nion was not clear, but she
thought he was one who would act in accordance with it. She was afterward
even more astonished at her next remark, which she made impulsively.

"You have seen a good deal of Miss Crestwick, one way or another."

He considered this gravely.

"Yes," he replied. "I like her. For one thing, she's genuinely concerned
about that brother of hers."

"What do you think of him?"

"Not much," Lisle answered candidly. "I've no use for a man who needs a
woman to keep him straight and look after him. But one feels a strong
respect for the woman, even though it's obvious that she's wasting her
time."

"Is it wasting time?"

"It strikes me like that. A man of that sort is bound to come down badly
some day."

Millicent sat silent a while. The conversation had taken an unusually
serious turn, but she wondered whether he were right. She had, she
thought, allowed Clarence to assume that she would not repulse him when
he formally claimed her and that--so this man from the wilds
considered--constituted a binding obligation. She could not contest this
view; but Clarence seemed more interested in Bella Crestwick than he was
in her. Then she wondered why the girl had made so much of Lisle, unless
it was to use him for the purpose of drawing Clarence on. If that were
so, it seemed a pity that the confiding Canadian could not be warned,
though that, of course, was out of the question.

"I'm afraid I'm not very amusing to-day," she acknowledged.

He smiled.

"I'll go the moment you want to get rid of me; but, even if you don't say
anything, I like sitting here. This place rests me."

"I shouldn't have imagined you to be of a very restful nature."

"Oh," he declared, "there's a kind of quietness that braces you."

He was less reserved than the average Englishman, but he felt the charm
of his surroundings more keenly than the latter would probably have done.
Everything in the room was artistic, but its effect was deeper than mere
prettiness. It was cool, though the autumn sunshine streamed in, and the
girl had somehow impressed her personality upon it. Soft colorings,
furniture, even the rather incongruous mixture of statuettes and ivory
carvings, blended into a harmonious whole, and the girl made a most
satisfactory central figure, as she sat opposite him in her unusually
thoughtful mood. He felt the charm of her presence, though he could
hardly have analyzed it. As he said, it was not even needful that