Josiah Brown bought one every year and travelled with it, although until
he met the Fitzgerald family he had not known a single person connected
with it; but it pleased him to be able to look up his wife's name, and
to read that her mother was the daughter of a real live earl and her
father the brother of a baronet.
"Hector! I like the name of Hector," were the last coherent thoughts
which floated through the brain of Theodora before sleep closed her
broad, white lids.
Meanwhile, Lord Bracondale had gone on to sup at the Café de Paris, with
Marion de Beauvoison and Esclarmonde de Chartres; and among the diamonds
and pearls and scents and feathers he suddenly felt a burning disgust,
and a longing to be out again in the moonlight--alone with his thoughts.
"Mais qu'as tu, mon vieux chou?" they said. "Ce bel Hector chéri--il a
un béguin pour quelqu'un--mais ce n'est pas pour nous autres!"