“So have I,” Caroline agreed. “I think he's charming. Henry declares that he must be either a fool or a knave.” “Henry is blinded by prejudice,” Dominey declared a little impatiently. “He cannot imagine a German who feasts with any one else but the devil.” “Don't get annoyed, dear,” she begged, resting her fingers for a moment upon his coat sleeve. “I admire the Prince immensely. He is absolutely the only German I ever met whom one felt instinctively to be a gentleman.--Now what are you smiling at?” Dominey turned a perfectly serious face towards her. “Not guilty,” he pleaded. “I saw you smile.” “It was just a quaint thought. You are rather sweeping, are you not, Caroline?” “I'm generally right,” she declared.--“To return to the subject of Stephanie.” “Well?” “Do you know whom she mistook you for in the Carlton grill room?” “Tell me?” he answered evasively. “She mistook you for a Baron Leopold Von Ragastein,” Caroline continued drily. “Von Ragastein was her lover in Hungary. He fought a duel with her husband and killed him. The Kaiser was furious and banished him to East Africa.” Dominey picked up his shooting-stick and handed his gun to Middleton. The beaters were through the wood. “Yes, I remember now,” he said. “She addressed me as Leopold.” “I still don't see why it was necessary to invite her here,” his companion observed a little petulantly. “She may--call you Leopold again!” “If she does, I shall be deaf,” Dominey promised. “But seriously, she is a cousin of the Princess Terniloff, and the two women are devoted to one another. The Princess hates shooting parties, so I thought they could entertain one another.” “Bosh! Stephanie will monopolise you all the time! That's what's she's coming for.” “You are not suggesting that she intends seriously to put me in the place of my double?” Dominey asked, with mock alarm. “Oh, I shouldn't wonder! And she's an extraordinarily attractive woman. I'm full of complaints, Everard. There's that other horrible little man, Seaman. You know that the very sight of him makes Henry furious. I am quite sure that he never expected to sit down at the same table with him.” “I am really sorry about that,” Dominey assured her, “but you see His Excellency takes a great interest in him on account of this Friendship League, of which Seaman is secretary, and he particularly asked to have him here.” “Well, you must admit that the situation is a little awkward for Henry,” she complained. “Next to Lord Roberts, Henry is practically the leader of the National Service movement here; he hates Germany and distrusts every German he ever met, and in a small house party like this we meet the German Ambassador and a man who is working hard to lull to sleep the very sentiments which Henry is endeavouring to arouse.” “It sounds very pathetic,” Dominey admitted, with a smile, “but even Henry likes Terniloff, and after all it is stimulating to meet one's opponents sometimes.”