moustache; but his
scrutiny proceeded no further, for just then he caught sight of a
familiar face and figure on the platform that made him shrink back into
his corner, and wish that he, too, had a newspaper, behind which he
could hide himself.

There was no mistaking that slim, graceful figure and the little, close
black bonnet. There was something about Mrs. Blake which he would have
recognised a quarter of a mile off. By Jove! she was coming towards his
compartment. Her hands were full of parcels, and she was asking a
gray-headed old gentleman to open the door for her--how handsome and
bright and alert she looked, as she smiled her acknowledgment! The old
gentleman looked back once or twice--even old fogeys have eyes for a
pretty woman--but Mrs. Blake was too busy arranging her parcels in the
rack to notice the impression she had made.

If only he had had that newspaper he might have pretended that he was
asleep; but when the parcels were in their place she would see him.
There was nothing for him but to take the initiative.

'Let me put that up for you, Mrs. Blake;' and at the sound of his voice
she turned round.

In a moment he knew that she was not pleased to see him--that if she had
discovered that he was there, nothing would have induced her to enter
the compartment. It was his extraordinary quickness of intuition that
made him know this, and the sudden shade that crossed her face when he
addressed her. Underneath Mrs. Blake's smooth speeches and charm of
manner he had always been conscious of some indefinable antagonism to
himself; as he had once told Geraldine, there was no love lost between
them. 'In a ladylike way, she certainly hates me,' he had said.

'Dear me, Captain Burnett, how you startled me! I thought there were
only strangers in the carriage. Thank you; that parcel is rather heavy.
I have been shopping in Warnborough and am terribly laden; I hope Cyril
will meet me--if the omnibus be not at the station, I must certainly
take a fly. I had no idea you were coming back until to-morrow. Kester
certainly said to-morrow. How delighted he will be, dear boy, when I
tell him I have seen you!'

'The christening will be to-morrow, you know, and I have to stand
sponsor to my small cousin.'

'Ah, to be sure! How stupid of me to forget! and yet Mollie told me all
about it. It is very soon--baby is only a month old, is he not? But I
hear Mrs. Harcourt is not to be allowed to go to the church.'

'No; so