rose and
followed her.

'O, it is you, Miss Birch,' said Dare, on overtaking her. 'I am glad to
have the pleasure of walking by your side.'

'Yes, sir. O it's Mr. Dare. We don't see you at the castle now, sir.'

'No. And do you get a walk like this every evening when the others are
at their busiest?'

'Almost every evening; that's the one return to the poor lady's maid for
losing her leisure when the others get it--in the absence of the family
from home.'

'Is Miss Power a hard mistress?'

'No.'

'Rather fanciful than hard, I presume?'

'Just so, sir.'

'And she likes to appear to advantage, no doubt.'

'I suppose so,' said Milly, laughing. 'We all do.'

'When does she appear to the best advantage? When riding, or driving, or
reading her book?'

'Not altogether then, if you mean the very best.'

'Perhaps it is when she sits looking in the glass at herself, and you
let down her hair.'

'Not particularly, to my mind.'

'When does she to your mind? When dressed for a dinner-party or ball?'

'She's middling, then. But there is one time when she looks nicer and
cleverer than at any. It is when she is in the gymnasium.'

'O--gymnasium?'

'Because when she is there she wears such a pretty boy's costume, and is
so charming in her movements, that you think she is a lovely young youth
and not a girl at all.'

'When does she go to this gymnasium?'

'Not so much as she used to. Only on wet mornings now, when she can't
get out for walks or drives. But she used to do it every day.'

'I should like to see her there.'

'Why, sir?'

'I am a poor artist, and can't afford models. To see her attitudes would
be of great assistance to me in the art I love so well.'

Milly shook her head. 'She's very strict about the door being locked. If
I were to leave it open she would dismiss me, as I should deserve.'

'But consider, dear Miss Birch, the advantage to a poor artist the sight
of her would be: if you could hold the door ajar it would be worth five
pounds to me, and a good deal to you.'

'No,' said the incorruptible Milly, shaking her head. 'Besides, I don't
always go there with her. O no, I couldn't!'

Milly remained so firm at this point that Dare said no more.

When he had left her he returned to the castle grounds, and though there
was not much light he had no difficulty in discovering the gymnasium,
the outside of which he had observed before, without thinking to inquire
its purpose. Like the erecti