It is some time since we have seen Mrs. Lyle and her elder daughter.
We must seek them now in one of "the stately homes of England."
They are the guests of Lady Valentine at her elegant residence in the most fashionable quarter of London.
Nearly four years have elapsed since we first met the Lyles and heard the spirited discussion over little Queenie's first ball and Sydney's old green silk dress.
Sydney and Georgina would not need to scrimp little Queenie's share of finery to bedeck themselves now were she living.
Georgina's husband is wealthy and indulgent, and "Uncle Robert," the beneficent friend of their earlier days, has charged himself with Sydney's support ever since her father died until recently, when she has married a wealthy man.
Mrs. Lyle lives with Georgina, and still enjoys the whirl of fashionable life as much as ever—indeed more than ever, for now there is no vexing question relative to the girls' finery disturbing her placid mind.
It is a chilly morning in mid-winter, and the three ladies are sitting in a pleasant morning-room, Georgina, grown plump and indolent, idly reclining in an easy-chair, with her dimpled white hands lazily folded over her silken lap, Mrs. Lyle perusing a morning paper, and Sydney gazing restlessly out of the window—watching, perhaps, for her husband—the honeymoon is not a month old yet, and she is naturally impatient at his absence.
Into this quiet scene enters Lord Valentine and tosses some cards into his wife's lap.
"Tickets for La Reine Blanche to-night," he says.