om my promise?"

Haughty Hector's stare of amazement was a sight to behold. He, Hector
Darcy, play a game with a tradesman in the saloon of a steamship?
Associate on terms of intimacy with a member of a class who, according
to his ideas, existed for no other reason than to minister to his needs
and requirements? He was breathless with astonishment that such a
request should have been made, and made no concealment of his annoyance.

"Really," he said loftily, "anything in reason that I could do to assist
you would be too great a pleasure, but what you ask is impossible. You
must see for yourself--"

"You will not do it, then?"

"If you will think for one moment, you will realise that you could not
expect--"

Peggy threw back her head and surveyed him deliberately from the crown
of his head to the tip of his shoes, from his shoes up again until the
hazel eyes met his with a mocking light.

"I did not expect--I _hoped_; but I see that even that was a mistake!
Good afternoon, Major Darcy, and many thanks for your polite assurances!
It is gratifying to discover exactly how much they are worth."

She sailed away with her head in the air, leaving Hector to pace the
deck with a frown of thunderous ill-temper disfiguring his handsome
countenance. It was annoying to be worsted by an antagonist of such
small dimensions, but, astonishing as it appeared, he invariably got the
worst of it in a conflict with Peggy Saville!

CHAPTER FOUR.

The next two weeks passed away all too quickly. The latter part of the
voyage had been chill and stormy, so that when Marseilles was reached,
Hector Darcy was seized with a conviction that it would be injudicious
for him to risk the dangers of an English spring, and that wisdom
pointed out a preliminary sojourn in the sunny South. This being the
case, it was only natural that he should betake himself to the hotel
where his friends the Savilles were located, and so make a convenient
fourth in their excursions. It would have been difficult to find a
pleasanter party with whom to travel, for father, mother, and daughter
were all in holiday mood, rejoicing in the prospect of home, and a
reunion with that redoubtable Arthur, whose exploits and excellences
were detailed a dozen times a day. They were so happy together,
moreover, and there was so friendly an understanding between them, that
they made an agreeable contrast to those numerous family parties who
reduce a stranger to a con