"She is quite the best-read woman I have ever met, Master," John
Derringham said. "You must let me bring her over here one day to see
you--you would delight in her wit and beauty. She does not leave you a
dull moment."

"Yes, bring her," the Professor returned between the puffs at his long
pipe. "I have never met any of these new hothouse roses grafted upon
briar roots. I should like to study how the system has worked."

"Quite admirably, as you will see. I do not know any Englishwomen who
are to compare to such Americans in brilliancy and fascination."

Over Halcyone, in spite of her serenity, there crept a feeling of cold.
She did not then analyze why, and, as was her habit when anything began
to distress her, she looked out of the window, whether it were night or
day. She always did this, and when her eyes saw Nature in any of her
moods, calm returned to her.

"She will simply revel in La Sarthe Chase when she sees it," Mr.
Derringham went on, now addressing Halcyone. "She is a past-mistress in
knowledge of the dates of things. You are going to have the most
delicious neighbor, Miss Halcyone, and in learning, a foeman worthy of
your steel."

Cheiron was heard to chuckle wickedly, and when his former Oxford pupil
asked him with mild humor the reason of his inappropriate mirth, he
answered dryly:

"She is never likely to see the inside of the park even. Queen Victoria
did not receive divorced persons, and the Misses La Sarthe, in