“Then I gather that it is not a case of love at first sight?”

“I don’t believe in that humbug; and besides, I saw her in Ireland.”

“No!”—suddenly putting down her glass.

“Yes, by chance—as Mary Foley. I had not the smallest idea who she was then.”

“And what did she look like?”

“Oh, a pretty, saucy, country girl, with lots to say for herself. I never was so amazed as when I discovered her last night in the drawing-room! You could have floored me with the traditional feather!”

“She does not talk much now,” said Lady Mulgrave. “Evidently she has been advised, that silence is best.”

“It must be a trial, for I heard a man describe her as ‘the gabbiest little divil in the country.’”

“Oh, I expect she will soon find her tongue.”

“And her feet?” supplemented Captain Deverell.