"I only wish to hear the true story, Mr Hamilton."
"Fortescue," he corrected. "I certainly prefer to be called by one name at a time, but never by the same twice running."
He smiled so agreeably as he said this that Lady Alicia, though puzzled and a little hurt, could not refrain from smiling back.
"It is no truer than the first part, but quite as entertaining. So, if you like, I shall endeavour to recall the series of painful episodes that brought me to Clankwood," he answered, very seriously.
Lady Alicia settled herself comfortably into one corner of the sofa and prepared to feel affected. But at that moment the portly form of Dr Congleton appeared from the direction of the ballroom with a still more portly dowager on his arm.
"My mother!" exclaimed Lady Alicia, rising quickly to her feet.
"Indeed?" said Mr Beveridge, who still kept his seat. "She certainly looks handsome enough."
This speech made Lady Alicia blush very becomingly, and the Countess looked at her sharply.
"The room was rather warm, mamma, and----"
"In short, madam," interrupted Mr Beveridge, rising and bowing, "your charming daughter wished to study a lunatic at close quarters. I am mad, and I obligingly raved. Thus----" He ran one hand through his hair so as to make it fall over his eyes, blew out his cheeks, and uttering a yell, sprang high into the air, and descended in a sitting posture on the floor.
"That, madam, is a very common symptom," he explained, with a smile, smoothing down his hair again, "as our friend Dr Congleton will tell you."
Both the doctor and the Countess were too astonished to make any reply, so he turned again to Lady Alicia, and offering his arm, said, "Let me lead you back to our fellow-fools."
"I--I believe so," replied Dr Congleton in some confusion; "but I shall have him watched more carefully."
As they entered the room Mr Beveridge whispered, "Will you meet a poor lunatic again?" And the Lady Alicia pressed his arm.
On the morning after the dance Dr Congleton summoned Dr Escott to his room.
"Escott," he began, "we must keep a little sharper eye on Mr Beveridge."
"Indeed, sir?" said Escott; "he seems to me harmless enough."
"Nevertheless, he must be watched. Lady Grillyer was considerably alarmed by his conduct last night, and a client who has confided so many of her relatives to my care must be treated with the greatest regard. I receive pheasants at Christmas from no fewer than fourteen families of title, and my reputation for discretion is too valuable to be risked. When Mr Beveridge is not under your own eyes you must see that Moggridge always keeps him in sight."