u
mayn't think it a very creditable thing, but I'll tell you just what
happened, and you can draw your own conclusions. I went over to France,
and saw your aunt, the Marquise, and asked her to let me have my money
back. That's the plain truth of it. She'll tell you so herself. I'd
heard she was very fond of you--devoted to you--and that she was very
rich and generous--and so I thought, if I told her exactly how matters
stood, it would be a good chance to--to--recoup myself for--the loan."

Ashley sprang up with another laugh. "He does that well, doesn't he?" he
said to Olivia. "Come along, old boy," he added, slipping his arm
through Davenant's. "If I let you stay here you'll perjure your very
soul."

Davenant allowed himself to be escorted to the door. Over his shoulder
Ashley called back to Olivia: "Fellows are never good friends till after
they've had a fight."

XXIV

When Ashley, after pushing Davenant gently out into the hall, returned
to Olivia, she was standing by the mantelpiece, where the five K'ang-hsi
vases had been restored to their place in honor of the Marquise.

"Rum chap, isn't he?" Ashley observed. "So awfully queer and American.
No Englishman would ever have taken a jaunt like that--after the old
lady--on another chap's behalf. It wouldn't go down, you know."

Olivia, leaning on the mantelpiece, with face partially turned from him,
made no reply.

He allowed some minutes to pass before saying: "When I asked him how he
liked the _Louisiana_ I wanted to know. I'm thinking of taking her on
her next trip home."

She turned slightly, lifting her eyes. There was a wonderful light in
them, and yet a light that seemed to shine from afar. "Wouldn't that be
rather soon?"

"It would give me time for all I want. Now that I'm here I'd better take
a look at New York and Washington, and perhaps get a glimpse of your
South. I could do that in three weeks."

She seemed to have some difficulty in getting her mind to follow his
words. "I don't think I understand you."

There was a smile on his lips as he said: "Don't you infer anything?"

"If I _inferred_ anything, it would be that you think of going
home--alone."

"Well, that's it."

She turned fully round. For a long minute they stood staring at each
other. Time and experience seemed both to pass over them before she
uttered the one word: "Why?"

"Isn't it pretty nearly--self-evident?"

She shook her head. "Not to me."

"I'm surprised at