outside. And that was the last they saw of Mr. Green at
Maidstone.

They set out soon afterwards, Mr. Caryll travelling in his lordship's
chaise, and Leduc following in his master's.

It was an hour or so after candle-lighting time when they reached
Croydon, the country lying all white under a full moon that sailed in
a clear, calm sky. His lordship swore that he would go no farther that
night. The travelling fatigued him; indeed, for the last few miles
of the journey he had been dozing in his corner of the carriage,
conversation having long since been abandoned as too great an effort
on so bad a road, which shook and jolted them beyond endurance. His
lordship's chaise was of an old-fashioned pattern, and the springs
far from what might have been desired or expected in a nobleman's
conveyance.

They alighted at the "Bells." His lordship bespoke supper, invited Mr.
Caryll to join them, and, what time the meal was preparing, went into a
noisy doze in the parlor's best chair.

Mistress Winthrop sauntered out into the garden. The calm and fragrance
of the night invited her. Alone with her thoughts, she paced the lawn a
while, until her solitude was disturbed by the advent of Mr. Caryll. He,
too, had need to think, and he had come out into the peace of the night
to indulge his need. Seeing her, he made as if to withdraw again; but
she perceived him, and called him to her side. He went most readily. Yet
when he stood before her in an attitude of courteous deference, she was
at a loss what she should say to him, or, rather, what words she should
employ. At last, with a half-laugh of nervousness, "I am by nature very
inquisitive, sir," she prefaced.

"I had already judged you to be an exceptional woman," Mr. Caryll
commented softly.

She mused an instant. "Are you never serious?" she asked him.

"Is it worth while?" he counter-questioned, and, whether intent or
accident, he let her see something of himself. "Is it even amusing--to
be serious?"

"Is there in life nothing but amusement?"

"Oh, yes--but nothing so vital. I speak with knowledge. The gift of
laughter has been my salvation."

"From what, sir?"

"Ah--who shall say that? My history and my rearing have been such that
had I bowed before them, I had become the most gloomy, melancholy man
that steps this gloomy, melancholy world. By now I might have found
existence insupportable, and so--who knows? I might have set a term to
it. But I had the wisdom to prefe