“Or—”

“Stop, stop! What do you mean? What should he tell me?”

“Oh, I see he hasn’t. Nor, I suppose, about Sylvia Fenton, or that little Delancy girl, or handsome Miss—what was her name?”

“Hold your tongue—and tell me what you mean.”

“Lady Mickleham,” said I gravely, “if your husband has not thought fit to mention these ladies—and others whom I could name—to you, how could I presume—?”

“Do you mean to tell me that Archie—?”

“He’d only known you three years, you see.”

“Then it was before—?”

“Some of them were before,” said I.

Lady Mickleham drew a long breath.