."

"She is always so interested," Lois said, "in things which she does
not understand. You talked so well this afternoon, Mr. Saton. I am
afraid I could not follow you, but it sounded very brilliant and very
wonderful."

"One speaks convincingly," he said, "when one really feels. Some day,
remember," he continued, "we are going to have a long, long talk. We
are going to begin at the beginning, and you are going to let me help
you to understand how many wonderful things there are in life which
scarcely any of us ever even think about. I wonder----"

"Well?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Will they let me take you down to dinner?"

She shook her head doubtfully.

"I am afraid not," she said. "I am almost certain to go in with
Captain Vandermere."

He sighed.

"After all," he said, "perhaps I had better have taken that train to
town."

CHAPTER VII

AN UNWELCOME VISITOR

Saton was only a few minutes being whirled down the avenue of Beauleys
and up along the narrow country lane, wreathed with honeysuckle and
wild roses, to Blackbird's Nest. He leaned back in the great car, his
unseeing eyes travelling over the quiet landscape. There was something
out of keeping, a little uncanny, even, in the flight of the motor-car
with its solitary passenger along the country lane, past the hay
carts, and the villagers resting after their long day's toil. The man
who leaned back amongst the cushions, with his pale, drawn face, and
dark, melancholy eyes, seemed to them like a creature from another
world, even as the vehicle in which he travelled, so swift and
luxurious, filled them with wonder. Saton heard nothing of their
respectful good-nights. He saw nothing of their doffed hats and
curious, wondering glances. He was thinking with a considerable amount
of uneasiness of the interview which probably lay before him.

The car turned in at the rude gates, and climbed the rough road which
led to Saton's temporary abode. A servant met him at the door as he
descended, a gray-haired, elderly man, irreproachably attired, whose
manner denoted at once the well-trained servant.

"There is a lady here, sir," he said--"she arrived some hours ago--who
has been waiting to see you. You will find her in the morning-room."

Saton took off his hat, and moved slowly down the little hall.

"I trust that I did not make a mistake, sir, in allowing her to wait?"
the man asked. "She assured me that she was intimately known to you."