lanced up at the
newcomers, and the officer in the big chair turned his head. The woman
was young and very remarkable looking, with the pearl-pale skin of a
true Parisian, large dark eyes under clearly sketched black brows, and
masses of prematurely white hair.

For a second, Dierdre thought this beautiful hair must be blonde, as the
woman could not be more than twenty-eight; but the light from the
window fell full upon the silver ripples, blanching them to dazzling
whiteness.

"What a lovely creature," the girl thought. "What can have happened to
turn her hair white?"

As for the man, Dierdre took an instant dislike to him, for his
selfishness. His face was burned a deep, ruddy brown, and his eyes, lit
by the red glow of the fire, were bright with a black, bead-like
brightness. They stared so directly, so unblinkingly at Brian, that
Dierdre was vexed. She was his chosen friend, his confidante, his
champion now! Not even Sirius could be more fiercely devoted than she,
who had to atone for her past injustice. She was angry that blind Brian
should be thus coldly stared at, and that a man in better health than he
should calmly sprawl in the best chair, screening the fire.

By this time, Padre, you will have learned enough about Dierdre
O'Farrell to know what her temper is! She forgot that a stranger might
not realize Brian's blindness at first sight in a room where the dusk
was creeping in, and she spoke sharply, in her almost perfect French.

"There's quite a nice fire," she said, "and I should have thought there
was room for everybody to enjoy it, but it seems there's only enough for
_one_! We'd better try the _salle a manger_, instead, I suppose."

Brian, puzzled, paused at the door, his hand on Sirius's head, Dierdre
standing in front of them both like a ruffled sparrow.

The French officer straightened up in his chair with an astonished look,
but did not rise. It was the woman by the window (Dierdre had not
connected her with the man by the fire) who sprang to her feet.
"Mademoiselle," she said quietly, in a voice of exquisite sweetness,
"my husband would be the first one in the world to move, and give his
place to others, if he had known that he was monopolizing the fire. But
he did not know. It was I who placed him there. Those eyes of his which
look so bright are made of crystal. He lost his sight at the Chemin des
Dames."

As she spoke, choking on the last words, the woman with white hair
crossed the roo