"I have been for some time looking out for a companion," she said; "Lady Peters really must live at Verdun Royal--a housekeeper is not sufficient for that large establishment--it requires more than that. She has consented to make it her home, and I must have some one to be with me." "You have the duke," he put in, wonderingly. "True, and a husband most, perforce, be all that is adorable; still, having been accustomed to a lady-companion, I prefer keeping one; and this girl, so beautiful, so pure, so simple, is all that I need, or could wish for." "So I should imagine," he replied. "Will you introduce her into society, Philippa?" "I think not; she is a simple child, yet wonderfully clever. No, society shall not have her. I will keep her for my own." "What is her name?" asked Lord Arleigh. The duchess laughed. "Ah, now, man-like, you are growing curious! I shall not tell you. Yes, I will; it is the name above all others for an ideal--Madaline." "Madaline," he repeated; "it is very musical--Madaline." "It suits her," said the duchess; "and now, Norman, I must go. I have some pressing engagements to-day." "You will not introduce me then, Philippa?" "No--why should I? You would only disturb the child's dream." Chapter XVII. Lord Arleigh could not rest for thinking of the vision he had seen; the face of the duchess' companion haunted him as no other face had ever done. He tried hard to forget it, saying to himself that it was a fancy, a foolish imagination, a day-dream; he tried to believe that in a few days he should have forgotten it. It was quite otherwise. He left Vere House in a fever of unrest; he went everywhere he could think of to distract his thoughts. But the fair face with its sweet, maidenly expression, the tender blue eyes with their rich poetic depths, the sweet, sensitive lips were ever present. Look where he would he saw them. He went to the opera, and they seemed to smile at him from the stage; he walked home in the starlight--they were smiling at him from the stars; he tried to sleep--they haunted him; none had followed him as those eyes did. "I think my heart and brain are on fire," he said to himself. "I will go and look once again at the fair young face; perhaps if she smiles at me or speaks to me I shall be cured." He went; it was noon when he reached the Duke of Hazlewood's mansion. He inquired for the duchess, and was told she had gone to Hampton Court. He repeated the words in surprise. "Hampton Court!" he said. "Are you quite sure?" "Yes, my lord," was the footman's reply. "Her grace has gone there, for I heard her talking about the pictures this morning."