and young gentlemen of Exminster.

Canon and Mrs. Ebley finished their dinner in disdainful silence
and sailed from the room with chilling glances, but as Stella
Rawson followed them demurely she raised her soft eyes when she
came to the object of her relatives' contempt, and met his serene
blue ones--and for some reason thrilled wildly.

There was a remarkable and powerful magnetism in his glance; it
was as if a breath of some other world touched her, she seemed to
see into possibilities she had never dreamed about. She resented
being drawn into a far corner on the right hand of the hall, and
there handed an English paper to read for half an hour before
being told to go to bed. She was perfectly conscious that she was
longing for the stranger to come out of the restaurant, that she
might see him again.

But it was not until she was obediently following her aunt's black
broche train to the lift up the steps again that the tall man
passed them in the corridor. He never even glanced in their
direction, and went on as though the space were untenanted--but
had hardly got beyond, when he turned suddenly, and walked rapidly
to the lift door, passing them again. So that the four entered it
presently, and were taken up together.

Stella Rawson was very close to the remarkable looking creature.
And again a wild nameless attraction crept over her. She noticed
his skin was faintly browned with the sun, but was otherwise as
fine as a child's--finer than most children's. And now she could
see that three most wonderful pearls were his shirt-studs.