ion he saw himself
carrying her away into the wilderness, and with his devotion making her
happiness to grow, it was so far a flight, that a smile crept about his
lips, and once or twice he snapped his jaws.

The soldier and his girl rose, passing in front of him down the Row. He
watched their scarlet and blue figures, moving slowly towards the sun,
and another couple close to the rails, crossing those receding forms.
Very straight and tall, there was something exhilarating in the way this
new couple swung along, holding their heads up, turning towards each
other, to exchange words or smiles. Even at that distance they could be
seen to be of high fashion; in their gait was the almost insolent poise
of those who are above doubts and cares, certain of the world and of
themselves. The girl's dress was tawny brown, her hair and hat too of
the same hue, and the pursuing sunlight endowed her with a hazy
splendour. Then, Courtier saw who they were--that couple!

Except for an unconscious grinding of his teeth, he made no sound or
movement, so that they went by without seeing him. Her voice, though not
the words, came to him distinctly. He saw her hand slip up under
Harbinger's arm and swiftly down again. A smile, of whose existence he
was unaware, settled on his lips. He got up, shook himself, as a dog
shakes off a beating, and walked away, with his mouth set very firm.

CHAPTER XXIV

Left alone among the little mahogany tables of Gustard's, where the scent
of cake and of orange-flower water made happy all the air, Barbara had
sat for some minutes, her eyes cast down--as a child from whom a toy has
been taken contemplates the ground, not knowing precisely what she is
feeling. Then, paying one of the middle-aged females, she went out into
the Square. There a German band was playing Delibes' Coppelia; and the
murdered tune came haunting her, a very ghost of incongruity.

She went straight back to Valleys House. In the room where three hours
ago she had been left alone after lunch with Harbinger, her sister was
seated in the window, looking decidedly upset. In fact, Agatha had just
spent an awkward hour. Chancing, with little Ann, into that
confectioner's where she could best obtain a particularly gummy sweet
which she believed wholesome for her children, she had been engaged in
purchasing a pound, when looking down, she perceived Ann standing
stock-still, with her sudden little nose pointed down the shop, a