"I suppose the attraction of your fascinating self will not allow him to remain absent long. Am I to—er—congratulate you?"

Her dark eyes flashed angrily, as she exclaimed in a low, fierce tone:

"You've tricked me! You've told him!"

"And if I have, surely it is no reason why you should make an exhibition of your confounded bad temper in a public place. If you wish to talk, come into the grounds," he said in a tone of annoyance.

"Yes; let's go. I've something to say."

The conductor's baton was tapping the desk as they rose and passed out upon the pleasant lawn beyond. Walking a short distance, they seated themselves under the shadow of a tree, in a nook where there were no eavesdroppers.

"Well, Valérie, what have you to say to me? I'm all attention," said Egerton, assuming an amused air, and calmly lighting a cigarette.

"Diable! You try to hide the truth from me," she said, her accent being more pronounced with her anger. "You have warned Hugh; you have told him to beware of me—that my touch pollutes, and my kisses are venomous. Remember what you and I were once to each other—and you, of all men, try to ruin my reputation! Fortunately, I am well able to defend it."

"Your reputation—bah!"

"Yes, m'sieur, you may sneer; but I tell you, we are not so unequally matched as you imagine. If you have breathed one word to Hugh of my past, I can very easily prove to him that you have lied; and, further, you appear to forget that certain information that I could give would place you in a very ugly predicament."