ut she pleaded fatigue, and they sat alone in the
dimness.

"Who was that dissipated-looking fellow who took you in to supper? I
wanted to take you myself, but he was too quick for me. Rather a
striking-looking head, if he were not such a terrible waster!"

"His name is Lowther."

Francis straightened himself, startled into vivid attention.

"_Lowther_! Hereward Lowther--_that's_ how I knew his face! I've seen
it in caricatures. The idea of meeting Lowther here! I should not have
thought dances were in his line."

"He does not dance."

"Then why on earth does he trouble to come?"

Lilith did not answer. She knew; but had no intention of sharing her
knowledge, and Francis was too much engrossed in his own reflections to
pursue the question.

"So that is Lowther! Good heavens, how excited I should have been two
or three years ago at the idea of meeting him in the same room! Sad how
that man has fizzled out! He promised such big things, bigger things
than any other man of his day. I've heard him singled out a score of
times as the man who was going to save England, and now"--he shrugged,
and flicked his large fingers--"it's all over; nothing left but the
wreck of a man. Drugs, they say. Something of the sort evidently; he
carries it in his face. Not the sort of man for you to have anything to
do with, little girl!"

Francis's voice dropped to a tender note as he spoke the last words, and
Lilith lifted her heavy lids and smiled at him with gentle sweetness.
It was seldom that he had obtained more than a glimpse of those downcast
eyes, but now they met his and held them in a lingering look which sent
the blood racing through his veins. Suddenly, imperatively, the
patience of years was broken, and hot words flowed from his lips. He
loved her; she was the sweetest, the dearest of women. For years he had
loved her; he would love her all his life; would live only to serve her.
It was his own feelings on which he enlarged; his own feelings, which
were obviously of the first importance. In his ardour there was no hint
of anxiety. He was in love, but confidently in love. He had but to
speak, and she would come fluttering to his arms.

But he wooed her well, denying her no tittle of her woman's kingdom. He
held her hands in his, and his big voice softened tenderly as he made
his vows.

"I will take care of you,--such care as was never taken of a woman
before! You are not fit to stand alone; you ar