"Reggie," he said to his friend Forsyth, "what do you think of that little Japanese girl?"
Reggie, who was a diplomat by profession and a musician by the grace of God, and whose intuition was almost feminine especially where Geoffrey was concerned, answered,--
"Why, Geoffrey, are you thinking of marrying her?"
"By Jove!" exclaimed his friend, starting at the thought as at a discovery; "but I, don't think she'd have me. I'm not her sort."
"You never can tell," suggested Reggie mischievously; "She is quite unspoilt, and she has twenty thousand a year. She is unique. You could not possibly get her confused with somebody else's wife, as so many people seem to do when they get married. Why not try?"
Reggie thought that such a mating was impossible, but it amused him to play with the idea. As for Lady Everington, who knew every one so well, and who thought that she knew them perfectly, she never guessed.
"I think, Geoffrey, that you like to be seen with Asako," she said, "just to point the contrast."
Her confession to her sister, Mrs. Markham, was the truth. She had made a mistake; she had destined Asako for somebody quite different. It was the girl herself who had been the first to enlighten her. She came to her hostess's boudoir one evening before the labours of the night began.
"Lady Georgie," she had said--Lady Everington is Lady Georgie to all who know her even a little. "_Il faut que je vous dise quelque chose_." The girl's face glanced downward and sideways, as her habit was when embarrassed.
When Asako spoke in French it meant that something grave was afoot. She was afraid that her unsteady English might muddle what she intended to say. Lady Everington knew that it must be another proposal; she had already dealt with three.
"_Eh bien, cette fois qui est-il?_" she asked.
"_Le capitaine Geoffroi_" answered Asako. Then her friend knew that it was serious.
"But why drag me into it? It's your own affair."
"In France and in Japan," said Asako, "a girl do not say Yes and No herself. It is her father and her mother who decide. I have no father or mother; so I think he must ask you."
For answer Asako gently squeezed the elder woman's hand, but Lady Georgie was in no mood to return the pressure. The girl at once felt the absence of the response, and said,--