There were whispers of a woman's influence, a beautiful Ranee, a creature as fascinating and as unscrupulous as Cleopatra.

The scandal had been growing for months past, but it was only in the letters received to-day that the rumour had taken a tangible shape, and now it was currently reported that Lord Maulevrier had been recalled, and would have to answer at the bar of the House of Lords for his misdemeanours, which were of a much darker colour than those acts for which Warren Hastings had been called to account fifty years before.
Yet in the face of all this, Lady Maulevrier bore herself as proudly as if her husband's name were spotless, and talked of his return with all the ardour of a fond and trusting wife.
'One of the finest bits of acting I ever saw in my life,' said the court physician.

'Mademoiselle Mars never did anything better.' 'Do you really think it was acting ?' inquired Lord Denyer, affecting a youthful candour and trustfulness which at his age, and with his experience, he could hardly be supposed to possess.
'I know it,' replied the doctor.

'I watched her while she was talking of Maulevrier, and I saw just one bead of perspiration break out on her upper lip--an unmistakable sign of the mental struggle.'.