"She's a—a creature," Sybil Hanbury exclaimed, viciously. "Thank goodness, I don't know her; but I've heard all about her from Alec. The poor boy can't abide her; she makes eyes at him so unblushingly."
"Then we can appreciate your sentiments about her," remarked the General with the flicker of a smile. "How did we come to know this lady?" he added to his wife.
Mrs. Sadgrove explained that she had been asked as a favor to call on Mrs. Talmage Eglinton by a mutual acquaintance, a certain Lady Roseville, but had regretted it ever since. Their intercourse had, however, been of the slightest, being confined to the interchange of a couple of formal visits, and to an invitation by Mrs. Sadgrove to a musical "at home," at which Mrs. Talmage Eglinton had endeavored to embark on a flirtation with Alec Forsyth.
"She's a rich widow, I believe; and I don't think she would ever have been heard of if the Rosevilles hadn't taken her up," Mrs. Sadgrove concluded.
The series of grunts with which the General received this information had hardly ceased when again the footman appeared in the doorway and announced, with all due importance:
"His Grace the Duke of Beaumanoir."
The occupants of the drawing-room were all accustomed to the "usages of polite society," either in Britannic or Transatlantic form; but it was impossible for them to repress a flutter of excitement as the visitor entered, his original "cavalry swing" marred but not wholly obliterated by his limp. Leonie tried hard not to blush, and failed. Mrs. Sherman interlaced her fingers nervously. Sybil Hanbury stared hard at the cousin whose stately town house she was occupying, and who had waved a magic wand over her lover's prospects. Mrs. Sadgrove was the graceful and interested hostess, and the General—well, the General was surprised for once into a start which was only invisible because nobody was looking at him.
Beaumanoir's manner was perfectly easy and self-possessed, but there was a harassed look in his eyes which did not entirely fade as he responded to his welcome. But it was not that which had caused the General to start.
The Duke was the man whom he had seen knocked down by Mrs. Talmage Eglinton's carriage, to the imminent peril of his life.
The "wash and brush-up" had been effectual as regards the ducal garments, but they could not hide the black silk sling in which he carried his left arm. It was General Sadgrove's way to allow events to shape themselves, and saying nothing of the scene he had witnessed as he welcomed the distinguished visitor, he waited for the Duke to refer to his mishap himself.