"Do you know, Nancy," he began (he had never called her Nancy before), "before you came away I think your mother took a dislike to me?"
"Oh, no--how could she?" said Nancy. "She always said she liked you. Besides----"
She paused abruptly, and Lumsden stole a glance at her half-averted face, which in the moonlight looked strangely sweet.
"Well, I called to see you several times, and you were always 'not at home.'"
[Illustration: "LUMSDEN NOTICED WITH INWARD MIRTH AN INCREASED CORDIALITY IN MRS. BLADON'S MANNER."]
"Then that day at the station--well, I began to see," he continued, "and I resolved to wait no longer. Nancy, I followed you. I never knew till then how much you were to me; and now can you trust me more and love me a little? I have loved you--always--darling."
Then the inevitable question arose--what would Lady Forsyth say? and further, what about Mrs. Bladon?
Nancy suggested, and her suggestion was accepted, that Lady Forsyth should be confided in. So it came to pass that the following morning Lumsden and Lady Forsyth sauntered up and down the deck for some time together, and for ten minutes Lumsden spoke, in cool, level tones, at the end of which time Lady Forsyth laughed and shook her head reprovingly.
"Oh, you men!" she said. "Well, I suppose I can say and do nothing. It only remains for you to have it out with Mrs. Bladon. I have my own opinions."
Their eyes met with a look of mutual understanding.
"So have I," he said, drily. "Mrs. Bladon is a clever woman. If this sudden voyage had not taken place, who knows but that we might still have been in the throes of uncertainty?"
It was very clear now to Frances Forsyth that Mrs. Bladon's manoeuvre had been well timed.
For a few short happy days they lingered in Naples, revelling in its beauty.
Then it was arranged that Lumsden should return to England alone, and see Mrs. Bladon. He felt he could not spare so long a holiday abroad, and now that his journey had not been in vain he found himself once more in foggy London, light of heart, cheerful, and cool as ever.
The lamps were lit when he was shown into the drawing-room where Mrs. Bladon was busy at her writing-table, and he noticed with some inward mirth that there was a distinct increase of cordiality in Mrs. Bladon's manner.