the sake of the opera,
but which had been odious to him. She had warmed him by her apparent
enthusiasm, by her sympathy. He had been obliged to acknowledge that she
was very forgiving. He had certainly not been "nice" to her in London.
Her simplicity in telling him she had felt his conduct, her sweetness in
being so ready to forget it, to enter into his expectations, to wish him
well, had fascinated him, roused his chivalry. But most of all had her
few words by the wall after Said Hitani's music touched him, been
instrumental in bringing him nearer to her.

"She showed me a bit of her real self," he thought. "And she was not
sorry afterward that she had shown it to me."

He had made her a return for this, the return which she had wanted; but
to Claude it seemed no return at all.

"You are really going away to-night?" he said now. And there was a note
of regret in his voice which was not missed by her.

"I can't possibly leave Jacques alone any longer," said Madame Sennier.
"And what have we to do here? We aren't getting local color for an
opera."

"No, no; of course, you want to get away!" said Claude quickly, and
stiffening with constraint.

"I should love to stay on. This place fascinates me by its strangeness,
its marvellous position," said Mrs. Shiffney.

She looked at Claude.

"But I suppose we must go back. Will you take me for a last walk before
tea?"

"Of course."

Madame Sennier passed the tip of her tongue across her scarlet lips.

"Over the bridge and up into the pine-wood?"

"Wherever you like."

At this moment Armand Gillier walked brusquely into the room. Mrs.
Shiffney turned to Henriette.

"We'll leave Monsieur Gillier to take care of you."

Henriette's lips tightened. Gillier said:

"_Bien_, madame!"

As Mrs. Shiffney and Claude left the room Gillier bowed with very formal
politeness. The door shut. After a pause Gillier said:

"You go away to-night, madame?"

Madame Sennier sat down on a settee by a round table on which lay
several copies of _L'Illustration_, in glazed black covers, _La Depeche
Algerienne_, and a guide to Constantine.

She had been awake most of the previous night, with jealous care
studying the libretto Gillier had sold to Claude, which had been put
into her hands by Mrs. Shiffney. At once she had recognized its unusual
merit. She had in a high degree the faculty, possessed by many clever
Frenchwomen, of detecting and appraising the value of a work of art. S