“You will be angry, very angry, I fear.” She spoke timidly. His manner told her she had good grounds for fear. His mouth hardened, but he still spoke politely and pleasantly.

“My dear girl, don’t discount my displeasure; tell me who it is?”

“His name is Gerald Leigh.”

“A pretty name, and one which sounds familiar to me. Now, who is Gerald Leigh?”

“He is a sculptor.”

“Ah! now I know. Son of that excellent old tenant of my father’s. The genius he discovered on a dungheap. Eugenia, are you quite mad?”

“He will be a famous man some day.”

Herbert shrugged his shoulders in a peculiarly irritating way.

“Let him be as famous as he likes. What does it matter?”