It is no treason to our host to whisper that he has none.

I remember having quite a heated argument with him at the time.

Oh, dear, no; she was no more guilty than you or I; but it would be a thousand times more artistic if she were; and I should make her so, by Jove!" Rachel finished heir dinner in great tranquillity after this; but there was a flush upon her face which had not been there before, and Langholm received an astonishing smile when the ladies rose.

He had been making tardy atonement for his neglect of the aquiline lady, but Rachel had the last word with him.
"You will come and see us, won't you ?" she said.

"I shall want to hear how the plot works out." "I am afraid it's one I can't afford to use," he said, "unless I stick to foolish fact and make her innocent." And she left him with a wry face, her own glowing again.
"You looked simply great--especially towards the end," whispered Morna Woodgate in the drawing-room, for she alone knew how nervous Rachel had been about what was indeed her social debut in Delverton.
The aquiline lady also had a word to say.