on with loathing, and even of the cobbler Simon
with disgust.

Then with a self-righteous sense of duty performed, and an indifferent
shrug of the shoulders, he dismissed Heron from his mind.

"That meddlesome Scarlet Pimpernel will find his hands over-full
to-morrow, and mayhap will not interfere in my affairs for some time to
come," he mused; "meseems that that will be the first time that a member
of his precious League has come within the clutches of such unpleasant
people as the sleuth-hounds of my friend Heron!"

CHAPTER IX. WHAT LOVE CAN DO

"Yesterday you were unkind and ungallant. How could I smile when you
seemed so stern?"

"Yesterday I was not alone with you. How could I say what lay next my
heart, when indifferent ears could catch the words that were meant only
for you?"

"Ah, monsieur, do they teach you in England how to make pretty
speeches?"

"No, mademoiselle, that is an instinct that comes into birth by the fire
of a woman's eyes."

Mademoiselle Lange was sitting upon a small sofa of antique design, with
cushions covered in faded silks heaped round her pretty head. Armand
thought that she looked like that carved cameo which his sister
Marguerite possessed.

He himself sat on a low chair at some distance from her. He had brought
her a large bunch of early violets, for he knew that she was fond of
flowers, and these lay upon her lap, against the opalescent grey of her
gown.

She seemed a little nervous and agitated, his obvious admiration
bringing a ready blush to her cheeks.

The room itself appeared to Armand to be a perfect frame for the
charming picture which she presented. The furniture in it was small and
old; tiny tables of antique Vernis-Martin, softly faded tapestries, a
pale-toned Aubusson carpet. Everything mellow and in a measure pathetic.
Mademoiselle Lange, who was an orphan, lived alone under the duennaship
of a middle-aged relative, a penniless hanger-on of the successful young
actress, who acted as her chaperone, housekeeper, and maid, and kept
unseemly or over-bold gallants at bay.

She told Armand all about her early life, her childhood in the backshop
of Maitre Meziere, the jeweller, who was a relative of her mother's; of
her desire for an artistic career, her struggles with the middle-class
prejudices of her relations, her bold defiance of them, and final
independence.

She made no secret of her humble origin, her want of education in those
days; on the contrary