She said, "Well, I am trying hard to be an ideal hostess and not ask any questions that might seem impertinent. But will someone tell me, is it Sir Robert Ottley and Dr. Belleville who are making preparations for Dr. Pinsent's funeral. I wish to know real badly, because I want him to do quite a lot of things for me before he crosses over the divide, and if necessary I shall go to Sir Robert and ask him for my sake to give Dr. Pinsent a little time to say his prayers." It was just the flippant tone needed to bring us back to earth again. Everybody laughed. Everybody was so relieved that the laugh was unconventionally loud, and it had a tendency to overdo itself. Then we trotted out the "well-I-nevers!" "Did you ever hear such a lot of rubbish talk?" demanded Lady Helen. "It quite took my breath away," said Miss Ottley with a gallant effort to attain the correct, approved, sociably foolish affectation of brainlessness. "The fellow deserves three months without the option for his villainous slanders," said the Captain heartily. He was honest, anyhow. "Lord knows I can't stand Belleville at any price," he continued. "But Navarro went a bit too far, by Gad! I never heard anything more malicious in my life than his vile insinuations." "A discharged servant," I observed. "Malice was to be expected from one of Navarro's type." "And a foreigner to boot," said the Captain, in the manner of one absolutely clinching an argument. "Ah, well!" he suppressed a yawn, "he entertained us--and that's something. Seen the 'Japanese Marriage' yet, Lady Helen? Miss Ottley and I did an act or two last night. It's ripping. So--ah! so jolly unusual, don't you know. You get left every time you think something is going to happen; and when you least expect it one of the funny little beggars ups and wants to make his friend a present of his liver on a plate, or cut off his rival's head, or something." "Miss Ottley's carriage," announced a footman. "I asked for it," said the girl to Lady Helen. "My father has been very poorly all day." Weldon went away with her. She did not even spare me a glance. Lady Helen consoled me with the best cigar I have ever received at the hands of a woman. She lit a cigarette for herself and curled up on a pile of cushions. "That man Navarro is a rapacious rascal," she observed presently. "He wouldn't take a penny less than a hundred to say what he did say to Dixon. But I did not tell him to call me beautiful," she added. "I am glad to be certain that the fellow is a rascal," I muttered half underbreath. But she heard me.