either been prepared
by Altiora or she remembered my name. "We met," she said, "while my
step-father was alive--at Misterton. You came to see us"; and instantly
I recalled the sunshine between the apple blossom and a slender pale
blue girlish shape among the daffodils, like something that had sprung
from a bulb itself. I recalled at once that I had found her very
interesting, though I did not clearly remember how it was she had
interested me.

Other guests arrived--it was one of Altiora's boldly blended mixtures of
people with ideas and people with influence or money who might perhaps
be expected to resonate to them. Bailey came down late with an air of
hurry, and was introduced to Margaret and said absolutely nothing to
her--there being no information either to receive or impart and nothing
to do--but stood snatching his left cheek until I rescued him and her,
and left him free to congratulate the new Lady Snape on her husband's K.
C. B.

I took Margaret down. We achieved no feats of mutual expression, except
that it was abundantly clear we were both very pleased and interested
to meet again, and that we had both kept memories of each other. We made
that Misterton tea-party and the subsequent marriages of my cousins
and the world of Burslem generally, matter for quite an agreeable
conversation until at last Altiora, following her invariable custom,
called me by name imperatively out of our duologue. "Mr. Remington," she
said, "we want your opinion--" in her entirely characteristic effort to
get all the threads of conversation into her own hands for the climax
that always wound up her dinners. How the other women used to hate those
concluding raids of hers! I forget most of the other people at that
dinner, nor can I recall what the crowning rally was about. It didn't in
any way join on to my impression of Margaret.

In the drawing-room of the matting floor I rejoined her, with Altiora's
manifest connivance, and in the interval I had been thinking of our
former meeting.

"Do you find London," I asked, "give you more opportunity for doing
things and learning things than Burslem?"

She showed at once she appreciated my allusion to her former
confidences. "I was very discontented then," she said and paused. "I've
really only been in London for a few months. It's so different. In
Burslem, life seems all business and getting--without any reason. One
went on and it didn't seem to mean anything. At least anything that
ma