.

"You'll have lots more given you," I assured her.

"Do you think so?" she asked, in gleefulness dashed with incredulity.

"Scores," said I solemnly.

"I am very grateful to you for--for everything," she said almost in a
whisper, with a sort of penitence that I understood well enough, and an
obvious desire to show every proper feeling toward me.

"I delight to please you above all things now," I answered; but even to
myself the words sounded cold and formal. Yet they were true; it was
above all things my wish to persuade her that she was happy. To this end
I used eagerly the aid of the four (or was it six?) gray horses, the
necklace, and "Their Majesties."

In the next few days I was much with Elsa, but not much alone with her.
There was, of course, no want of ready company, but most of those who
offered themselves merely intensified the constraint which their
presence was expected to remove. Even Victoria overdid her part rather,
betraying an exaggerated fear of leaving us to ourselves. Varvilliers'
admirable tact, his supreme apparent unconsciousness, and his
never-failing flow of gaiety made him our ideal companion. I missed in
him that sympathy with my sombre moods which bound me to Wetter, spirit
to spirit; but for lighter hours, for hours that must be made light, he
was incomparable. With him Elsa bloomed into merriment, and being, as it
were, midway between us, he seemed to me to bridge the gulf of mind and
temperament that separated her from me. Hour by hour she grew happier,
less timid, more her true self. I took great comfort from this excellent
state of things. No doubt I must be careful not to upset her (as
Victoria said), but she was certainly getting used to me (as William
Adolphus said). Moreover, I was getting used to her, to the obligations
she expressed, and to the renunciations she involved. But I had no more
wish to try to upset her.

It must be a familiar fact to many that we are very prone to mistake or
confuse the sources of our pleasure and the causes of such contentment
as we achieve. We attribute to our surroundings in general what is due
to one especial part of them; for the sake of one feature the
landscape's whole aspect seems pleasant; we rob Peter with intent to pay
Paul, and then in the end give the money to somebody else. It is not
difficult to see how Elsa and I came to think that we got on better with
one another because we both got on so well with Varvilliers, that we
were m