ng of her grandparents. Peggy had been
delicately, deliciously kind to the shy, proud American youth, whom an
introduction from valued friends had suddenly made free of an English
family clan.

That had been a year before her marriage to Tom Pargeter, the inheritor
of a patent dye process which had made him master of one of those
fantastic fortunes which impress the imagination of even the
unimaginative. That the young millionaire should deign to throw the
matrimonial handkerchief at their little Peggy had seemed to her family
a piece of magic good fortune. She could bring him good old blood, and
certain great social connections, in exchange for limitless wealth; it
had been regarded as an ideal marriage.

More than four years went by before Vanderlyn again saw Peggy, and then
he had found her changed--transformed from a merry, light-hearted girl
into a pensive, reserved woman. During the interval he had often thought
of her as one thinks of a delightful playfellow, but he only came to
love her after their second meeting--when he had seen, at first with
honest dismay, and then with shame-faced gladness, how utterly ill-mated
she and Tom Pargeter were the one to the other.

* * * * *

Vanderlyn made his way over to the other side of the railway carriage;
there he sat down, and, crossing his arms on his breast, after a very
few moments he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

III.

Vanderlyn woke with a start. He looked round, bewildered for a moment.
Then his brain cleared, and he felt vexed with himself, a little ashamed
of having slept. It seemed to him that he had been asleep hours. How
odious it would have been if at the first stopping place of the
demi-rapide some stranger had entered the railway carriage! Instead of
sleeping, he ought to have remained watching over that still figure
which lay so quietly resting on the other side of the carriage.

He stood up. How tired he felt, how strangely depressed and uneasy! But
that, after all, was natural, for his last four nights had been wakeful,
his last four days full of anxiety and suspense.

He turned and looked out of the window, wondering where they were, how
far they had gone; the train was travelling very quickly, he could see
white tree-trunks rushing past him in the moonlight.

Then Vanderlyn took out his watch. Surely it must be later than nine
o'clock? He moved from the window and held the dial close under the blue