He passed some interval on the walls before encountering Miss De Stancy, whom at last he observed going towards a pony-carriage that waited near the door.
A smile gained strength upon her face at his approach, and she was the first to speak.

'I am sorry Miss Power has not returned,' she said, and accounted for that lady's absence by her distress at the event of two evenings earlier.
'But I have driven over to my father's--Sir William De Stancy's--house this morning,' she went on.

'And on mentioning your name to him, I found he knew it quite well.

You will, will you not, forgive my ignorance in having no better knowledge of the elder Mr.Somerset's works than a dim sense of his fame as a painter?
But I was going to say that my father would much like to include you in his personal acquaintance, and wishes me to ask if you will give him the pleasure of lunching with him to-day.
My cousin John, whom you once knew, was a great favourite of his, and used to speak of you sometimes.

It will be so kind if you can come.