"I didn't depend upon Jeffs," answered the Baronet; "I rode over to Chiverley after leaving here the night before last, and telegraphed to the Rue Vivienne. It was as easy to telegraph to Levy as to write to Jeffs, and I had set my heart on bringing the comedy to-day." He looked at Mrs. Lobyer rather than his cousin as he said this; but the two ladies were standing side by side, and a man's eyes may take the wrong direction unconsciously. After luncheon, the party interested in the amateur theatricals adjourned to the morning-room, where Sir Nugent read the comedy, and where the arrangement of the characters was decided. Mrs. Lobyer was to play the heroine, the most bewitching of young widows; and Sir Nugent was to be the Marquis, poor, and reckless, and proud, but passionately attached to the bewitching young widow. Miss Grace Evershed consented to perform a malicious dowager, who made mischief between the spendthrift Marquis and the bewitching widow; and the rest of the cast was made up by a county squire, who had finished his education at Bonn, and spoke the French language as taught by German masters; and two of Mr. Lobyer's London friends, of the fast and flippant school, who appeared to be proficient in every modern language, and skilled in every art except that of keeping out of debt. One of the officers from Chiverley, who was known to be strong in the Thespian art, was requested to take a part in the piece, but he declined with a regretful sigh. "I shall be in the wilds of Kerry when your performance comes off," he said; "our fellows are ordered off to Tralee on the tenth, and the 11th Plungers come into our quarters. I've often growled about the dreariness of Chiverley, but how I shall envy those fellows,--the queer old English town, and Pevenshall Place within an hour's ride! Do people LIVE in such a place as Tralee? I have a sort of idea that we shall be surrounded by savage natives, and scalped on the night of our arrival. What luck the 11th have had in India! That young Gordon, whose father has such mints of money, has won a step within the last few months. That skirmish at Burradalchoodah made a major of him." Cecil felt the blood rush to her face for a moment, and then a sick faintness came over her; and the brightly-furnished room spun round before her eyes, until it seemed as if she had been sitting amidst a whirlpool of light and colour. The low-toned voices and the light laughter clashed upon her ears like the noise of cymbals; but it was only for a moment. Womanly dignity came to her rescue after the first brief shock of surprise; and when Grace Evershed appealed to her presently upon some frivolous question, she was able to answer with unfaltering tones. "What is he to me," she thought, "or what can he ever be to me? And why should I be startled by hearing that he is likely to be within a few miles of the house in which I am staying?"