Again, to her dismay, Mrs. Webster was more impressed by the rank and position of these visitors than by the gambling in which they indulged. “Lord Gourock and Sir William Dymchurch!” she exclaimed, with manifest enjoyment of the titles. “Why, they’re quite distinguished people, my dear, and I should think you ought to be proud to have them for your friends. As for their playing cards, why, everybody does it nowadays, women as well as men, and particularly people of fashion, such as your visitors are! I cannot understand what you have to complain about.” “Well, they are noisy, some of them,” said Audrey, beginning to fear that she had found another opponent in seeking an ally. “And just now I wanted to live so quietly! It seems dreadful to me to have all this going on under what is for the time, at any rate, my roof, when I feel, as I’ve told you, as if I should like to shut myself up in a convent and never see anybody!” “That would never do,” said Mrs. Webster with decision. “It would be bad for you, and it wouldn’t do any good to your poor husband.” “Well, listen to this,” said Audrey impatiently, as she went on to narrate her very latest grievance, the visit of Lord Clanfield, and his astounding accusation. To that Mrs. Webster replied by a question:-- “Well, and what does Mr. Candover say to that?” “I haven’t seen him since, to ask him,” she answered. “And to tell you the truth I thought it was better to consult a woman than to have to ask a man about it. I don’t want to be dependent for everything upon the advice of Mr. Candover.” “Well, of course it’s better to have friends of your own sex too,” admitted Mrs. Webster. “But as Mr. Candover was such an intimate friend of your husband’s, there can’t be much harm in speaking to him, as he knows everything too!” she added in a discreet undertone. “And he’s such a very nice man, so handsome, so well-bred, and so nice about his daughters!” “Ye-es,” said Audrey, who knew that a certain vague mistrust in her mind had better not be too openly insisted on as yet. “But what do you think about his having suggested to me this name Rocada? Don’t you see that it has put me into a very unpleasant position? Perhaps some others among these people who come think I am the woman who kept a gaming-house in Paris!” This was certainly not a pleasant suggestion, and Mrs. Webster, after a little reflection, offered to stay at “The Briars” and to be present at one of the evenings which caused Audrey so much distress. The offer was accepted with gratitude, and Mrs. Webster telegraphed to her housekeeper that she would not be home until the following day, and spent not only the day but the night with her unhappy friend. That very evening the guests arrived in numbers, as they did regularly every Wednesday and Friday. There was the usual preponderance of the male sex, but there were quite enough ladies present to make Mrs. Webster decide that Audrey was too prudish in her strictures.