n in diamonds and the letter Z. She had given it to him to
examine when he exclaimed at its beauty.

Z!

But he banished both curiosity and possible confirmation. He was
replete and comfortable, and almost happy. The occasional silences
were now merely agreeable. She lay back in her deep chair as relaxed
as himself, but although she said little her aloofness had mysteriously
departed. She looked companionable and serene. Only one narrow foot
in its silvery slipper moved occasionally, and her white and beautiful
hands, whose suggestion of ruthless power Clavering had appreciated
apprehensively from the first, seemed, although they were quiet, subtly
to lack the repose of her body.

Once while he was gazing into the fire he felt sure that she was
examining his profile. He made no pretensions to handsomeness, but he
rather prided himself on his nose, the long fine straight nose of the
Claverings. His brow was also good, but although his hair was black,
his eyes were blue, and he would have preferred to have black eyes, as
he liked consistent types. Otherwise he was one of the "black
Claverings." Northumbrian in origin and claiming descent from the
Bretwaldes, overlords of Britain, the Claverings were almost as fair as
their Anglian ancestors, but once in every two or three generations a
completely dark member appeared, resurgence of the ancient Briton;
sometimes associated with the high stature of the stronger Nordic race,
occasionally--particularly among the women--almost squat. Clavering
had been spared the small stature and the small too narrow head, but
saving his steel blue eyes--trained to look keen and hard--he was as
dark as any Mediterranean. His mouth was well-shaped and closely set,
but capable of relaxation and looked as if it might once have been full
and sensitive. It too had been severely trained. The long face was
narrower than the long admirably proportioned head. It was by no means
as disharmonic a type as Gora Dwight's; the blending of the races was
far more subtle, and when making one of his brief visits to Europe he
was generally taken for an Englishman, never for a member of the Latin
peoples; except possibly in the north of France, where his type, among
those Norman descendants of Norse and Danes, was not uncommon.
Nevertheless, although his northern inheritance predominated, he was
conscious at times of a certain affinity with the race that two
thousand years ago had met and mingle