vein, and graciously disposed to make several concessions to the customs
of an ancient country. Though opposed to the land laws, he would
operate gradually, and gave Lothair more than one receipt how to save
the aristocracy. Lothair would have preferred talking about the lady
they had just quitted, but, as he soon found the professor could really
give him no information about her, he let the subject drop.

But not out of his own mind. He was glad to be alone and brood over the
last two days. They were among the most interesting of his life. He
had encountered a character different from any he had yet met, had
listened to new views, and his intelligence had been stimulated by
remarks made casually, in easy conversation, and yet to him pregnant
with novel and sometimes serious meaning. The voice, too, lingered in
his ear, so hushed and deep, and yet so clear and sweet. He leaned over
his mantel-piece in teeming reverie.

"And she is profoundly religious," he said to himself; "she can conceive
no kind of society without religion. She has arrived at the same
conclusion as myself. What a privilege it would be to speak to her on
such subjects!"

After a restless night the morrow came. About eleven o'clock Lothair
ventured to call on his new friends. The lady was alone; she was
standing by the window, reading an Italian newspaper, which she folded
up and placed aside when Lothair was announced.

"We propose to walk to the station," said Theodora; "the servants have
gone on. Colonel Campian has a particular aversion to moving with any
luggage. He restricts me to this," she said, pointing to her satchel,
in which she had placed the foreign newspaper, "and for that he will not