ould have been here to-day."

She shut up the photographs on a sudden, and drew her chair a little
away from him.

"I hope," she said, "you have not so poor an opinion of me as to think I
like to be flattered?"

Romayne answered with an earnestness that instantly satisfied her.

"I should think it an act of insolence to flatter you," he said. "If
you knew the true reason why I hesitated to accept Lady Loring's
invitation--if I could own to you the new hope for myself that has
brought me here--you would feel, as I feel, that I have been only
speaking the truth. I daren't say yet that I owe you a debt of gratitude
for such a little thing as a look. I must wait till time puts certain
strange fancies of mine to the proof."

"Fancies about me, Mr. Romayne?"

Before he could answer, the dinner bell rang. Lord and Lady Loring
entered the library together.

The dinner having pursued its appointed course (always excepting the
case of the omelet), the head servant who had waited at table was
graciously invited to rest, after his labors, in the housekeeper's room.
Having additionally conciliated him by means of a glass of rare liqueur,
Miss Notman, still feeling her grievance as acutely as ever, ventured
to inquire, in the first place, if the gentlefolks upstairs had enjoyed
their dinner. So far the report was, on the whole, favorable. But the
conversation was described as occasionally flagging. The burden of the
talk had been mainly borne by my lord and my lady, Mr. Romayne and
Miss Eyrecourt contributing but little to the social enjoyment of the
evening. Receiving this information without much appearance of interest,
the housekeeper put another question, to which, judging by her
manner, she attached a certain importance. She wished to know if the
oyster-omelet (accompanying the cheese) had been received as a welcome
dish, and treated with a just recognition of its merits. The answer to
this was decidedly in the negative. Mr. Romayne and Miss Eyrecourt
had declined to taste it. My lord had tried it, and had left it on his
plate. My lady alone had really eaten her share of the misplaced dish.
Having stated this apparently trivial circumstance, the head servant was
surprised by the effect which it produced on the housekeeper. She leaned
back in her chair and closed her eyes, with an appearance of unutterable
enjoyment. That night there was one supremely happy woman in London. And
her name was Miss Notman.

Ascending f