Pansy glanced at him.

"How quiet you are all at once. What are you thinking about?"

"Ways and means," he replied, smiling slightly.

"I thought only hard-up people were troubled in that way."

"The trouble with me now is that I want something which I fear can't be bought with money."

"What an unpleasant position for a millionaire to be in. Still, it makes you 'realise your limitations,' as an old governess of mine used to say."

She paused for a moment, watching him with an air of subtle mockery.

"And, Mr. Le Breton, it won't do you any harm to have to go without a few of the things you want. There's a look about you as if you always had things too much your own way."

"I'm not so sure yet that I'm going to do without it. Fortunately I have two other courses left open to me—persuasion and power," he replied.

"Power! I thought that was the prerogative of kings."