“Lud! ’Tis mighty elegant, I vow! But I protest, I am shy!”

“Egad, Miss Betty! and why?”

“You are not so young as I imagined,” she replied candidly.

“Bear in mind, madam, that I never sought to deceive you. I am an aged man.”

“Thirty!” she scoffed, and went on ahead. “Come, child, and mind the first step!”

At the bottom of the staircase stood Mr. Beauleigh, a man of medium height, thin-lipped and grey-eyed. He came forward with one hand outstretched.

“I am delighted to see you so much better, sir. I trust your shoulder no longer pains you?”