She dismissed her secretary, gazed at herself in the glass and made a grimace. "And a nice sight I look! Never mind. Fancy motoring up from Mandeleys! What time did you start?" "At six o'clock," he answered, with a little smile. "It was somewhat before my regular hour for rising. If you have no other arrangements, I should be glad if you would take luncheon with me." "Bless the man, of course I will!" she assented, passing her arm through his and leading him to a chair. "You are not looking quite so well as you ought to after a breath of country air." "I am passing through a time of some anxiety," he acknowledged. She remained on the side of his chair, still holding his arm. The Marquis sank back with a little air of relief. There seemed to be something different, something warmer in the world. He was moved by a rare and unaccountable impulse--he drew her towards him and kissed her lips. "I had a birthday last week," he said, with a very slight smile. "I think that it affected me. One begins to wonder after one has passed middle age, not what there is to look forward to, but how much it is worth while enduring." "Of course," she declared, with a grimace, "you've been diving into musty old volumes at Mandeleys and reading the mutterings of one of those primitive philosophers who growled at life from a cave." "I have found myself a little lonely at Mandeleys," he confessed. "But this visit to London," she persisted. "Is it business? Is there anything wrong?" "I came to see you." "My head is going round," she declared. "This is Wednesday. Besides, I thought you were going to stay away until I wrote you--not that I wanted you to." "I changed my mind," he told her, "in consequence of a visit which I received yesterday from a Mr. James Borden." She gave vent to an exclamation of dismay. "You mean that Jimmy has been down to see you?" "If Jimmy and Mr. James Borden are identical," the Marquis replied, a little stiffly, "he undoubtedly has." She looked at him helplessly. "Oh, dear," she exclaimed, "how could he be so foolish!" "He wanted, it seems," the Marquis continued, "to have what he called a man-to-man talk. I am not the sort of person, as you know, Marcia, who appreciates man-to-man talks with strangers. I listened to all that he had to say, and because I gathered that he was your friend, I was polite to him. That is all. He gave me to understand that he was your suitor." "He'd no right to tell you anything of the sort," she declared, "but in a sense I suppose it is true. He wants me to marry him. It's most fearfully unsettling. But that he should come to you! I wish he hadn't, Reginald." "It appeared to me to be a quixotic action," the Marquis assented. "However, indirectly it has been conducive of good--it has brought me a great pleasure. I have missed you very much, Marcia. I am very happy to be here again, for however short a time." "You are going back, then, to Mandeleys?"