ewhat timid and
shrinking air, and her hands were small and white. Women admired and
loved her, and constantly asked of each other, "Why is she not married?"
Men passed her by as if unconscious of her presence. The mysterious
quality which attracts masculine approval was lacking in her case, and
until the present she had not regretted its absence.

The while Gloucester continued an easy flow of conversation, the same
thought passed through the mind of each feminine hearer. If Edith
wished to appropriate this man for herself, why had she so hastened to
bring him into the temptation of Jean Goring's presence? Jean, with her
characteristic impulsiveness made a dozen impossible resolutions to keep
out of Robert's path; to be cold to him, to refuse to speak. Vanna
sighed over the hardness of fate which ever advances to its festivals
over the corpses of the slain. Mrs Goring, with tightened lips,
sneered at the blindness of men whose vision was blinded by a pretty
face. Edith, with a sad pride, told herself that above all things
sincerity was the most precious, and that if Gloucester were to be hers,
it must be of his own unbiased will. If he loved her--if he were even
beginning to love her--Jean's beauty would leave him untouched. Every
day one beheld ordinary-looking women wooed by men who had passed by
others infinitely more favoured, to seek them out. Beauty meant much,
but it was not all. The mystic tie of affinity in no way depended on
its presence. Robert and Jean were bound to meet during the next few
weeks; her own influence should be used to make those meetings more
frequent, rather than less. She would condescend to no scheming to
attain what was worth having only if it came as a free-will gift.

When she spoke again it was to invite Jean and her friend to dinner the
next evening.

"We are expecting some of Robert's old friends, and we need you two
girls to balance numbers. You must come!"

Jean hesitated. She had just decided to refuse all invitations; but
this was put in the light of a favour, which it would seem discourteous
to refuse. Besides, Vanna had seemed interested in Robert Gloucester.
She must consider poor, dear Vanna!

"You are sure you want us? Really? It seems so soon to come again. If
any of the men drop out, be sure to let us know. We shall quite
understand," she replied, assuaging her conscience with this loophole of
escape, and Edith rose to say good-bye, smiling another