of the afternoon
to themselves. He roamed the country-side till long after dark, and the
stable-clock of Givre was striking seven as he walked up the avenue to
the court.

In the hall, coming down the stairs, he encountered Anna. Her face was
serene, and his first glance showed him that Owen had kept his word and
that none of her forebodings had been fulfilled.

She had just come down from the school-room, where Effie and the
governess were having supper; the little girl, she told him, looked
immensely better for her Swiss holiday, but was dropping with sleep
after the journey, and too tired to make her habitual appearance in the
drawing-room before being put to bed. Madame de Chantelle was resting,
but would be down for dinner; and as for Owen, Anna supposed he was off
somewhere in the park--he had a passion for prowling about the park at
nightfall...

Darrow followed her into the brown room, where the tea-table had been
left for him. He declined her offer of tea, but she lingered a moment
to tell him that Owen had in fact kept his word, and that Madame de
Chantelle had come back in the best of humours, and unsuspicious of the
blow about to fall.

"She has enjoyed her month at Ouchy, and it has given her a lot to talk
about--her symptoms, and the rival doctors, and the people at the hotel.
It seems she met your Ambassadress there, and Lady Wantley, and
some other London friends of yours, and she's heard what she calls
'delightful things' about you: she told me to tell you so. She attaches
great importance to the fact that your grandmother was an Everard of
Albany. She's prepared to open her arms to you. I don't know whether it
won't make it harder for poor Owen...the contrast, I mean...There are no
Ambassadresses or Everards to vouch for HIS choice! But you'll help me,
won't you? You'll help me to help him? To-morrow I'll tell you the rest.
Now I must rush up and tuck in Effie..."

"Oh, you'll see, we'll pull it off for him!" he assured her; "together,
we can't fail to pull it off."

He stood and watched her with a smile as she fled down the half-lit
vista to the hall.

XIV

If Darrow, on entering the drawing-room before dinner, examined its new
occupant with unusual interest, it was more on Owen Leath's account than
his own.

Anna's hints had roused his interest in the lad's love affair, and he
wondered what manner of girl the heroine of the coming conflict might
be. He had guessed that Owen's re