seems sudden, and is often striking,
even startling."

"I don't know why, but--but I dread something," Hermione said. "I feel
as if--no, I don't know what I feel. But if Vere should ever drift away
from me I don't know how I could bear it. A boy--one expects him to go
out into the world. But a girl! I want to keep Vere. I must keep Vere.
If anything else were to be taken from me I don't think I could bear
it."

"Vere loves you. Be sure of that."

"Yes."

Hermione got up.

"Well, you won't give me your advice?"

"No, Hermione."

He looked at her steadily.

"You must treat Vere as you think best, order her life as you think
right. In some things you do wisely to consult me. But in this you must
rely on yourself. Let your heart teach you. Do not ask questions of my
head."

"Your head!" she exclaimed.

There was a trace of disappointment, even of surprise, in her voice.
She looked at him as if she were going to say more, but again she was
disconcerted by something in his look, his attitude.

"Well, good-bye, Emile."

"I will come with you to the lift."

He went with her and touched the electric bell. As they waited for a
moment he added:

"I should like to have an evening quietly on the island."

"Come to-night, or whenever you like. Don't fix a time. Come when the
inclination whispers--'I want to be with friends.'"

He pressed her hand.

"Shall I see Peppina?"

"Chi lo sa?"

"And Ruffo?"

She laughed.

"The Marchesino, too, perhaps."

"No," said Artois, emphatically. "Disfigured girls and fisher-boys--as
many as you like, but not the alta aristocrazia Napoletana."

"But I thought--"

"I like Doro, but--I like him in his place."

"And his place?"

"Is not the island--when I wish to be quiet there."

The lift descended. Artois went out once more onto the balcony, and
watched her get into the carriage and drive away towards Naples. She did
not look up again.

"She has gone to fetch that girl Peppina," Artois said to himself, "and
I might have prevented it."

He knew very well the reason why he had not interfered. He had not
interfered because he had wished too much to interfere. The desire had
been strong enough to startle him, to warn him.

An islet! That suggests isolation. Like Hermione, he wished to isolate
Vere, to preserve her as she was in character. He did not know when the
wish had first been consciously in his mind, but he knew that since he
had been consulted by Vere, s