A Butterfly on the Wheel

night in the great H?tel

warm night. To the left the Louvre etched itself in solid black against the sky,

is a midnight city, it is true, and at this hour the heights of Montmartre were thronged with pleasur

even the great hotels were b

then into the huge glass-domed lounge with its comfortable fauteuils, its big settee, its little tables covered wit

, though the shaded electric light threw

-case springs upwards to the gilded gallery-t

he service. As a matter of fact, one was Colonel Adams, attached to the

ur allowed them to do so in the lounge; and before each man was a long g

, obviously a valet, c

in your room, sir," he said

Snell," the soldier answer

g away when Adams

out what I asked you? It is Mrs. Ad

is here with

el

, but at length he spoke: "Mr. Rode

e to his friend than to his serva

el Adams puffed vigorously at

Admaston?" the

ttle Peggy herself," he said; "none

e anything about any of the Indian set and I can tell you, but as far as society goes in London I am a back number. I won't say, though, that I haven't heard this and that about the Admastons. One can't go anywhere without hearing their names. However, I know noth

r quietly, and his brown, lean

ou sleepy

Have lunch, take an afternoon nap, and then can't

chap, that I should enjoy more at this moment than a two-finger peg of whisky. Can I take it? Damn it, no! I should have h

ad of a little silver pencil-case which he took from his waistcoat pocket, sent

't used his wealth to make his position in Parliament or to get him his place in the Cabinet. He's done it by sheer ability, by Jove! He's of an o

nd I had just passed into Sandhurst when his father died and left him a huge fortune. Then he went to Oxford-New College it may have been, or possibly the House. I don't think he did anything much at Oxford. I'm told by men who were up with him that the sense of the enormous

c in temperament

lain fellow of frugal habits. I am told that when he met the deputation from the Northern Division of Lancashire, which went up to town to ask him to contest that constituency, after the interview one of the local Johnnies said, 'Mr. Admaston was so nice t

his wife?" sai

certainly marry-keep the firm together, and so on, don't you know. In fact, the last letter that George ever got from his father referred to old Grainger's notion that George should marry Peggy. Now, Peggy's mother was a Frenchwoman, a Mlle. Guillou, and the girl was educated in France. George hadn't been long in the Cabinet when old Grainger brought Peggy to London. She was about nineteen then, and the prettiest, most flirtatious, whimsical little butterfly of a thing that you cou

is here with her in this hotel to-night, and who has looked after her all her life nearly. Pauline said that old Grainger had just passed in his cheques, by Jove! He was

" Henry Pa

girl in charge of the 'bonne.' Old Grainger often used to say that Pauline was more of a mother to Peggy than even his wife had been, and after his death Peggy relied upon the woman for almost everything. She's bee

ome, sickenin' sort of hog-wash they wrote. 'Love at first sight,' and all that sort of thing. 'Little Peggy was to be the wife of a Prime Minister'-'they adored each other,' etc. But I'll eat my hand if they did anything of the ki

r gospel-shop in India, and a nice lot of touts they are too. Well, the old cat was fearfully cut up by the news of the engagement. She thought Peggy was far too French and friv

late, Henry, and I'm

on, do," the se

new it but George. It was a regular joke of one season. She couldn't get hold of him, though, despite everything she could do. George hadn't an idea of what the woman wanted. He was really fond of her. He looked on her as a very dear friend, and he took all her kindnesses and so forth just in that light, with a calm complacency that must have sent her raving a

y George's engagement. Well, the other was Roderick Collingwo

od many dealings with the firm. Collingwood travels about a great deal-always has done,-and he first met Peggy when

's father died, Colling was going it hell-for-leather-just about as fast as they're made. Of course, Peggy knew nothing of the real facts. But she heard gossip and hints, and one night she taxed him with the way he was living, referrin

influence she had been, and showed himself as a reformed rake, by Jove! I think there's no doubt at all that he would have proposed to the girl if

e falling back on their own reserves; but that was pure scandal, of course. When Collingwood was in Spain, Lady Attwill was in Switzerland. As a matter of fac

said that he married in order to have an excuse to get a holiday in which to draft his measure. At anyrate, after the introduction of the bill George became the absolute centre of the political strife of the day. He worked harder than ever. His party had been in office for three years, and the

he gossips had it that Admaston was disappointe

t again and again, renewing their old friendship. After the marriage it was said that Collingwood had a very bad time. There was a broad wicked streak in him, and everybody assumed that he had gone back to his old fast living. Well, at anyrate, Peggy took him up again. She was the kind that eith

ouble for the little butterfly that fluttered so near to the flame wh

e business for a considerable time. No one knows what to make of the position. They all met, for instance, at Ellerdine's for the shooting. Admaston ran down for a week-end only. Then during the late winter, after a long autumn session, rumours flew thick and fast, and everybody seemed to be waiting for the storm to break. Why there should be a storm nobody really seemed to know.

claimed that Colonel Adams's long recital had somew