She had heard with great satisfaction of the beauty's betrothal to Lord Clive, and fearful lest Laurie had missed hearing it, she repeated it to him with malicious delight, eliciting the quiet answer that Lord Clive was a very fortunate man.
Jewel pouted charmingly, but he took no notice. Ever since last night he had been thinking of the words Lord Clive had said to Azalia Brooke:
"It was when you were an American girl."
She had answered:
"Yes, before Lord Ivon sent Mr. Kelso to seek me."
Tossing on a sleepless pillow between the dawn and the daylight, he had been ceaselessly asking himself:
"What did they mean? I was under the impression that she had never been in America before."
It seemed to him that he could not know rest nor peace until he found out what Azalia Brooke had referred to in her answer to Lord Clive.
That afternoon found him in the office of the noted lawyer, Raynold Clinton.
"I wish to ask you some questions," he said. "You were in England last winter, and you were intimate with Lord Ivon?"