of brutality, and probable failure in the past to profit by rare educational advantages.  He remarked that Paris was awfully jolly, but that for real, thorough-paced entertainment it was nothing to Dublin.  He even preferred Dublin to London.  Had Madame de Cintre ever been to Dublin?  They must all come over there some day, and he would show them some Irish sport.  He always went to Ireland for the fishing, and he came to Paris for the new Offenbach things.  They always brought them out in Dublin, but he couldn’t wait.  He had been nine times to hear La Pomme de Paris.  Madame de Cintre, leaning back, with her arms folded, looked at Lord Deepmere with a more visibly puzzled face than she usually showed to society.  Madame de Bellegarde, on the other hand, wore a fixed smile.  The marquis said that among light operas his favorite was the Gazza Ladra.  The marquise then began a series of inquiries about the duke and the cardinal, the old countess and Lady Barbara, after listening to which, and to Lord Deepmere’s somewhat irreverent responses, for a quarter of an hour, Newman rose to take his leave.  The marquis went with him three steps into the hall.

“Is he Irish?” asked Newman, nodding in the direction of the visitor.

“His mother was the daughter of Lord Finucane,” said the marquis; “he has great Irish estates.  Lady Bridget, in the complete absence of male heirs, either direct or collateral—­a most extraordinary circumstance—­came in for everything.  But Lord Deepmere’s title is English and his English property is immense.  He is a charming young man.”

Newman answered nothing, but he detained the marquis as the latter was beginning gracefully to recede.  “It is a good time for me to thank you,” he said, “for sticking so punctiliously to our bargain, for doing so much to help me on with your sister.”

The marquis stared.  “Really, I have done nothing that I can boast of,” he said.

“Oh don’t be modest,” Newman answered, laughing.  “I can’t flatter myself that I am doing so well simply by my own merit.  And thank your mother for me, too!” And he turned away, leaving M. de Bellegarde looking after him.

CHAPTER XIV

The next time Newman came to the Rue de l’Universite he had the good fortune to find Madame de Cintre alone.  He had come with a definite intention, and he lost no time in executing it.  She wore, moreover, a look which he eagerly interpreted as expectancy.

“I have been coming to see you for six months, now,” he said, “and I have never spoken to you a second time of marriage.  That was what you asked me; I obeyed.  Could any man have done better?”

“You have acted with great delicacy,” said Madame de Cintre.