ed: it was still a young face, but--and herein
he found its strangeness--that of a woman who views life without
embarrassment, without anxiety. She sat at her ease, casting careless
glances this way and that. When her eyes fell upon him he winced, yet
she paid no more heed to him than to the other passengers.

Presently she became lost in thought; her eyes fell. Ah! now the
resemblance to the portrait came out more distinctly. Her lips shaped
themselves to that expression which he knew so well, the half-smile
telling of habitual sadness.

His fixed gaze recalled her to herself, and immediately the countenance
changed beyond recognition. Her eyes wandered past him with a look of
cold if not defiant reserve; the lips lost all their sweetness. He was
chilled with vague distrust, and once again asked himself whether this
could be the Eve Madeley whose history he had heard.

Again she fell into abstraction, and some trouble seemed to grow upon
her mind. It was difficult now to identify her with the girl who had
talked and laughed so gaily last evening. Towards the end of the
journey a nervous restlessness began to appear in her looks and
movements. Hilliard felt that he had annoyed her by the persistency of
his observation, and tried to keep his eyes averted. But no; the
disturbance she betrayed was due to some other cause; probably she paid
not the least regard to him.

At Earl's Court she alighted hurriedly. By this time Hilliard had begun
to feel shame in the ignoble part he was playing, but choice he had
none--the girl drew him irresistibly to follow and watch her. Among the
crowd entering the Exhibition he could easily keep her in sight without
risk of his espial being detected. That Eve had come to keep an
appointment with some acquaintance he felt sure, and at any cost he
must discover who the person was.

The event justified him with unexpected suddenness. No sooner had she
passed the turnstile than a man stepped forward, saluting her in form.
Eve shook hands with him, and they walked on.

Uncontrollable wrath seized on Hilliard and shook him from head to
foot. A meeting of this kind was precisely what he had foreseen, and he
resented it violently.

Eve's acquaintance had the external attributes of a gentleman. One
could not easily imagine him a clerk or a shop-assistant smartened up
for the occasion. He was plain of feature, but wore a pleasant, honest
look, and his demeanour to the girl showed not only good