“I want to see Mrs. Doone, please,” said George of the man-servant.

“Yes, sir.” James was accustomed to a constant stream of curio hunters. “She’s in the library, sir.”

“Thanks,” said George.

Diana, in a large blue overall, was standing with her back to the door, carefully wiping the dust from a gracefully-shaped vase. She heard George’s footstep, and spoke without turning her head.

“I don’t care what you say about the ridiculous cheapness,” she declared. “It is not a fake. Come here and look at these marks! If that isn’t genuine Ming—! Besides, look at the colouring! It’s the green, yellow, and aubergine of the Ming pottery. And you can just see here, on the bottom, a faint—”

“Diana!” gasped her husband. “Diana!”

Diana nearly dropped the vase. It almost slipped from her hands, but she managed to rescue it. For a moment, she forgot all else in her annoyance at nearly letting fall her treasure.

“Really, George, don’t you know better than to startle anyone who’s holding a priceless Ming vase? A nice thing it would have been if I’d dropped it. These pieces are unbelievably brittle!” She remembered the happenings of last night, and set the vase down. “George, who was that creature?” she demanded, paying no heed to his dazed expression.

George as suddenly remembered the reason of his visit.

“Who was that poisonous man?” he retorted, bringing his fist down on the table so that the china on it jumped.

“George!” shrieked his wife. “Mind! There’s a priceless bowl on that table!”

“I don’t care a curse for the beastly bowl!” he barked, forgetting his collector’s instincts in husbandly indignation. “Who was that man?”

“Who was that girl?”

“Which girl? Don’t evade the point.”

“I’m not! The—the female you were dancing with! Look out, you’ll knock that pedestal over if you’re not careful!”

“Damn the pedestal! Are you taking about my dancing instructress?”

“Your—what?” cried Diana, stepping back a pace. “That fair, blue-eyed minx?”

“I don’t know whether she’s got blue eyes, but if you mean the girl I was dancing with last night, she’s the girl who’s teaching me to dance. Who was your partner?”

“Why, only old Stephen!”

“Only Stephen—!” George had often heard of him. “As far as I could see you were flirting with him.”

“Well, that was only because—never mind. You needn’t get excited, because Stephen didn’t like it a bit. George, take care! That bowl will be—”

George had skirted the table, and taken her into his arms.

“What’s a porcelain bowl to you, you darling?” he asked, hugging her.

“Why, George, don’t you see? It’s a M—”

“Yes, I do see. Oh, Diana, you adorable little witch, have you been studying china all this while?

Diana snuggled closer.

“Well, you learned to dance,” she explained. “And, oh, George, it was all my fault, but I’m awfully sorry, and I’ve found another Ming vase—not quite as good as the other, I’m afraid—in the most unlikely spot! And, oh, George, were you at the sale where they had those beautiful—”