time bestowing a radiant smile upon him.

Baroni beamed back at her benevolently.

"So! Thus we agree--we are at one, as master and pupil should be. Is
it not so?"

Diana nodded, amusement in her eyes.

"Then, being agreed, we can continue our lesson. Imagine yourself,
please, to be Delilah, brooding on your vengeance, gloating over what
you are about to accomplish. Can you not picture her to
yourself--beautiful, sinister, like a snake that winds itself about the
body"--his voice fell to a penetrating whisper--"and, in her heart,
dreaming of the triumph that shall bring Samson at last a captive to
destruction?"

Something in the tense excitement of his whispering tones struck an
answering chord within Diana, and oblivious for the moment of all else
except Delilah's passionate thirst for vengeance, she sang with her
whole soul, so that when she ceased, Baroni, in a sudden access of
artistic fervour, leapt from his seat and embraced her rapturously.

"Well done! That is, true art--art and intelligence allied to the
voice of gold which the good God has given you."

Absorbed in the music, neither master nor pupil had observed that
during the course of the song the door had been softly unlatched from
outside and held ajar, and now, just as Diana was somewhat blushingly
extricating herself from Baroni's fervent clasp, it was thrown open and
the unseen listener came into the room.

Baroni whirled round and advanced with outstretched hands, his face
wreathed in smiles.

"_A la bonne heure_! You haf come just at a good moment, Mees de
Gervais, to hear this pupil of mine who will some day be one of the
world's great singers."

Adrienne de Gervais shook hands.

"I've been listening, Baroni. She has a marvellous voice.
But"--looking at Diana pleasantly--"we are neighbours, surely? I have
seen you in Crailing--where we have just taken a house called Red
Gables."

"Yes, I live at Crailing," replied Diana, a little shyly.

"And I saw you, there one day--you were sitting in a pony-trap, waiting
outside a cottage, and singing to yourself. I noticed the quality of
her voice then," added Miss de Gervais, turning to the _maestro_.

"Yes," said Baroni, with placid content. "It is superb."

Adrienne turned back to Diana with a delightful smile.

"Since we are neighbours in the country, Miss Quentin, we ought to be
friends in town. Won't you come and see me one day?"

Diana flushed. She was undoubtedly attrac