"Is it very late?" she said, gathering up her fan and gloves. "We have been looking at Lady Hubert's miniatures. That lady with the muff"--she pointed to the case which occupied a conspicuous position in the room--"is really wonderful. Can you tell me, Sir Wilfrid, where the Duchess is?"
"No, but I can help you find her," said that gentleman, forgetting the miniatures and endeavoring to look at neither of his companions.
"And I must rush," said Captain Warkworth, looking at his watch. "I told a man to come to my rooms at twelve. Heavens!"
He shook hands with Miss Le Breton and hurried away.
Sir Wilfrid and Julie moved on together. That he had disturbed a most intimate and critical conversation was somehow borne in upon Sir Wilfrid. But kind and even romantic as was the old man's inmost nature, his feelings were not friendly.
"How does the biography get on?" he asked his companion, with a smile.
A bright flush appeared in Mademoiselle Le Breton's cheek.
"I think Lady Henry has dropped it."
"Ah, well, I don't imagine she will regret it;" he said, dryly.
She made no reply. He mentally accused himself for a brute, and then shook off the charge. Surely a few pin-pricks were her desert! That she should defend her own secrets was, as Delafield had said, legitimate enough. But when a man offers you his services, you should not befool him beyond a certain point.