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Rh 'An extraordinary kind of invitation!' observed Lady Bligh, handing back the letter.

'Ignorance,' said Alfred laconically.

'Did you meet the people out there?'

'Only this girl's brother; the others had been in Europe some time. I thought him a very pleasant fellow, I remember, though his contempt for me and for all "home" birds was magnificent.'

'Well,' said Lady Bligh, 'it is hardly the kind of invitation that Gladys can accept. Is it?'

'She refuses to think of it,' Alfred answered, with a frown that rather puzzled Lady Bligh. 'But I hope she will change her mind. I wish her to go.'

His mother was silent for more than a minute. 'Does the letter say Saturday?' she then inquired.

'Yes.' Alfred gazed steadily in his mother's face as though he would search her inmost thoughts. 'Yes, it says Saturday. And it is on Saturday that the Lord Chief is coming down to stay over Sunday, is it not? I thought so. I very much wish I could induce her to go.'

'Not on that account, my boy, I hope?' Lady Bligh seemed slightly embarrassed.