, your Excellency.” “I’m glad of that,” she declared, looking positively dangerous. “Tell him to go back the same way, and not by the--by what Lord Lynborough chooses to call ‘Beach Path.’ Here’s a letter for him to take.” “Very good, your Excellency.” The butler received the letter and withdrew. “Yes,” said Lady Norah, “rather funny he should call it Beach Path, isn’t it?” “I don’t know whether it’s funny or not, Norah, but I do know that I don’t care what he calls it. He may call it Piccadilly if he likes, but it’s my path all the same.” As she spoke she looked, somewhat defiantly, at Mr Stillford. Violet Dufaure, whose delicate frame held an indomitable and indeed pugnacious spirit, appealed to Stillford; “Can’t Helena have him taken up if he trespasses?” “Well, hardly, Miss Dufaure. The remedy would lie in the civil courts.” “Shall I bring an action against him? Is that it? Is that right?” cried the Marchesa. “That’s the ticket, eh, Stillford?” asked the Colonel. Stillford’s position was difficult; he had the greatest doubt about his client’s case. “Suppose you leave him to bring the action?” he suggested. “When he does, we can fully consider our position.” “But if he insists on using the path to-morrow?” “He’ll hardly do that,” Stillford persuaded her. “You’ll probably get a letter from him, asking for the name of your solicitor. You will give him my name; I shall obtain the name of his solicitor, and we shall settle it between us--amicably, I hope, but in any case without further personal trouble to you, Marchesa.” “Oh!” said the Marchesa blankly. “That’s how it will be, will it?” “That’s the usual course--the proper way of doing the thing.” “It may be proper; it sounds very dull, Mr Stillford. What if he does try to use the path to-morrow--‘in order to bathe’ as he’s good enough to tell me?” “If you’re right about the path, then you’ve the right to stop him,” Stillford answered rather reluctantly. “If you do stop him, that, of course, raises the question in a concrete form. You will offer a formal resistance. He will make a formal protest. Then the lawyers step in.” “We always end with the lawyers--and my lawyer doesn’t seem sure I’m right!” “Well, I’m not sure,” said Stillford bluntly. “It’s impossible to be sure at this stage of the case.” “For all I see, he may use my path to-morrow!” The Marchesa was justifying her boast that she could stick to a point. “Now that you’ve lodged your objection, that won’t matter much legally.” “It will annoy me intensely,” the Marchesa complained.