t, and all this coming to her with a
poignancy that, even now, brought the tears to her heart and filled it
to overflowing.

As she saw his thin body, his eyes, his head and the attitude of the boy
in all his movements and gestures she knew that, for her, he belonged to
that earlier world. She knew it so certainly that, although he had not
yet spoken, she could be sure of the exact quality that his voice would
have.

And confused with this recognition of him was the alarm that she always
felt when her early life returned to her.

Also she was young enough to be pleased at the agitation into which her
coming had thrown him. It meant, plainly, so much to him; although he
was silent he leant forward in his chair, with his eyes fixed upon her,
waiting for his opportunity.

Miss Rand, watching him, saw how tremendously this meeting with one of
the family excited him, and, seeing him, her heart filled with pity.
"He's so young. It is hard. He does want someone to look after him."

Rachel's happiness had, now, returned to her. She liked them all so
much, it was all so cosy, it was so good of them to wish to see her. She
talked with Mrs. Rand about the theatre and the opera.

"We're going to the opera to-night--the _Meistersinger_. I've heard it
in Munich twice, but never with Van Rooy, who's singing to-night. I
believe that's an experience one never forgets----"

Mrs. Rand did not really care about opera; everything in opera happened
so slowly, except in _Carmen_, and even that was better simply as a
play. She liked musical comedy because there you could laugh, or plays
like _The Mikado_, for instance.

She was vague as to the _Meistersinger_ and she had never heard of Van
Rooy, but she said, "I agree with you, Miss Beaminster. There's nobody
like him."

At that Breton struck in with something about music that he had heard in
strange places abroad, and then Rachel, looking in his face for the
first time, asked him about his travels.

As their eyes and voices met she was again overwhelmed with the vivid
consciousness of their earlier meeting. She thought, "If I were to ask
him whether he remembered that same snow and silence he would say yes--I
know he would say yes."

Miss Rand, with eyes that were kind but very, very sharp, watched them.
She noticed the eagerness of Breton and wished that he did not seem
quite so anxious to please. "But that's because he's young," she thought
again.

And, now that he had begun