but because
in such a primeval place as Castel Casteggio the natural primitive
relation of the sexes is bound to reassert itself.

But of love Mr. Spillikins never thought. He had viewed it so eagerly
and so often from a distance that when it stood here modestly at his
very elbow he did not recognize its presence. His mind had been
fashioned, as it were, to connect love with something stunning and
sensational, with Easter hats and harem skirts and the luxurious
consciousness of the unattainable.

Even at that, there is no knowing what might have happened. Tennis, in
the chequered light of sun and shadow cast by summer leaves, is a
dangerous game. There came a day when they were standing one each side
of the net and Mr. Spillikins was explaining to Norah the proper way to
hold a racquet so as to be able to give those magnificent backhand
sweeps of his, by which he generally drove the ball halfway to the
lake; and explaining this involved putting his hand right over Norah's
on the handle of the racquet, so that for just half a second her hand
was clasped tight in his; and if that half-second had been lengthened
out into a whole second it is quite possible that what was already
subconscious in his mind would have broken its way triumphantly to the
surface, and Norah's hand would have stayed in his--how willingly--!
for the rest of their two lives.

But just at that moment Mr. Spillikins looked up, and he said in quite
an altered tone.

"By Jove! who's that awfully good-looking woman getting out of the
motor?"

And their hands unclasped. Norah looked over towards the house and said:

"Why, it's Mrs. Everleigh. I thought she wasn't coming for another
week."

"I say," said Mr. Spillikins, straining his short sight to the
uttermost, "what perfectly wonderful golden hair, eh?" "Why, it's--"
Norah began, and then she stopped. It didn't seem right to explain that
Mrs. Everleigh's hair was dyed. "And who's that tall chap standing
beside her?" said Mr. Spillikins.

"I think it's Captain Cormorant, but I don't think he's going to stay.
He's only brought her up in the motor from town." "By Jove, how good of
him!" said Spillikins; and this sentiment in regard to Captain
Cormorant, though he didn't know it, was to become a keynote of his
existence.

"I didn't know she was coming so soon," said Norah, and there was
weariness already in her heart. Certainly she didn't know it; still
less did she know, or anyone else, that t