e!"

There was something extravagant in the sweetness of the smile which
emphasized the speech, and altogether, Madame d'Estrees, in this new
maternal aspect, was not as agreeable as usual. Part of her charm
perhaps had always lain in the fact that she had no domestic topics of
her own, and so was endlessly ready for those of other people. Those,
indeed, who came often to her house were accustomed to speak warmly of
her "unselfishness"--by which they meant the easy patience with which
she could listen, smile, and flatter.

Perhaps Ashe made this tacit demand upon her, no less than other people.
At any rate, as she talked cooingly on about her daughter, he would have
found her tiresome for once but for some arresting quality in that
small, distant figure. As it was, he followed what she said with
attention, and as soon as she had been recaptured by the impatient
Italian Ambassador, he moved off, intending slowly to make his way to
Lady Kitty. But he was caught in many congratulations by the road, and
presently he saw that his friend Darrell was being introduced to her by
the old habitue of the house, Colonel Warington, who generally divided
with the hostess the "lead" of these social evenings.

Lady Kitty nodded carelessly to Mr. Darrell, and he sat down beside her.

"That's a cool hand for a girl of eighteen!" thought Ashe. "She has the
airs of a princess--except for the chatter."

Chatter indeed! Wherever he moved, the sound of the light hurrying voice
made itself persistently heard through the hum of male conversation.

Yet once, Ashe, looking round to see if Darrell could be dislodged,
caught the chatterer silent, and found himself all at once invaded by a
slight thrill, or shock.

What did the girl's expression mean?--what was she thinking of? She was
looking intently at the crowded room, and it seemed to Ashe that
Darrell's talk, though his lips moved quickly, was not reaching her at
all. The dark brows were drawn together, and beneath them the eyes
looked sorely out. The delicate lips were slightly, piteously open, and
the whole girlish form in its young beauty appeared, as he watched, to
shrink together. Suddenly the girl's look, so wide and searching, caught
that of Ashe; and he moved impulsively forward.

"Present me, please, to Lady Kitty," he said, catching Warington's arm.

"Poor child!" said a low voice in his ear.

Ashe turned and saw Louis Harman. The tone, however--allusive, intimate,
patroniz