“I have told you, my son, that I do not know.”

“Why,” burst out Hubert, “she is half a Catholic.”

“Thank God,” said his mother.

“Ah! yes; you thank God, I know; but whom am I to thank for it?”

“I would that you could thank Him too.”

Hubert made a sharp sound of disgust.

“Ah! yes,” he said scornfully, “I knew it; Non nobis Domine, and the rest.”

“Hubert,” said Lady Maxwell, “I do not think you mean to insult me in this house; but either that is an insult, or else I misunderstood you wholly, and must ask your pardon for it.”

“Well,” he said, in a harsh voice, “I will make myself plain. I believe that it is through the influence of you and Aunt Margaret that this has been brought about.”

At the moment he spoke the door opened.