“I’m sure I haven’t an idea, my lady,” returned Caley. “My lord has been always kind to Mr Lenorme, and I suppose he has been in the way of going to see him at work. Who would have thought my lord had been such an early riser! There are not many gentlemen like him now-a-days, my lady! Did your ladyship hear the noise in the studio after you left it?” “I heard high words,” answered her mistress, “--nothing more. How on earth did MacPhail come to be there as well?--From you, Caley, I will not conceal that his lordship behaved indiscreetly; in fact he was rude; and I can quite imagine that MacPhail thought it his duty to defend me. It is all very awkward for me. Who could have imagined _him_ there, and sitting behind amongst the pictures! It almost makes me doubt whether Mr Lenorme be really gone.” “It seems to me, my lady,” returned Caley, “that the man is always just where he ought not to be, always meddling with something he has no business with. I beg your pardon, my lady,” she went on, “but wouldn’t it be better to get some staid elderly man for a groom, one who has been properly bred up to his duties and taught his manners in a gentleman’s stable? It is so odd to have a groom from a rough seafaring set--one who behaves like the rude fisherman he is, never having had to obey orders of lord or lady! The worst of it is, your ladyship will soon be the town’s talk if you have such a groom on such a horse after you everywhere.” Florimel’s face flushed. Caley saw she was angry, and held her peace. Breakfast was hardly over, when Liftore walked in, looking pale, and, in spite of his faultless _get-up_, somewhat disreputable: for shame, secret pain, and anger do not favour a good carriage or honest mien. Florimel threw herself back in her chair--an action characteristic of the bold-faced countess, and held out her left hand to him in an expansive, benevolent sort of way. “How dare you come into my presence, looking so well pleased with yourself, my lord, after giving me such a fright this morning?” she said. “You might at least have made sure that there was--that we were----” She could not bring herself to complete the sentence. “My dearest girl!” said his lordship, not only delighted to get off so pleasantly, but profoundly flattered by the implied understanding, “I found you in tears, and how could I think of anything else? It may have been stupid, but I trust you will think it pardonable.”