s the flame had sprung up under her breath, a magic
flame awoke in his heart, and burned high and hot. If he did not lodge
here,

The sky might fall, fish fly, and sheep pursue
The tawny monarch of the Libyan strand!

But he would lodge here. He coughed.

She started and turned, and seeing him, seeing that he had not gone, she
rose with a frown. "What is it?" she said. "For what are you waiting,
sir?"

"I have something in charge for Madame Royaume," he answered.

"I will give it her," she returned sharply. "Why did you not say so at
once?" And she held out her hand.

"No," he said hardily. "I have it in charge for her hand only."

"I am her daughter."

He shook his head stubbornly.

What she would have done on that--her face was hard and promised
nothing--is uncertain. Fortunately for the young man's hopes, a dull
report as of a stick striking the floor in some room above reached their
ears; he saw her eyes flicker, alter, grow soft. "Wait!" she said
imperiously; and stooping to take one of the pipkins from the fire, she
poured its contents into a wooden bowl which stood beside her on the
table. She added a horn-spoon and a pinch of salt, fetched a slice of
coarse bread from a cupboard in one of the dressers, and taking all in
skilled steady hands, hands childishly small, though brown as nuts, she
disappeared through the door of the staircase.

He waited, looking about the room, and at this, and at that, with a new
interest. He took up the book which lay on the settle: it was a learned
volume, part of the works of Paracelsus, with strange figures and
diagrams interwoven with the crabbed Latin text. A passage which he
deciphered, abashed him by its profundity, and he laid the book down,
and went from one to another of the black-framed engravings; from these
to an oval piece in coarse Limoges enamel, which hung over the little
shelf of books. At length he heard a step descending from the upper
floors, and presently she appeared in the doorway.

"My mother will see you," she said, her tone as ungracious as her look.
"But you will say nothing of lodging here, if it please you. Do you
hear?" she added, her voice rising to a more imperious note.

He nodded.

She turned on the lowest step. "She is bed-ridden," she muttered, as if
she felt the need of explanation. "She is not to be disturbed with house
matters, or who comes or goes. You understand that, do you?"

He nodded, with a mental reservation,