enlarging upon the only
rational way of rearing pheasants, and you know I'm going away first
thing to-morrow."

"Yes; I know," said Millicent, and then looked up at him with sudden
courage. "I'm sorry."

"Truly sorry; you mean that?" He gave her a very keen glance while he
knitted his brows.

"Yes," she said recklessly; "I mean it. You ought to know I do."

He laid his hand on her shoulder, holding her a little away from him.
"I came up here in a state of horrible indecision, torn different ways
by a sense of the duty I owed you and my selfish longing. Even if
nothing had been said to make it harder for me, I can't tell how the
struggle would have ended."

"Why should there be a struggle?" she asked him.

His grasp tightened and his eyes were steadily fixed upon her face.
"You're very young and beautiful and, though I love you, I'm a broken
man."

"Then it's through no fault of yours."

"The consequences are the same and, apart from this, I have nothing to
offer. Can you wonder, my dear, that I was afraid? I come to you a
beggar, with everything to gain."

"Ah!" she said, "all I have to give is yours; I think it was yours
before you asked for it."

"Then you are not afraid?"

She looked at him with a happy smile. "What should I fear? Aren't you
able to take care of me? It must be for my sake that you are so timid
and I love you for it, but I think this must be the first time you ever
hesitated long. Where has your usual recklessness gone?"

"It's coming back." He passed his arm about her waist, drawing her
strongly to him. "We'll laugh at cold-blooded prudence and take our
chances. It's a wide world, and we'll find a nook somewhere if we go
out and look for it. All my care will be to smooth the trail for your
dear, pretty feet."

They spent a time in happy talk, and Blake murmured when Millicent
protested that they must go back, while she feared that her lover's
exultant air would betray them as they entered the drawing-room.

"Where's the key?" Challoner asked.

"I'm afraid I forgot it, sir," Blake confessed. "Very sorry, but I'm
not even sure I put the things away."

Challoner rang a bell and gave an order to a servant. Then he asked
Millicent: "Did you see the Buddha?"

"No," she said. "I don't think so."

"Or the brass plate with the fantastic serpent pattern round the rim?"

"I'm afraid I didn't," Millicent owned with a trace of confusion.

Challoner looked hard at Blake