hose elusive days
when the familiar forms of things seem about to dissolve in a prismatic
shimmer.

The stillness was presently broken by joyful barks, and Darrow, tracking
the sound, overtook Effie flying down one of the long alleys at the head
of her pack. Beyond her he saw Miss Viner seated near the stone-rimmed
basin beside which he and Anna had paused on their first walk to the
river.

The girl, coming forward at his approach, returned his greeting almost
gaily. His first glance showed him that she had regained her composure,
and the change in her appearance gave him the measure of her fears. For
the first time he saw in her again the sidelong grace that had charmed
his eyes in Paris; but he saw it now as in a painted picture.

"Shall we sit down a minute?" he asked, as Effie trotted off.

The girl looked away from him. "I'm afraid there's not much time; we
must be back at lessons at half-past nine."

"But it's barely ten minutes past. Let's at least walk a little way
toward the river."

She glanced down the long walk ahead of them and then back in the
direction of the house. "If you like," she said in a low voice, with one
of her quick fluctuations of colour; but instead of taking the way he
proposed she turned toward a narrow path which branched off obliquely
through the trees.

Darrow was struck, and vaguely troubled, by the change in her look
and tone. There was in them an undefinable appeal, whether for help or
forbearance he could not tell. Then it occurred to him that there might
have been something misleading in his so pointedly seeking her, and he
felt a momentary constraint. To ease it he made an abrupt dash at the
truth.

"I came out to look for you because our talk of yesterday was so
unsatisfactory. I want to hear more about you--about your plans and
prospects. I've been wondering ever since why you've so completely given
up the theatre."

Her face instantly sharpened to distrust. "I had to live," she said in
an off-hand tone.

"I understand perfectly that you should like it here--for a time."
His glance strayed down the gold-roofed windings ahead of them. "It's
delightful: you couldn't be better placed. Only I wonder a little at
your having so completely given up any idea of a different future."

She waited for a moment before answering: "I suppose I'm less restless
than I used to be."

"It's certainly natural that you should be less restless here than at
Mrs. Murrett's; yet somehow I