But you will not be interested in how I drew from him bit by bit a hundred details of her life, stories of what she had said and done. I saw Beechman several hours every day until he left us at Seattle. Alternately I thought him merely her closest man friend and her accepted lover. At times I thought he was not quite sure, himself, in which position he stood. When we were having our last talk together I nerved myself and said: “I heard in London that she was to be married.” I felt him drawing in and shutting all doors and windows. “Have _you_ heard anything of it?” pursued I. “Oh, in the case of a woman like her,” replied he, “there’s always gossip about this man and that.” “She ought to marry.” “She _will_ marry.” I forced a smile, and, as we knew each other so well, I ventured: “You speak as one having authority.” “Don’t _you_ know she will?” parried he. “That sounds like evasion,” laughed I. “Not at all. She cannot escape. Some man will convince her--surely.” “But so far as you know, no man has?” His eyes were frankly mocking. “I did not say that,” said he. And I could get no further. * * * * * Before I returned to New York in the autumn I had added a lot of far western enterprises to my already long list of occupations. Everything I touched seemed to succeed. Even my new secretary, Rossiter, proved better than Markham. Markham had an indifferent memory and a fondness for women that was trying. Rossiter forgot nothing and was as shy of the women, including the ladies, as was Lord Blankenship, who yawned and retreated at the very sight of a skirt. The news from England was altogether satisfactory. An heir was hoped for, and Crossley had become a devoted husband and was about to enter politics. This struck me as a huge joke, the more so because I knew that in England Crossley would be welcomed as a source of real strength to his party. It seemed to me amazing how England could stagger along when she was being managed by such men and was grateful for it. But when I spoke to Blankenship about it, he set me to thinking from a different standpoint. “My son-in-law is going into politics,” said I. “In America he couldn’t be elected dog-catcher.” “Oh, I fancy money will do most anything most anywhere,” said he.