Upsidonia

by Archibald Marshall

Lord Potter affected an air of intense astonishment. "This fellow!" he exclaimed. "My dear lady, you have been victimised. This is an impudent adventurer, who spent his first night in Culbut in a gaol. He may be good enough company for Mr. Perry, but I am more surprised than I can say to find him here."

There was an awkward silence, which I broke by saying: "I am just as surprised to see Lord Potter here as he can be to see me. He knew perfectly well who I was. He could have stopped away if he didn't want to meet me."

Lord Potter ignored this speech. "I am very sorry to have to cast a cloud over your pleasant party, Mrs. Chanticleer," he said, "but this fellow is not what he pretends to be. He is no more a Highlander than I am. When I get back to town I shall put the police on to him. I expect it will be found that he has absconded from some big house and has left a lot of money behind him. He is masquerading as a poor man, but he will certainly get into trouble over it. I should advise you to pack him off, and have no more to do with him."

Fortunately, Miriam was not near us at the time, but I saw Edward shouldering his way through the group of puzzled and rather scandalised people who surrounded us. Nobody seemed inclined to say anything, and I had had time during Lord Potter's speech to reflect that he could not know that I was not a Highlander, and that he had put a weapon into my hands by his affectation of not knowing who I was.

"I will certainly leave your party if you wish me to, Mrs. Chanticleer," I said. "Lord Potter and I have come up against one another before. It is true that when I first came into Culbut he managed to get me arrested for playing rather a foolish practical joke upon him, which he does not seem able to forget. But when he tells you he is sorry to disturb your party, he is not speaking the truth, because he can't have come here for any other purpose. He knew that he would find me here, and has not scrupled to break in on your brilliant and memorable gathering, with the object of ruining its success by his absurd charges."

There were murmurs among the aristocratic dames who were gathered about us. Although Lord Potter was the dirtiest of the dirty, and held a high position among the men of the set, I heard afterwards that he was not popular among the ladies, not only because of his arrogance, but because, being a most eligible bachelor, he had omitted to marry so many of their daughters. Besides, Mrs. Claudie's party had gone with such a swing so far that it was felt to be too bad of him to come in in this way and try to spoil it.

But Mrs. Claudie showed herself full of tact and resource. She laughed lightly. "I really can't be expected to settle a silly quarrel between two men," she said. "I have all my own quarrels to settle, and most of my women friends' besides. Come and have a shy at Siggy Rosenbaum's nuts, Lord Potter; and, Mr. Howard, you go and find Miriam and take her to have a few s'rimps."

Perhaps Lord Potter would have allowed himself to hold over his account with me for the time being, and I certainly had no wish to carry it on then or at any time. But unfortunately Edward had by this time arrived fully on the scene, and with all his excellent qualities he was a trifle too weighty for a situation that wanted delicate handling.

"Mr. Howard is a guest in my father's house," he said, his face pale and determined from the stress of the moment, "and I cannot allow him to be insulted."