"You do know him."
"Oh, just to pass the time of day. That's nothing. But I am to meet him at the Treshams' next week." Her eyes sparkled a little. Marsham glanced at his sister, who was gathering up some small possessions at the end of the room.
"Don't try and make a fool of him!" he said, in a low voice. "He's not your sort."
"Isn't he?" She laughed. "I suppose he's one of the biggest men in England now. And somebody told me the other day that, after losing two or three fortunes, he had just got another."
Marsham nodded.
"Altogether, an excellent parti."
Alicia's infectious laugh broke out. She sat down beside him, with her hands round her knees.
"You look miles better than when you came in. But I think--you'd better go to bed."
As Marsham, in undressing, flung his coat upon a chair, the copy of the Herald which he had momentarily forgotten fell out of the inner pocket. He raised it--irresolute. Should he tear it up, and throw the fragments away?