Her last word, "_enfant,_" was a caress, and Paul was too
bewildered with joy to answer her for a moment.

"What will happen?" he said at last. "I shall just love you--that's
all!"

Then he remembered Isabella Waring, and suddenly covered his face with
his hands.

They stopped for tea at the quaint chalet-hotel, and after it they
wandered to pick gentians. The lady was sweet and sympathetic and gay;
she ceased startling him with wild fancies; indeed, she spoke of
simple everyday things, and got him to tell her of his home and
Oxford, and his horses and his dogs. And when they arrived at the
subject of Pike, her sympathy drew Paul nearer to her than ever. Of
course she would love Pike if she only knew him! Who could help loving
a dog like Pike? And his master waxed eloquent. Then, when he looked
away, the lady's weird chameleon eyes melted upon him in that strange
tenderness which might have been a mother's watching the gambols of
her babe.

The shadows were quite deep when at last they decided to return to
Lucerne--a small bunch of heaven's own blue flower the only trophy of
the day.

Paul had never enjoyed himself so much in his twenty-three years of
life. And what would the evening bring? Surely more joy. This parting
at the landing could not be good-night!

But as the launch glided nearer and nearer his heart fell, and at last