untenance fell, shame again crept over it, and she murmured,
'O Sibyl----!'

'Don't distress yourself the least on my account. That's an understood
thing; no mention, no allusion, ever between us. And the truth is that
my position is just a little like yours: on the whole, I'm rather glad.
Hugh wants desperately to get to the other end of the world, and I dare
say it's the best thing I could do to go with him. No roughing it, of
course; that isn't in my way.'

'I should think not, indeed!'

'Oh, I may rise to those heights, who knows! If the new sensation ever
seemed worth the trouble.--In a year or two, we shall meet and compare
notes. Don't expect long descriptive letters; I don't care to do
indifferently what other people have done well and put into print--it's
a waste of energy. But you are sure to have far more interesting and
original things to tell about; it will read so piquantly, I'm sure, at
Honolulu.'

They drank tea together, and talked, in all, for a couple of hours.
When she rose to leave, Alma, but for her sombre drapings, was totally
changed from the limp, woebegone, shrinking girl who had at first
presented herself.

'There's no one else,' she said, 'who would have behaved to me so
kindly and so nobly.'

'Nonsense! But _that's_ nonsense, too. Let us admire each other; it
does us good, and is so very pleasant.'

'I shall say goodbye to no one but you. Let people think and say of me
what they like; I don't care a snap of the fingers. In deed, I _hate_
people.'

'Both sexes impartially?'

It was a peculiarity of their intimate converse that they never talked
of men, and a jest of this kind had novelty sufficient to affect Alma
with a slight confusion.

'Impartially--quite,' she answered.

'Do make an exception in favour of Hugh's friend, Mr. Rolfe. I abandon
all the rest.'

Alma betrayed surprise.

'Strange! I really thought you didn't much like Mr. Rolfe,' she said,
without any show of embarrassment.

'I didn't when I first knew him; but he grows upon one. I think him
interesting; he isn't quite easy to understand.'

'Indeed he isn't.'

They smiled with the confidence of women fancy-free, and said no more
on the subject.

Carnaby came home to dinner brisk and cheerful; he felt better than for
many a day. Brightly responsive, Sibyl welcomed his appearance in the
drawing-room.

'Saw old Rolfe for a minute at the club. In a vile temper. I wonder
whether he really has lost money, an