have carried
his pike so cheerily either, if his eyes had been good enough to see
across the German Ocean. Well, perhaps the story isn't true; very few
melodramatic legends are."

"I shall try not to believe it; but I am afraid you have destroyed an
illusion."

"You don't say so?" was the reply. "I regret it extremely. If I had but
known you carried such things about with you! Indeed, I will be more
careful for the future. We are out-walking the main-guard, I see. Shall
we wait for them here? It is a good point of view. One forgets that
there are two invalids to be considered."

Did Royston Keene speak thus purposely, on the principle of those
practiced periodical writers, who always leave their hero in extreme
peril, or their heroine on the verge of a moral precipice, in order to
keep our curiosity tense till the next number? If not, chance favored
him by producing the very effect he would have desired.

His companion's fair cheek flashed again, and this time a little
vexation had something to say to it. It was incontestably correct to
wait for the rest of the party, but she would have preferred originating
the suggestion. Besides, the conversation had begun to interest her; and
she liked being amused too well not to be sorry for its being cut short
abruptly. She thought Major Keene talked epigrammatically; and the
undercurrent of irony that ran through all he said was not so obtrusive
as to seriously offend her.

It was no light ordeal he had just passed through. First impressions are
not made on women of Cecil Tresilyan's class so easily as they are upon
guileless _debutantes_; but they are far more important and lasting. It
is useless attempting to pass off counterfeit coin on those expert
money-changers; but they value the pure gold all the more when it rings
sharp and true. It is always so with those who have once been Queens of
Beauty. A certain imperial dignity attaches to them long after they have
ceased to reign: over the brows that have worn worthily the diadem
there still hangs the phantasm of a shadowy crown. There need be nothing
of repellent haughtiness, or, what is worse, of evident condescension;
but, though they are perfectly gentle and good-natured, we risk our
little sallies and sarcasms with timidity, or at least diffidence;
feeling especially that a commonplace compliment would be an inexcusable
profanation. Our sword may be ready and keen enough against others, but
before _them_ we lower its