The young woman looked at him an instant, smiling again, and the light
in her little blue eyes indicated confusion, but not perversity.

"No, the mamma is ill," she exclaimed, "and the daughter is very busy.
They are preparing to leave Baden."

"To leave Baden? When do they go?"

"I don't quite know, lieber Herr; but very soon."

With this information Bernard turned away. He was rather surprised, but
he reflected that Mrs. Vivian had not proposed to spend her life on the
banks of the Oos, and that people were leaving Baden every day in the
year. In the evening, at the Kursaal, he met Captain Lovelock, who was
wandering about with an air of explosive sadness.

"Damn it, they 're going--yes, they 're going," said the Captain, after
the two young men had exchanged a few allusions to current events.
"Fancy their leaving us in that heartless manner! It 's not the time to
run away--it 's the time to keep your rooms, if you 're so lucky as to
have any. The races begin next week and there 'll be a tremendous crowd.
All the grand-ducal people are coming. Miss Evers wanted awfully to see
the Grand Duke, and I promised her an introduction. I can't make out
what Mrs. Vivian is up to. I bet you a ten-pound note she 's giving
chase. Our friend Wright has come back and gone off again, and Mrs.
Vivian means to strike camp and follow. She 'll pot him yet; you see if
she does n't!"

"She is running away from you, dangerous man!" said Bernard.

"Do you mean on account of Miss Evers? Well, I admire Miss Evers--I
don't mind admitting that; but I ain't dangerous," said Captain
Lovelock, with a lustreless eye. "How can a fellow be dangerous when he
has n't ten shillings in his pocket? Desperation, do you call it? But
Miss Evers has n't money, so far as I have heard. I don't ask you,"
Lovelock continued--"I don't care a damn whether she has or not. She 's
a devilish charming girl, and I don't mind telling you I 'm hit. I stand
no chance--I know I stand no chance. Mrs. Vivian 's down on me, and, by
Jove, Mrs. Vivian 's right. I 'm not the husband to pick out for a young
woman of expensive habits and no expectations. Gordon Wright's the sort
of young man that 's wanted, and, hang me, if Mrs. Vivian did n't want
him so much for her own daughter, I believe she 'd try and bag him for
the little one. Gad, I believe that to keep me off she would like to
cut him in two and give half to each of them! I 'm afraid of that little
woman. She has