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noon.
‘To take you where?’ Ralph ventured to enquire.
‘To Buckingham Palace. He’s going to show me over it,
so that I may get some idea how they live.’
‘Ah,’ said Ralph, ‘we leave you in good hands. The first
thing we shall hear is that you’re invited to Windsor Cas-
tle.’
‘If they ask me, I shall certainly go. Once I get started I’m
not afraid. But for all that,’ Henrietta added in a moment,
‘I’m not satisfied; I’m not at peace about Isabel.’
‘What is her last misdemeanour?’
‘Well, I’ve told you before, and I suppose there’s no harm
in my going on. I always finish a subject that I take up. Mr.
Goodwood was here last night.’
Ralph opened his eyes; he even blushed a little—his blush
being the sign of an emotion somewhat acute. He remem-
bered that Isabel, in separating from him in Winchester
Square, had repudiated his suggestion that her motive in
doing so was the expectation of a visitor at Prates Hotel, and
it was a new pang to him to have to suspect her of duplicity.
On the other hand, he quickly said to himself, what concern
was it of his that she should have made an appointment with
a lover? Had it not been thought graceful in every age that
young ladies should make a mystery of such appointments?
Ralph gave Miss Stackpole a diplomatic answer. ‘I should
have thought that, with the views you expressed to me the
other day, this would satisfy you perfectly.’
‘That he should come to see her? That was very well, as
far as it went. It was a little plot of mine; I let him know that

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