said interested him immensely. He had seen her first in Paris a few
months before at an exhibition of battle paintings. He had come upon her
standing quite alone before _High Tide at Gettysburg_, the picture of the
year; and he had noted the quick mounting of color to her cheeks as the
splendid movement of the painting--its ardor and fire--took hold of her.
He saw her again in Florence; and it was from there that he had
deliberately followed the Claibornes.

His own plans were now quite unsettled by his interview with Von
Stroebel. He fully expected Chauvenet in Geneva; the man had apparently
been on cordial terms with the Claibornes; and as he had seemed to be
master of his own time, it was wholly possible that he would appear
before the Claibornes left Geneva. It was now the second day after Von
Stroebel's departure, and Armitage began to feel uneasy.

He stood with Shirley quite near the shop door, watching for Captain
Claiborne to come back with the carriage.

"But America--isn't America the most marvelous product of romance in the
world,--its discovery,--the successive conflicts that led up to the
realization of democracy? Consider the worthless idlers of the Middle
Ages going about banging one another's armor with battle-axes. Let us
have peace, said the tired warrior."

"He could afford to say it; he was the victor," said Shirley.

"Ah! there is Captain Claiborne. I am indebted to you, Miss Claiborne,
for many pleasant suggestions."

The carriage was at the door, and Dick Claiborne came up to them at once