"I am going now to see Mrs. March," said Sir Percy coolly; "I think I may as well give up the fight. Alicia March is not the woman to make idle threats, and she can do precisely what she says she can. Besides, General Talbott has to be considered. It will be difficult to keep such an affair from him, and he is one of these mediæval men, something like March himself, of whom no one can predict anything when a question of his own or his daughter’s honour is involved. I can quietly resign and go away. We shall have enough to live upon modestly, and in some quiet corner of England we can forget Alicia March, and live for each other and our children. It is a downfall for you, my Lady Lucy, and I am the one who has brought it upon you." Lady Carlyon went up to him, laying her hand on his arm, and said with sparkling eyes: "Give up the fight, do you mean, and let Mrs. March drive you from your position?" "There is nothing else to be done," replied Sir Percy quietly. "Think for a moment; I can’t make a fight without making it public. If I were alone I shouldn’t care for the publicity, but you--not for twenty ambassadorships would I bring you into anything like this." Lady Carlyon dropped her head upon his shoulder and burst into tears, which wrung his heart, but did not change his resolution. Half-an-hour afterwards he was ushered into Mrs. March’s boudoir, where Alicia waited for him. Sir Percy refused the chair which she offered him and remained standing, hat in hand. Alicia March felt a sense of triumph which glowed in her eyes; Sir Percy had wearied of her and had scorned her, but in the end, when he had reached the height of his ambition, she had brought him to heel roundly after nearly nineteen years. "Lady Carlyon gave me your message," he said, when the first cool greetings were exchanged. "You are quite able to do all that you have threatened. If I were alone I should make a fight, but for Lady Carlyon’s sake I am willing to surrender. I shall require a few weeks to arrange matters and to give the Home Government a chance to appoint my successor, and then I shall leave the diplomatic service. That, I think, should satisfy you." Alicia March remained silent, looking down. This then was her triumph! It was not really what she wanted. She had desired the greater triumph of having her way with Lady Carlyon. After a moment or two she spoke: "It is a small thing for which you are giving up your diplomatic career--let me see, you are not forty-five. I ask only that your wife come to my house once in a season." To this Sir Percy, with a cool smile, made answer: "I would prefer to give up the ambassadorship and retire from the diplomatic service."