“Poor Millie!” said he. “But then I had to do it.”

“I hear,” remarked Lady Merceron a few days later, “that one of Mr. Prime’s friends has left him—not Willie’s young lady—the other.”

“Has she?” asked Charlie.

No one pursued the subject, and, after a moment’s pause, Mrs. Marland, who was sitting next to Charlie, asked him in a low voice whether he had been to the Pool that evening—.

“No,” answered Charlie. “I don’t go every night.”

“Oh, poor dear Miss Bushell!” laughed Mrs. Marland; and, when Charlie looked inquiringly at her, she shook her head.

“You see, I know something of young men,” she explained.


CHAPTER V. — AN UNFORESEEN CASE