problem, had given her
a special radiance. It glowed on lip and cheek, and shone in her Irish
eyes.

She had paused to look at a man approaching down the avenue. He was not
a labourer, and she did not know him. Men who were not labourers usually
rode or drove, and this one was walking. He was neither young nor old,
and, though at a distance his aspect was not attracting, she found that
she regarded him curiously, and waited for him to draw nearer.

The man himself was glancing about him with a puzzled look and knitted
forehead. When he had passed through the village he had seen things he
had not expected to see; when he had reached the entrance gate, and--for
reasons of his own--dismissed his station trap, he had looked at the
lodge scrutinisingly, because he was not prepared for its picturesque
trimness. The avenue was free from weeds and in order, the two gates
beyond him were new and substantial. As he went on his way and reached
the first, he saw at about a hundred yards distance a tall girl in white
standing watching him. Things which were not easily explainable always
irritated him. That this place--which was his own affair--should present
an air of mystery, did not improve his humour, which was bad to begin
with. He had lately been passing through unpleasant things, which had
left him feeling himself tricked and made ridiculous--as only women can
trick a man and make him ridiculous, he had said to himself. And there
had been an acrid consolation in looking forward to the relief of
venting one's self on a woman who dare not resent.

"What has happened, confound it!" he muttered, when he caught sight
of the girl. "Have we set up a house party?" And then, as he saw more
distinctly, "Damn! What a figure!"

By this time Betty herself had begun to see more clearly. Surely this
was a face she remembered--though the passing of years and ugly living
had thickened and blurred, somewhat, its always heavy features. Suddenly
she knew it, and the look in its eyes--the look she had, as a child,
unreasoningly hated.

Nigel Anstruthers had returned from his private holiday.

As she took a few quiet steps forward to meet him, their eyes rested on
each other. After a night or two in town his were slightly bloodshot,
and the light in them was not agreeable.

It was he who spoke first, and it is possible that he did not quite
intend to use the expletive which broke from him. But he was remembering
things also. Here were eyes