'That woman is decidedly my inferior in every variety of tactics,' said Mrs. Hamblin to herself, as she drove away. 'She could not hide her astonishment when I announced that I should have Tito to dinner to meet this rosebud, and ever since has been turning over in her mind what I meant without ever arriving at a conclusion. I hope the rosebud will come, as I am anxious to see her and form my own opinion about her. I don't choose that these vulgar people should carry all before them in the way they intend, and I am determined that this match, which seems to have been arranged with the greatest coolness and confidence on both sides, shall not take place. It will not require any very intricate scheming to break it off, I should think--I have had many a more difficult task, and have carried it through successfully before now. If the rosebud is not really desperately in love with my poor Tito, it will be easy to make her like some one else. If she is very fond of him, then one must work upon him, depreciate her in his eyes, and finally make him give her up. That would not be difficult in any case, and fortunately, as a means to that end, we get the rosebud's artistic tendencies and her habit of frequenting the South Kensington Museum. What a very weak woman Mrs. Chadwick must be to put any faith in such rodomontade as that! The girl goes there, I have no doubt; but I don't imagine that all she has learnt by the end of the day in the way of art-study would be worth much; though her knowledge of character, if she have the faculty of observation, is greatly increased. It might be as well just to see for oneself whether she really goes there, what she does, and whom she meets. She would not recognise me, and I might pick up some information which would be valuable. James,' she said, opening the front window of the brougham, 'go to the South Kensington Museum.' The Chadwick brougham, noticeable always for that exaggeration in every particular which in such matters appears peculiar to parvenus--the horses a little too much for the carriage, the plating a little too much for the harness, and the servants' liveries considerably overdone--was standing before the entrance gate of the Museum as Mrs. Hamblin drove up.