her Michel on the instant
seemed as a stone man, save for the eyes, which, if I were anything of
an interpreter, showed a live hate and an old-time grudge. During this
meeting, which was brief to abruptness, Father Michel spoke no word,
but bowed low at the first silence which fell between us, taking his
way down the braeside upon such business as he had in hand, and no
questions were asked after his departure concerning either his origin
or his labors, for the duke was ever one who knew the protective power
of silence.

After this encounter between them I played a clumsy detective in
proving that the two avoided each other and that there had been some
interwovenness of interests in the past. Several times when I asked
Father Michel to join us at table he gave me flimsy excuses, and once
the duke pleaded indisposition when I proposed that he should accompany
Father Michel on an inspection of some stained glass which Nancy was
having put in the altar windows of the new chapel.

In many ways, therefore, I became fixed in a belief that there was
hatred in Father Michel for John Montrose, and a distaste for the good
father in the Duke of Borthwicke, such as a man might cherish against
one whom he has greatly wronged.

The second trouble, however, was more acute, for it involved the duke's
treatment of Dandy Carmichael. While we were of a party Montrose was
civil enough, but when the two of them were thrown together the duke
would relapse into an insulting silence, such as one carries in the
presence of servants; would require to be spoken to twice before
answering a question, as though his thoughts were far away; would even
hum to himself as though entirely alone; or put the cap to his
insolence by taking a book from his pocket and reading, sometimes even
marking the rhythm of a verse aloud. So from day to day there was
growing a hatred for the duke in Danvers by reason of his jealousy and
the accumulative discourtesy which he was obliged to endure.

As for Nancy's conduct to the two of them, if it seemed strange to me,
who was her father, it was but natural that it should require some
explanation to those less partial to her, and she had the whole town
talking over which was the favored suitor. She rode with his grace in
the morning, played at billiards with Danvers in the afternoon, perhaps
to be off in the evening with McMurtree of Ainswere, who was maudlin in
his infatuation for her and whom she pronounced the best