before her cheeks had lost flesh and roundness. Being probably
near-sighted, she kept her eyes half-closed; there were cunning
little wrinkles at the corners of them. In spite of appearances,
she was unwilling to present any outward acknowledgment of the
march of time. Her hair was palpably dyed--her hat was jauntily
set on her head, and ornamented with a gay feather. She walked
with a light tripping step, swinging her bag, and holding her
head up smartly. Her manner, like her dress, said as plainly as
words could speak, "No matter how long I may have lived, I mean
to be young and charming to the end of my days." To Alban's
surprise she stopped and addressed him.

"Oh, I beg your pardon. Could you tell me if I am in the right
road to Miss Ladd's school?"

She spoke with nervous rapidity of articulation, and with a
singularly unpleasant smile. It parted her thin lips just widely
enough to show her suspiciously beautiful teeth; and it opened
her keen gray eyes in the strangest manner. The higher lid rose
so as to disclose, for a moment, the upper part of the eyeball,
and to give her the appearance--not of a woman bent on making
herself agreeable, but of a woman staring in a panic of terror.
Careless to conceal the unfavorable impression that she had
produced on him, Alban answered roughly, "Straight on," and tried
to pass her.

She stopped him with a peremptory gesture. "I have treated you
politely," she said, "and how do you treat me in return? Well! I
am not surprised. Men are all brutes by nature--and you are a
man.