April's days were lengthening out in showers and sunshine and cold east
wind. Easter and a huge party had come and gone at Verdayne Place, and the
Lady Henrietta had had her hopes once more blighted by noticing Paul's
indomitable indifference to all the pretty girls.
He was going to stand for Parliament in the autumn, when their very old
member should retire, and he made that an excuse for his isolation; he was
working too hard for social functions, he said. But in reality life was
growing more than he could bear.
Captain Grigsby had sold the old _Blue Heather_ and bought a new steam
yacht of seven hundred tons--large enough to take him round the world, he
said--and he had had her put in commission for the Mediterranean, and she
was waiting for him now at Marseilles. Would Paul
