f perceiving; he saw only her
eyes, soft-shining as they rose to his, in their depths an infinite
gentleness.

"How glad I am that you got my letter just before leaving Petersburg!"

"How kind of you to introduce me to Mrs. Borisoff!"

"I thought you would soon be friends."

It was all they could say. At this moment, the host murmured his
request that Otway would take down Mrs. Borisoff; the hostess led up
someone to be introduced to Miss Derwent. Then the procession began.

Piers was both disappointed and relieved. To have felt the touch upon
his arm of Irene's hand would have been a delight unutterable, yet to
desire it was presumption. He was not worthy of that companionship; it
would have been unjust to Irene to oblige her to sit by him through the
dinner, with the inevitable thoughts rising in her mind. Better to see
her from a distance--though it was hard when she smiled at the
distinguished and clever-looking man who talked, talked. It cost him,
at first, no small effort to pay becoming attention to Mrs. Borisoff;
the lady on his other hand, a brilliant beauty, moved him to a feeling
almost hostile--he knew not why. But as the dinner progressed, as the
kindly vintage circled in his blood, he felt the stirrings of a deep
joy. By his own effort he had won reception into Irene's world. It was
something; it was much--remembering all that had gone before.

He spoke softly to his partner.

"I am going to drink a silent health--that of my friend Korolevitch. To
him I owe everything."

"I don't believe _that_, but I will drink it too--I was speaking of him
to Miss Derwent. She wants to know all about the Dukhobortsi. Instruct
her, afterwards, if you get a chance. Do you think her altered?"

"No--yes!"

"By the bye, how long is it really since you first knew her?"

"Eight years--just eight years."

"You speak as if it were eighty."

"Why, so it seems, when I look back. I was a boy, and had the strangest
notions of the world."

"You shall tell me all about that some day," said Mrs. Borisoff,
glancing at him. "At the Castle, perhaps----"

"Oh yes! At the Castle!"

When the company divided, and Piers had watched Irene pass out of
sight, he sat down with a tired indifference. But his host drew him
into conversation on Russian subjects, and, as had happened before now
in gatherings of this kind, Otway presently found himself amid
attentive listeners, whilst he talked of things that interested him. At
such