ormont of their
travels; and I must confess the lady talked well, with no
affectation of enthusiasm, and with an evident knowledge and
appreciation of the things she was speaking about. I envied her
those wanderings in sunny foreign lands, even though they had been
made in the company of an invalid dowager, and I wondered whether
she would be happy in a settled existence at Thornleigh.

After dinner Milly took me out upon the terrace, and from thence we
went to explore the gardens. We had not been out long before Julian
Stormont came to join us. We had been talking pleasantly enough till
he appeared, but his coming seemed to make us both silent, and he
himself had a thoughtful air. I watched his pale face as he walked
beside us in the twilight, and was again struck by the careworn look
about the brow and the resolute expression of the mouth.

He was very fond of Milly. Of that fact there could be no possible
doubt; and I think he had already begun to suffer keenly from the
knowledge that his love was unreturned. That he hoped against hope
at this time--that he counted fully on his power to win her in the
future, I know. He was too wise to precipitate matters by any
untimely avowal of his feelings. He waited with a quiet resolute
patience which was a part of his nature.

Of course we talked a little, but it was in a straggling, desultory
kind of way; and I think it was a relief to all of us when we
finished the round of the gardens and went in through one of the
drawing-room windows. The room was lighted with lamps and candles
placed about upon the tables, and Mrs. Darrell was sitting near her
husband, employed upon some airy scrap of fancy-work, while he read
his _Times_.

He asked for some music soon after we went in, and she rose to obey
him with a very charming air of submission. She played
magnificently, with a power and style that were quite new to me, for
I had heard no professional performers. She sang an Italian scena
afterwards, in a rich mezzo-soprano, and with a kind of suppressed
passion that impressed me deeply. I scarcely wondered, after hearing
her play and sing, that Mr. Darrell had been fascinated by her.
These gifts of hers were in themselves sufficient to subjugate a man
who really cared for music.

Milly was charmed into forgetfulness of her prejudices. She went
over to the piano and kissed her stepmother.

'Papa told me how clever you were,' she said; 'but he did not tell
me you were a geni