The blaze that had come to her eyes for a second went out without a flicker.
"A serious talk ?" she murmured.
"A serious talk--about the mine," replied her husband.
"About the mine," she repeated, and a moment after burst into a laugh that was almost startling in its insincerity.

"It is so amusing, this chapter of cross-purposes," she cried.

"What a sight it has been! a night of thrilling surprises to all of us! I miss Phyllis by half an hour and my husband misses me by less than half an hour.

He comes at express speed from Paris to have a talk, a serious talk, with Mr.
Courtland about the mine, and while he is driving from Victoria, Mr.
Courtland is driving to the same station with Lord Earlscourt!" "What a series of fatalities!" said Mr.Ayrton.

"But what seemed to me most amusing was the persuasiveness of Earlscourt.