Janet found Aunt Félicité a most quaint and charming old lady, as
cheerful and full of vivacity as many a girl of seventeen. She kissed
Janet on both cheeks when the Major introduced her; asked whether she
was fiancée; complimented her on her French; declaimed a passage from
Racine; put her poodle through a variety of amusing tricks; and pressed
Janet to assist at her luncheon of cream cheese, French roll,
strawberries and white wine.

A slight sense of disappointment swept across Janet's mind, like the
shadow of a cloud across a sunny field. She had been two hours at the
Lindens without having seen Captain George. In vain she told herself
that she had come to spend the day with Major Strickland, and to be
introduced to Aunt Félicité, and that nothing more was wanting to her
complete contentment. That something more was needed she knew quite
well, but she would not acknowledge it even to herself. HE knew of her
coming; he had been with Aunt Félicité only half an hour before--so much
she learned within five minutes of her arrival; yet now, at the end of
two hours, he had not condescended even to come and speak to her. She
roused herself from the sense of despondency that was creeping over her
and put on a gaiety that she was far from feeling. A very bitter sense
of self-contempt was just then at work in her heart; she felt that never
before had she despised herself so utterly. She took her hat in her
hand, and put her arm within the Major's and walked with him round his
little demesne. It was a walk that took up an hour or more, for there
was much to see and learn, and Janet was bent this morning on having a
long lesson in botany; and the old soldier was only too happy in having
secured a listener so enthusiastic and appreciative to whom he could
dilate on his favourite hobby.

But all this time Janet's eyes and ears were on the alert in a double