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Mrs. Van Tromp did not know whether to be pleased or not with this remark; but it is hard to fall out with peers' daughters, and, besides, from Lady Marian's occasional use of "thee" and "thou" she rashly assumed that she was one of the dozen or so members of the society of Friends in the English Peerage, and she knew plain speaking was a characteristic of the Friends. So she only laughed brightly and said:

"You'll certainly take the pas now."

Lady Marian, nothing loath, stepped out of the elevator.

Mrs. Van Tromp turned to whisper to Macfarren, "So charming! So unique! I declare, I knew her to be a person of high rank the very moment I saw her. And wasn't it kind of her to excuse my rudeness? Pray add your apologies to mine."

Macfarren, with a sardonic grin, agreed.

They were now standing in the corridor. A dozen or more men were passing back and forth, giving their hats and coats to the young man who presided over the shelf-like arrangement of such articles, stopping to chat with one another, and all gazing with unfeigned admiration at Macfarren's companion. He nodded to them carelessly, while Mrs. Van Tromp carefully avoided seeing them, especially those who came suspiciously near her. She meant to monopolize this precious scion of the nobility herself. Already before her delighted vision came the dream of a visit to King's Lyndon, and the charms of her next season in London. Four times had she crossed the ocean in vain, and never had she been able to get presented at court; but this lucky accident might do the whole business for her.