"It's almost like a romance," Sarah declared, as she took the ice which her cavalier had brought her and settled down once more in her chair. "Tell me more about Mr. Wingate, please. Mr. Phipps I know, of course, and he doesn't seem in the least terrifying. Is Mr. Wingate like that or is he a dourer type?" "John Wingate," Kendrick said reflectively, "is a much younger man than Phipps---I should say that he wasn't more than thirty-five--and much better-looking. I must say that in a struggle I shouldn't know which to back. Wingate has sentiment and Phipps has none; conscience of which Phipps hasn't a shred, and a sense of honour with which Phipps was certainly never troubled. These points are all against him in a market duel, but on the other hand he has a bigger outlook than Phipps, he has nerves of steel and the grit of a hero. Did I tell you, by the by, that he went into the war as a private and came out a brigadier?" "Splendid!" Sarah murmured. "Now tell us where Peter Phipps comes in?" "Well," Kendrick continued, "Phipps attracts sympathy because of his lavish hospitality and apparent generosity, whilst Wingate is a man of many reserves and has few friends, either on this side or the other. Then Phipps, I should say, is the wealthier man, and in this present deal, at any rate, he has marvellous support, so that financially he must tower over Wingate. Then, too, I think he understands the tricks of the market better over here, and he has a very dangerous confederate in Skinflint Martin. What that old blackguard doesn't know of chicanery and crooked dealing, the devil himself couldn't make use of. If he's put his own money into B. & I., I should say that Phipps can't be broken. My advice to Wingate, at any rate, when we meet, will be to stand by for a time." The sound of approaching voices warned them that their seclusion was on the point of being broken into. Their hostess, an elderly lady of great social gifts and immense volubility, appeared, having for her escort a tall, well-groomed man of youthful middle-age, with the square jaw and humorous gleam in his grey eyes of the best trans-Atlantic type. Lady Amesbury beamed upon them all. "Just the people I was looking for!" she exclaimed. "I want you all to know my great friend, Mr. Wingate from New York." Every one was glad to meet Wingate, and Kendrick and he exchanged the greetings of old friends.