"She's much prettier than she used to be," generously said Nat (who had never seen Juliet as Miss Phayre), "and the Duke must be a fool if he likes Lyda Pavoya better. If he neglects his wife, she won't have any trouble finding someone else who won't." "What about that cousin of hers, Jack Manners, who used to be in love with her when she was almost a child?--a nephew of her mother's," asked Mrs. Selby-Saunders. "An awfully nice fellow! She ought to have married him. They say he volunteered before America joined the Allies, because she refused him----" "He's in France still," Nat supplied the information eagerly. "My sister-in-law, Lady West, met him there----" "I saw in some newspaper that he was to sail for home on the _Britannia_" said Miss Solomon. "Perhaps _he_ is the messenger bringing the pearls!" CHAPTER IV THE LETTER WITH THE TSARINA'S SEAL John Manners was not the messenger bringing the pearls. Even if he had been asked to bring them, he would not have accepted the responsibility of escorting Claremanagh's "ewe lamb" across the Atlantic. He knew more about those pearls than he wanted to know, for he had been in love with Juliet Phayre before he began to like Claremanagh--to like him in spite of himself, in spite of natural jealousy, and in spite of prejudice. It was a mere coincidence that he should be on the same ship with Monsieur Mayen's messenger, for with the return of Mayen from Russia, Manners' friendly services for the Duke came to an end. His services for France were ended also; and he was keenly interested in his own emotions as he touched the bell on the front door of the Phayre house. How would it feel to meet Juliet married--and married to a man with whom fate had queerly forced him into friendship?