“Wretch that you are!  And do not be jealous if you catch me making love to Lady Brandon.  I always do so; she expects it.”

“You may make love to whom you please.  It is no concern of mine.”

“Here comes the wagonette with Lady Brandon and Ger—­and Miss Lindsay.  I mustn’t call her Gertrude now except when you are not by.  Before they interrupt us, let me remind you of the three points we are agreed upon.  I love you.  You do not love me.  We are to be married before the twenty-fourth of next month.  Now I must fly to help her ladyship to alight.”

He hastened to the house door, at which the wagonette had just stopped.  Agatha, bewildered, and ashamed to face her friends, went in through the conservatory, and locked herself in her room.

Trefusis went into the library with Gertrude whilst Lady Brandon loitered in the hall to take off her gloves and ask questions of the servants.  When she followed, she found the two standing together at the window.  Gertrude was listening to him with the patient expression she now often wore when he talked.  He was smiling, but it struck Jane that he was not quite at ease.  “I was just beginning to tell Miss Lindsay,” he said, “of an extraordinary thing that has happened during your absence.”

“I know,” exclaimed Jane, with sudden conviction.  “The heater in the conservatory has cracked.”

“Possibly,” said Trefusis; “but, if so, I have not heard of it.”

“If it hasn’t cracked, it will,” said Jane gloomily.  Then, assuming with some effort an interest in Trefusis’s news, she added:  “Well, what has happened?”

“I was chatting with Miss Wylie just now, when a singular idea occurred to us.  We discussed it for some time; and the upshot is that we are to be married before the end of next month.”

Jane reddened and stared at him; and he looked keenly back at her.  Gertrude, though unobserved, did not suffer her expression of patient happiness to change in the least; but a greenish-white color suddenly appeared in her face, and only gave place very slowly to her usual complexion.

“Do you mean to say that you are going to marry Agatha?” said Lady Brandon incredulously, after a pause.

“Yes.  I had no intention of doing so when I last saw you or I should have told you.”

“I never heard of such a thing in my life!  You fell in love with one another in five minutes, I suppose.”

“Good Heavens, no! we are not in love with one another.  Can you believe that I would marry for such a frivolous reason?  No.  The subject turned up accidentally, and the advantage of a match between us struck me forcibly.  I was fortunate enough to convert her to my opinion.”

“Yes; she wanted a lot of pressing, I dare say,” said Jane, glancing at Gertrude, who was smiling unmeaningly.

“As you imply,” said Trefusis coolly, “her reluctance may have been affected, and she only too glad to get such a charming husband.  Assuming that to be the case, she dissembled remarkably well.”