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shall accept it and say thank you very much!”
    The Duchess laughed.
    “I have always told you that you are extremely ingenious, Drogo, when it comes to getting your own way. You were just the same when you were a small boy.”
    “I am sure he is very clever,” Ula said, “because he always seems to have the answer to everything.”
    “I agree with you,” the Duchess smiled, “and now, Drogo, what are your orders.”
    “They are quite simple,” the Marquis replied. “Ula will stay the night with you here and, as I expect you will retire early to bed as you usually do when you are in the country, I will dine with her and give her some last-minute instructions. Tomorrow you will both come to Berkeley Square.”
    “Tomorrow?” the Duchess queried. “But what about her clothes?”
    “She will, of course, not be seen until you have fitted her out and it is essential that she should look at least presentable within at most twenty-four hours.”
    The Duchess gave a little scream.
    “That is quite impossible!”
    “Nothing is impossible. Today is Sunday. Tomorrow evening, as soon as you arrive, you will send out invitations to a small reception for your intimate and most important friends to meet Lady Louise’s daughter.”
    Ula gave a little exclamation and the Duchess stared at her grandson.
    He saw the question in her eyes and he said,
    “You knew Lady Louise and you were very fond of her. Now that she is dead, you wish to show your affection and your admiration for someone who gave up the Social world for the man she loved by presenting her daughter to the Beau Monde .”
    The Duchess smiled.
    “Drogo, you are a genius! Nothing could intrigue or excite people more than first to learn that Louise had a daughter and secondly that she is under my chaperonage and in your house.”
    “That is exactly what I thought,” the Marquis agreed.
    “Will they not still be – shocked at the – scandal Mama caused by – running away?” Ula asked haltingly.
    “They will be intrigued and bemused and I am quite certain that they will be full of admiration, as I am, for anyone who was brave enough to do such a thing,” the Duchess said firmly.
    “Uncle Lionel will be – horrified!” Ula murmured.
    “I hope so!” the Marquis said. “In fact, the more horrified he is, the better I shall be pleased!”
    He paused and, looking into Ula’s troubled eyes, he added,
    “What you have to do is to forget all that you have suffered at his hands and your cousin Sarah’s. You are starting a new life, Ula, and I think you will find it a very exciting one.”
    “I only – wish Mama could – thank you, as I am trying to do,” Ula said. “I can only – think that I am – dreaming, and in the morning I shall – wake up.”
    The way she spoke made the Duchess laugh, but once again Ula was trying to keep the tears from falling from her eyes.
    She went upstairs to have a bath before dinner when the Duchess retired to bed.
    “I am going to need all the rest I can get, dear child,” she said, “because once we are in the thick of the entertainments which will be arranged for you, I have every intention of enjoying myself by being present at all the balls and by accepting all the other invitations which will be showered upon us.”
    Ula gave a little laugh and the Duchess, as she kissed her cheek, said,
    “Leave everything to Drogo. He loves a challenge and he will enormously enjoy making plans and embarking on a campaign as if he was a General. All we have to do is to follow his orders.”
    “You have both been so kind,” Ula sighed. “Last night I went to bed in tears because Uncle Lionel had beaten me again and Sarah had pulled my hair. I-I wanted to die – but now I want to live because – everything is so – exciting!”
    “That is exactly what it is going to be for both of us.”
    The Duchess smiled and went into her bedroom.
    Later, just before he was going down to dinner, the Marquis came to say goodnight to