give me the key of the Indian collection?" Blake asked
Challoner.

"Here it is," said the Colonel, who turned to Mrs. Keith. "That
reminds me, you haven't seen my new treasures yet. Dryhurst has lately
sent me some rather good things; among others there's a small Buddha,
exquisitely carved. Shall we go and look at them?"

Mrs. Keith felt angry with him for a marplot, but she said: "Wouldn't
it be better to wait until I'm here in the daylight? If I try to
examine anything closely with these spectacles, they strain my eyes."

"I've had a new lamp placed in front of the case," Challoner persisted,
and Mrs. Keith found it hard to forgive him for his obtuseness.

"Very well," she said in a resigned tone, and when Millicent and Blake
had gone out walked slowly to the door with Challoner.

They were half way up the staircase which led rather sharply from the
hall when she stopped and turned to her companion.

"It's obvious that you have recovered," she said.

"I certainly feel much better, but what prompted your remark?"

"These stairs. You don't seem to feel them, but if you expect me to
run up and down, you'll have to make them shallower and less steep.
I've been up twice since I came; Hilda insisted on my seeing the new
decorations in the west wing, and I must confess to a weakness in my
knee."

Challoner gave her a sharp glance and then said, "I'm sorry. Mrs.
Foster mentioned something about your not walking much; I should have
remembered."

"It's the weather; I find the damp troublesome. If you don't mind, I
think we'll go down."

Challoner gave her his arm, and Millicent, standing in the picture
gallery, noticed their return. She suspected that this was the result
of some manoeuvre of Mrs. Keith's intended for her advantage, and tried
to summon her resolution. The man she loved would sail next day,
believing that his poverty and the stain he had not earned must stand
between them, unless she could force herself to give him a hint to the
contrary. This was the only sensible course, but she timidly shrank
from it.

Blake unlocked a glass case and taking out two shelves laid them on a
table. "There they are," he said with a rather nervous smile. "I've
no doubt the things are interesting, and if our friends come up they
can look at them. But it wasn't Benares brassware that brought me
here."

"Was it not?" Millicent asked with a fluttering heart.

"Certainly not! One couldn't talk with Foster