at she had been carried away by
a great temptation--the glitter and show of power and all that gold can
buy, and a large circle for the skirts of woman's pride and vanity. If
she had married him instead of Byng, they would now be living in a
small house in Curzon Street, or some such fashionable quarter, with
just enough to enable them to keep their end up with people who had
five thousand a year--with no box at the opera, or house in the
country, or any of the great luxuries, and with a thriving nursery
which would be a promise of future expense--if she had married him! ...
A kinder, gentler spirit was suddenly awake in him, and he did not
despise her quite so much. On her part, she saw him coming nearer, as,
standing in the door of a cottage in a valley, one sees trailing over
the distant hills, with the light behind, a welcome and beloved figure
with face turned towards the home in the green glade.

A smile came to his lips, as suspicion stole away ashamed, and he said:
"This will not do. Jigger will be spoiled. We shall have to see Mr.
Mappin about it."

As she yielded to him the puzzle-box, which she had refused to the
nurse, she said: "And pray who sets the example? I am a very imitative
person. Besides, I asked Mr. Mappin about the broth, so it's all right;
and Jigger will want the puzzle-box when you are not here," she added,
quizzically.

"Diversion or continuity?" he asked, with a laugh, as she held the bowl
of soup to Jigger's lips. At this point the nurse had discreetly left
the room.

"Continuity, of course," she replied. "All diplomatists are puzzles,
some without solution."

"Who said I was a diplomatist?" he asked, lightly.

"Don't think that I'm guilty of the slander," she rejoined. "It was the
Moravian ambassador who first suggested that what you were by
profession you were by nature."

Jasmine felt Ian hold his breath for a moment, then he said in a low
tone, "M. Mennaval--you know him well?"

She did not look towards him, but she was conscious that he was eying
her intently. She put aside the bowl, and began to adjust Jigger's
pillow with deft fingers, while the lad watched her with a worship
worth any money to one attacked by ennui and stale with purchased
pleasures.

"I know him well--yes, quite well," she replied. "He comes sometimes of
an afternoon, and if he had more time--or if I had--he would no doubt
come oftener. But time is the most valuable thing I have, and I have
less of it