"Nothing," he laughed uneasily, carrying her soft hand to his lips. "But whatever made you ask such a question?" "Because you seem upset," she answered, smoothing his hair tenderly from his brow. "If there is any matter that is worrying you, why not confide in me, as you have done so often before, and let me help you." "No, really," he protested with a forced laugh. "Nothing worries me--only matters down at the House." She looked at him in silence. In those dark, brilliant eyes of hers was a love-look that was unmistakable. She was a woman believed by men to be utterly frivolous and heartless, yet she loved Dudley Chisholm with all the fierce passion possible to her ardent soul. His face told her that he had been suffering in her absence, and she strove to discover the reason. "Why, Dudley," she exclaimed at last, "now that I reflect, you have not been quite the same since the midnight visit paid you at the castle by the mysterious man who was so very careful that his presence should not be made known! You have never told me who he was, or what was his business." He started so quickly that she could not fail to notice it. This set her wondering. "Oh!" he replied with affected carelessness next moment, "the tall shabby man who called on the night of the dance you mean? He was a confidential messenger, that was all." "I suppose I was mistaken, but his face and voice both seemed quite familiar to me," she remarked. "I meant to tell you before, but it entirely slipped my memory. The likeness to some one I have met was very striking, but I cannot recollect where I've met him before. Is he an official messenger?" "Yes," answered her lover vaguely, although alarmed that she should so nearly have recognised Cator; "he's attached to the Foreign Office. I urged him to stay the night, but he was compelled to return at once to town." "And he brought you some bad news? Admit the truth, dear." "He certainly brought some official intelligence that was not altogether reassuring," her lover said. "Are you quite certain that it was official, and did not concern yourself?" she asked in a low voice which sounded to him full of suspicion. "Certain? Why, of course," he laughed. "Whatever strange ideas are you entertaining, Claudia?" "Well," she answered, "to tell the truth, Dudley, I have a notion that he came to see you on some private business, because ever since that night you have been a changed man." "I really had no idea that. I had changed," he said. "You surely don't mean that I have changed towards you?" "Yes," she answered gravely, her small hand trembling slightly in his nervous grasp,--"yes, I think you have changed--even towards me." CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR. CONTRASTS TWO LOVES.