"Jolly place, this," Vavasour was saying. "There's dancin' most nights. The dowager brigade want the band to play classical music, an' that sort of rot, you know; but Mrs. de la Vere and the Wragg girls like a hop, an' we generally arrange things our own way. We'll have a dance to-night if you wish it; but you must promise to----" "Georgie," cried the pompous little man, "I want you a minute!" Vavasour swung round. Evidently he regarded the interruption as "a beastly bore." "All right, General," he said airily. "I'll be there soon. No hurry, is there?" "Yes, I want you now!" The order was emphatic. The General's only military asset was a martinet voice, and he made the most of it. "Rather rotten, isn't it, interferin' with a fellow in this way?" muttered Vavasour. "Will you excuse me? I must see what the old boy is worryin' about. I shall come back soon--Eh, what?" "I am going out," said Helen; "but we shall meet again. I remain here a month." "You'll enter for the tournament?" he asked over his shoulder. "I--think so. It will be something to do." "Thanks awfully. And don't forget to-night." Helen laughed. She could not help it. The younger members of the Wragg family were eying her sourly through the glass partition. They seemed to be nice girls too, and she made up her mind to disillusion them speedily if they thought that she harbored designs on the callow youth whom they probably regarded as their own special cavalier. When she passed through the inner doorway to go to her room she noticed that the General was giving Georgie some instructions which were listened to in sulky silence. Indeed, that remarkable ex-warrior was laying down the law of the British parish with a clearness that was admirable. He had been young himself once,--dammit!--and had as keen an eye for a pretty face as any other fellow; but no gentleman could strike up an acquaintance with an unattached female under the very nose of his mother, not to mention the noses of other ladies who were his friends. Georgie broke out in protest. "Oh, but I say, General, she is a lady, an' you yourself said----"