If the big chandelier in the middle of the room had tumbled on the tea-table, and had been followed by a patch of the blue sky, Mrs. Vereker could not have been more astounded; her jaw dropped, and the three girls, horror-stricken, gazed at Sir Percy, who went on drinking his tea with the most exasperating calmness. "Engaged to Miss Armytage," murmured Mrs. Vereker despairingly, when she found her voice. "A most incredible thing! I think you must be joking, and that you are really engaged to Miss Chantrey." "I assure you that I am not," replied Sir Percy. "Give me another cup of tea, please, Isabella." "Mamma," said Isabella, without paying the slightest attention to Sir Percy’s request, "he is simply teasing us. He certainly is engaged to Miss Chantrey. I have heard it suggested a dozen times in the last month." "But I am not," said Sir Percy, helping himself to tea, which no one else was sufficiently composed to give him. Mrs. Vereker shook her head hopelessly. "I am sure it is Miss Chantrey." This view of the matter acted upon Lord Baudesert’s smouldering rage like a stone in front of a rushing railway train, which is at once derailed and helpless. Lord Baudesert exploded into a short laugh. "No such luck," he said; "Miss Chantrey has a fortune; Miss Armytage has not." Sir Percy, having finished his tea, put down his cup and rose. "I shall be very much obliged to you, Aunt Susan, if you will do as I ask. Lord Baudesert, of course, will call to-morrow." Lord Baudesert growled something between his clenched teeth, which nobody could make out, and Sarah cried: "Oh, Cousin Percy, how many times have I heard you say that you would never marry an American;" and Jane chimed in, "No one would have minded in the least if it had been Eleanor Chantrey." "Perhaps," remarked Sir Percy to Jane, meanwhile looking Lord Baudesert full in the eye, "you may yet have the pleasure of being allied with the Chantreys. Common report has it that Lord Baudesert and Mrs. Chantrey are to be married shortly. Good-afternoon." And leaving this bomb behind him, he escaped into the street.