m. He was faultily
shaped; there was something a little decadent about his deep-set eyes
and receding forehead. Neither was his expression prepossessing. He
looked at her as a man looks upon the thing he hates.

"So, Elizabeth," he said, "this pleasure has come at last!"

"I heard that you were back in England," she replied. "Pray sit down."

Even then her eyes never left his. All the time they seemed to be
fiercely questioning, seeking for something in his features which eluded
them. It was terrible to see the change which the last few minutes had
wrought in her. Her smooth, girlish face had lost its comeliness. Her
eyes, always a little narrow, seemed to have receded. It was such a
change, this, as comes to a brave man who, in the prime of life, feels
fear for the first time.

"I am glad to find you at supper," he declared, taking up the menu. "I
am hungry. You can bring me some grilled cutlets at once," he added to
the waiter who stood by his side, "and some brandy. Nothing else."

The waiter bowed and hurried off. The woman played with her fan but her
fingers were shaking.

"I fear," he remarked, "that my coming is rather a shock to you. I am
sorry to see you looking so distressed."

"It is not that," she answered with some show of courage. "You know me
too well to believe me capable of seeking a meeting which I feared. It
is the strange thing which has happened to you during these last few
months--this last year. Do you know--has any one told you--that you seem
to have become even more like--the image of--"

He nodded understandingly.

"Of poor Wenham! Many people have told me that. Of course, you know that
we were always appallingly alike, and they always said that we should
become more so in middle-age. After all, there is only a year between
us. We might have been twins."

"It is the most terrible thing in likenesses I have ever seen," the
woman continued slowly. "When you entered the room a few seconds ago, it
seemed to me that a miracle had happened. It seemed to me that the dead
had come to life."

"It must have been a shock," the man murmured, with his eyes upon the
tablecloth.

"It was," she agreed, hoarsely. "Can't you see it in my face? I do not
always look like a woman of forty. Can't you see the gray shadows
that are there? You see, I admit it frankly. I was terrified--I am
terrified!"

"And why?" he asked.

"Why?" she repeated, looking at him wonderingly. "Doesn't it seem to you
a te