er all that Lord Hunsdon had left unsaid--and
keep his soul unspotted. It was marvellous, incredible. She recalled
confusedly something Hunsdon had said about his having a beautiful
character--well, that was originally, not after years of degradation.
Besides, Hunsdon was a fanatical enthusiast.

At this point she became aware that Warner was standing beside her,
but as she glanced up in a surprise that restored her self-possession,
he had averted his eyes, and embarrassment had claimed him again. She
was too much of a woman not to rush to the rescue.

[Illustration: "At this point she became aware that Warner was
standing beside her"]

"I have never seen anything so interesting!" she exclaimed with great
animation, "I am sure you will agree with me, although of course
you have met all these great people. Is not this process a vast
improvement upon the daguerreotype? And I am told they expect to do
better still. Have you read 'Venetia'? Do you remember that Disraeli
makes Lord Cadurcis--Byron--assert that Shakespeare did not write
his own plays? Fancy!"

"I never for a moment supposed that he did," replied Warner, evidently
grasping at a subject upon which he felt at home. "Nor did Byron. Nor,
I fancy, will a good many others, when they begin to think for
themselves--or study the Elizabethan era. I have never read any of
Disraeli's novels. Do you think them worth reading?"

He was looking at her now, still with that expression of a saint at
the stake, but obviously inattentive to her literary opinions. Before
she could answer he said abruptly:

"What a fine walker you are! I have never seen a woman walk as you do.
It is not the custom here, and even in England the ladies seemed far
too elegant to do more than stroll through a park."

"I am not at all elegant," replied Anne, smiling; "as my aunt will
tell you. I had to make myself some short skirts, and I get up at
unearthly hours to have my tramp and return in time to dress for
breakfast. But I have never met you."

"I have passed you several times, but of course you did not notice me.
I have a hut up in one of the jungles and I am always prowling about
at that hour in the morning." He hesitated, drew in his breath
audibly, and as he looked down again, the colour rose under his pallid
loose skin. "I came here to-day to meet you," he added.

For a moment Anne felt that she was going to faint. Good God! Had this
dreary outcast found his way to her castles in Sp