so with an air of extreme interest, as though profoundly gratified
by the meeting. Seldom breaking silence himself, he lent the most
flattering attention to anyone who spoke, his brows knitted in the
resolve to grasp and assimilate whatever wisdom was uttered:

"Did you walk out from Hollingford?" asked Lady Ogram, who again had
her eyes fixed on the visitor.

"No, I drove, as I didn't know the way."

"You'd have done much better to walk. Couldn't you ask the way? You
look as if you didn't take enough exercise. Driving, one never sees
anything. When I'm in new places, I always walk. Miss Bride and I
are going to Wales this summer, and we shall walk a great deal. Do
you know Brecknock? Few people do, but they tell me it's very fine.
Perhaps you are one of the people who always go abroad? I prefer my
own country. What did you think of the way from Hollingford?"

To this question she seemed to expect an answer, and Dyce, who was
beginning to command himself, met her gaze steadily as he spoke.

"There's very little to see till you come to Shawe. It's a pretty
village--or rather, it was, before someone built that hideous
paper-mill."

Scarcely had he uttered the words when he became aware of a change
in Lady Ogram's look. The gleam of her eyes intensified; deeper
wrinkles carved themselves on her forehead, and all at once two rows
of perfect teeth shone between the pink edges of her shrivelled
lips.