I want the colonel to give me his vote.'

The young lady breathed a melodious 'Oh!' not condemnatory or
reproachful--a sound to fill a pause. But she was beginning to reflect.

'Italy and our English Channel are my two Poles,' she said. 'I am
constantly swaying between them. I have told papa we will not lay up the
yacht while the weather holds fair. Except for the absence of deep colour
and bright colour, what can be more beautiful than these green waves and
that dark forest's edge, and the garden of an island! The yachting-water
here is an unrivalled lake; and if I miss colour, which I love, I remind
myself that we have temperate air here, not a sun that fiends you under
cover. We can have our fruits too, you see.' One of the yachtsmen was
handing her a basket of hot-house grapes, reclining beside crisp
home-made loaflets. 'This is my luncheon. Will you share it, Nevil?'

His Christian name was pleasant to hear from her lips. She held out a
bunch to him.

'Grapes take one back to the South,' said he. 'How do you bear
compliments? You have been in Italy some years, and it must be the South
that has worked the miracle.'

'In my growth?' said Cecilia, smiling. 'I have grown out of my Circassian
dress, Nevil.'

'You received it, then?'

'I wrote you a letter of thanks--and abuse, for your not coming to
Steynham. You may recognize these pearls.'

The pearls were round her right wrist. He looked at the blue veins.

'They're not pearls of price,' he said.

'I do not wear them to fascinate the jewellers,' rejoined Miss Halkett.
'So you are a candidate at an Election. You still have a tinge of Africa,
do you know? But you have not abandoned the navy?'

'--Not altogether.'

'Oh! no, no: I hope not. I have heard of you, . . . but who has not? We
cannot spare officers like you. Papa was delighted to hear of your
promotion. Parliament!'

The exclamation was contemptuous.

'It's the highest we can aim at,' Beauchamp observed meekly.

'I think I recollect you used to talk politics when you were a
midshipman,' she said. 'You headed the aristocracy, did you not?'

'The aristocracy wants a head,' said Beauchamp.

'Parliament, in my opinion, is the best of occupations for idle men,'
said she.

'It shows that it is a little too full of them.'

'Surely the country can go on very well without so much speech-making?'

'It can go on very well for the rich.'

Miss Halkett tapped with her foot.

'I should expect a R