The Colonel shifted uneasily in his chair. "Most extraordinary! for--you
see--my dear young lady--this becomes--a--er--most delicate affair."

"That's what maw said," returned the young woman simply, yet with the
faintest smile playing around her demure lips and downcast cheek.

"I mean," said the Colonel, with a pained yet courteous smile, "that
this--er--gentleman--is in fact--er--one of my clients."

"That's what maw said too, and of course your knowing him will make it
all the easier for you."

A slight flush crossed the Colonel's cheek as he returned quickly and a
little stiffly, "On the contrary--er--it may make it impossible for me
to--er--act in this matter."

The girl lifted her eyes. The Colonel held his breath as the long lashes
were raised to his level. Even to an ordinary observer that sudden
revelation of her eyes seemed to transform her face with subtle
witchery. They were large, brown, and soft, yet filled with an
extraordinary penetration and prescience. They were the eyes of an
experienced woman of thirty fixed in the face of a child. What else the
Colonel saw there Heaven only knows! He felt his inmost secrets
plucked from him--his whole soul laid bare--his vanity, belligerency,
gallantry--even his mediaeval chivalry, penetrated, and yet illuminated,
in that single glance. And when the eyelids fell again, he felt that a
greater part of himself had been swallowed up in them.

"I beg your pardon," he said hurriedly. "I mean--this matter may
be arranged--er--amicably. My interest with--and as you wisely