"You"re all right! That must be a great help," said Valentia sympathetically.
"It shows he has a nice loyal nature," Daphne remarked. "I admire that sort of thing very much."
"A nice loyal nature! I should think he has! He hates spreading scandal, and he wouldn"t say a single word now to take away the character of Big Ben--if it was----"
"What?"
"Oh, if it was ever so! You ought to make Daphne wear one of those thin tulle veils to match her hat. They"re jolly--you can get them at that shop close to me."
"Oh, she needn"t, she"s going to be manicured, and she"s coming back here for me in a quarter of an hour."
"Good-bye, darling," said Daphne, standing up, and she made a kind of face, which Valentia understood to mean the word Foster.
"What is the child playing at?" said Harry. "If you two have a code it would be as well to learn it."
"All right," said Valentia to Daphne.
Harry walked with her to the door and she ran out, saying, "I won"t be long."
"She wants Foster, the baby Guardsman," explained Valentia.
"Oh, why didn"t you say so at first? Of course I suppose they"ve arranged it. At any rate it"s as good as done. Then there must be one more woman. But never mind now."
Harry sat down beside her and said, in a different voice--he had a very good voice, especially when he spoke caressingly--
"How interesting you are! One of your eyebrows is a little thicker than the other."
"Oh, Harry!..."
"How are we all going to get home that evening?"
"What do you think?" she asked.
"Well, it"s like this, as you may say. We"ll all meet at the Ritz and dine there. Good. Then we drive in separate vehicles to here, and have some music. Then I see you both home, and--well, I think that"s all.
It"s not much."
"I don"t quite like the way Lady Walmer looks at you, Harry."
"Oh, Valentia! If it comes to that, how do you fondly imagine I shall like the way Rathbone is sure to look at you?"
"Oh, Harry! Why, he"s tattooed!"
"You see," went on Harry seriously, "I really am making a dash for it about Daphne. She"ll really be happy with Van Buren, and _I_ shall be ever so much happier,--with Van Buren and everyone else,--because, through Daphne being always with you, I never see you alone for one single second."
"Oh, you exaggerate, Harry!"
"I know I do. I don"t see you for half a second."
"Romer has been so nice lately," she answered gently.
"Very amusing, I suppose?"
"But--I often think how very nice he really is."
"Oh, don"t say that, even in fun. I"m coming to stay with you in the summer--at the Green Gate--unless you"d rather ask Rathbone instead."
"Or unless you"d rather go yachting with the Walmers," she remarked.
"They have a daughter, haven"t they?"
"Oh, Valentia, be anything but blasphemous!..."
"Really?... Oh, Harry!"
"Do you mean to say you need my saying it?"
"No."
"Then, I will. Valentia, I--"
She got up and opened the door so that Daphne should not have to ring when she returned.
When the two sisters left a few minutes later, Harry sat down again as if in deep thought and lighted a cigarette. His servant came in.
"Please, sir, Mr. Van Buren is at the telephone."
"Oh well, tell him ... Oh no--, all right--I"ll go."
CHAPTER III
VAN BUREN
"It"s extremely kind of you, Harry, to let me come around like this in the morning. I dare say you want to be working sometimes. I"m really afraid of being in the way, but I was rather at a loose end this morning and I wanted to have a talk with you," said Van Buren apologetically.
"Rot. Awfully glad to see you, old chap. Have a cigarette?"
"Thanks, Harry, no. I find I"m very much better if I don"t smoke till after tea.... We"re intimate friends now, and yet you never call me anything but my surname, or "old chap". That reminds me, there"s a little request I"d like to make of you, Harry."
"What"s that?"
"Call me Matthew--no, call me plain Mat. It would give me real pleasure."
Harry smiled rather loudly--
"My dear fellow, I couldn"t call you plain Mat. It wouldn"t be suitable! You"re too good-looking!"