other worlds, under the flighty wing of her mother, and looked about
her there. Captain and Mrs. Duncan belonged to the Anglo-French
society, which had sprung into existence since the downfall of
Napoleon I., and was in some degree the outcome of the part played
by Great Britain in the comedy of the Bourbon and Orleanist
collapse. Captain Duncan had retired from the army, changing career
from one of a chartered to an unchartered uselessness, and he herded
with tarnished aristocracy and half-pay failures in the smoking-
rooms of Continental clubs.

Miriam returned, after a short experience of this world, to
Farlingford, as to the better part. At first she accepted
invitations to some of the country houses open to her by her
connection with certain great families. But after a time she seemed
to fall under the spell of that quiet life which is still understood
and lived in a few remote places.

"What can you find to do all day and to think about at night at that
bleak corner of England?" inquired her friends, themselves restless
by day and sleepless by night by reason of the heat of their pursuit
of that which is called pleasure.

"If he wants to marry his cook let him do it and be done with us,"
wrote her mother from the south of France. "Come and join us at
Biarritz. The Prince President will be here this winter. We shall
be very gay . . . . P.S. We shall not ask you to stay with us as we
are hard up this quarter; but to share expenses. Mind come."

But Miriam remained at Farlingford, and there is nothing to be
gained by seeking to define her motive. There are two arguments