"Devoted couple!" she laughed. "Tristram is by no means the first with her. There is a very handsome foreign gentleman, looking like Romeo, or Rizzio—"

"Or any other 'O,'" put in Lord Elterton.

"Exactly—in whom she is much more interested. Poor Tristram! He has plenty to discover, I fear."

"How do you come to know about it? You are a wonder, Lady Highford—always so full of interesting information!"

"I happened to see them at Waterloo together—evidently just arrived from somewhere—and Tristram thought she was safe in Paris! Poor dear!"

"You have told him about it, of course?"—anxiously.

"I did just give him a hint."

"That was wise." And Lord Elterton smiled blandly and she did not see the twinkle in his eye. "He was naturally grateful?" he asked sympathetically.

"Not now, perhaps, but some day he will be!"

Laura's light hazel eyes flashed, and Lord Elterton laughed again as he answered lightly,