"I knew you would own it some day. Do you wonder now that I love
her?"

"Oh! as to loving her," said Sir Norman, coolly, "that's quite
another thing. I could no more love her or her hands, voice, and
shape, than I could a figure in wood or wax; but I admire her
vastly, and think her extremely clever. I will never forget that
face in the caldron. It was the most exquisitely beautiful I
ever saw."

"In love with the shadow of a face! Why, you are a thousand-fold
more absurd than I."

"No," said Sir Norman, thoughtfully, "I don't know as I'm in love
with it; but if ever I see a living face like it, I certainly
shall be. How did La Masque do it, I wonder?"

"You had better ask her," said Ormiston, bitterly. "She seems to
have taken an unusual interest in you at first sight. She would
strew your path with roses, forsooth! Nothing earthly, I
believe, would make her say anything half so tender to me."

Sir Norman laughed, and stroked his moustache complacently.

"All a matter of taste, my dear fellow: and these women are noted
for their perfection in that line. I begin to admire La Masque
more and more, and I think you had better give up the chase, and
let me take your place. I don't believe you have the ghost of a
chance, Ormiston."