to its appeal.

Barnard--placid man-of-the-world, indulgent connoisseur of all the
luxuries--openly lingered over the delights of the meal; Serracauld ate
quickly and almost greedily, as many men of slight build, and thin,
sensual faces do eat; Deerehurst alone toyed with his food, giving
serious attention to nothing beyond the dry toast with which he was
kept supplied; while Clodagh--young enough and healthy enough to have
an appetite that needed no tempting--frankly enjoyed her dinner,
without at all comprehending its excellence.

During the first portion of the meal, conversation was fitful and
impersonal; but as the waiters left the table to carry in one of the
last dishes, the tone of the intercourse underwent a change. Deerehurst
turned to Clodagh with a sudden gesture of concern and intimacy.

"I see you do not endorse my choice of wine!" he said in a gently
solicitous voice.

She looked up with slight confusion; then looked down at her untouched
glass, in which the champagne bubbles were rapidly subsiding.

"I--I never drink champagne," she said a little diffidently.

"Oh, Mrs. Milbanke! And my poor uncle has been sacking the Abbati
cellars for this particular vintage!" Serracauld glanced up quickly and
almost reproachfully.

Barnard laughed, as he blissfully drained his own glass.

"You are really very unkind, Mrs. Milbanke," he murmured. "You make one
feel such a deplorable worldling."

But Deerehurst looked round towards a waiter who was re-entering the
room.

"Bring this lady another glass and some more champagne!" he said.

Clodagh turned to him sharply and apprehensively. But he touched her
wrist with his finger-tips.

"Please!" he said in his thin, high-bred voice--"please! I want you to
taste this wine. I generally have some difficulty in getting it outside
my own house."

His pale, far-seeing eyes rested on her face; and it seemed to her
excited fancy that their glance supplemented his words. That, as
plainly as eyes could speak, they added the suggestion that some day
she might honour that house with her presence. The idea confused her.
She turned away from him in slight uneasiness; and at the same moment
one of the waiters filled her long Venetian glass with the light golden
wine.

"To please me!" Deerehurst murmured again--"to please me!"

She looked round, confused and still embarrassed; gave one unsteady,
yielding laugh; then lifted the glass.

"If--if I must----" she said depr