"Vont came back alone, I believe," her visitor told her, "and he came back second class, too. I heard of him, curiously enough, from an American gentleman who crossed on the same steamer, and who happened to be a guest at my house the other night."
Marcia nodded.
"The boy left England too young," she remarked, "to miss his country. I suppose he has settled down in America for ever."
"I must say that I wish Vont had stayed with him," the Marquis declared. "Yes, go down and see him, by all means, Marcia. I should rather like to hear from you what his state of mind is. I gather that he is obdurate, as he resisted all my efforts to repossess myself of his cottage, but it would be interesting to hear."
"Should you mind," she asked, "if I motored down there with my publisher—Mr. James Borden? You have heard me speak of him."
"Not in the least," was the ready reply. "Has your friend connections in the locality?"
"None," Marcia admitted. "He would come simply for the sake of a day or two's holiday, and to take me."
"He is one of your admirers, perhaps?"
"He has always been very kind to me."
The Marquis was momentarily pensive.