ls--she carried as
much as a thousand pounds upon her head and shoulders during that three
or four hour. Of course they call her charming; Compuesta no hay muger
fea, as they say at Madrid.'

'I don't doubt it for a moment,' said Somerset, with reserve.

Dare said no more, and presently the door opened, and there stood Paula.

Somerset nodded to Dare to withdraw into an adjoining room, and offered
her a chair.

'You wish to show me the design you have prepared?' she asked, without
taking the seat.

'Yes; I have come round to your opinion. I have made a plan for
the Greek court you were anxious to build.' And he elevated the
drawing-board against the wall.

She regarded it attentively for some moments, her finger resting lightly
against her chin, and said, 'I have given up the idea of a Greek court.'

He showed his astonishment, and was almost disappointed. He had been
grinding up Greek architecture entirely on her account; had wrenched his
mind round to this strange arrangement, all for nothing.

'Yes,' she continued; 'on reconsideration I perceive the want of harmony
that would result from inserting such a piece of marble-work in a
mediaeval fortress; so in future we will limit ourselves strictly to
synchronism of style--that is to say, make good the Norman work by
Norman, the Perpendicular by Perpendicular, and so on. I have informed
Mr. Havill of the same thing.'

Somerset pulled the Greek drawing off the board, and tore it in two
pieces.

She involuntarily turned to look in his face, but stopped before she had
quite lifted her eyes high enough. 'Why did you do that?' she asked with
suave curiosity.

'It is of no further use,' said Somerset, tearing the drawing in the
other direction, and throwing the pieces into the fireplace. 'You have
been reading up orders and styles to some purpose, I perceive.' He
regarded her with a faint smile.

'I have had a few books down from town. It is desirable to know a little
about the architecture of one's own house.'

She remained looking at the torn drawing, when Somerset, observing on
the table the particle of swan's-down he had found in the chair, gently
blew it so that it skimmed across the table under her eyes.

'It looks as if it came off a lady's dress,' he said idly.

'Off a lady's fan,' she replied.

'O, off a fan?'

'Yes; off mine.'

At her reply Somerset stretched out his hand for the swan's-down, and
put it carefully in his pocket-book; whereupon