this one spot, to shine on that white figure, dancing, swaying, hither
and thither--

Ah! it was over. She stopped; threw, it seemed, some words upward toward
the moon, accompanying them with a wave of her hand. Then she turned
away, and passed slowly out of sight, under the dark trees. As she went,
she began to sing; softly at first, a mere breath of sound; but as she
passed farther and farther on, her song rang out clear and sweet; the
voice and the song that he had heard the night before, in the field
beyond the wall:

"Trois anges sont venus ce soir,
M'apportaient de bien belles choses!"

CHAPTER IX.

ABOUT NOTHING IN PARTICULAR

"Jerusalem!" said Philip Merryweather.

"And Madagascar!" responded his twin brother. "Well, what did I tell
you, old Towser?"

"Yes, I know; but last night, you see, I was half-asleep, and didn't see
it all. This is what I call a room."

Phil sat up in bed, and looked about the great nursery, into which the
early sun was shining brightly.

"The bigness of it!" he said, "if nothing more. You could have quite a
track round this, do you know it? Most rooms are all walls; I hate
walls. Shove the furniture into the middle, and chalk a six-foot
track--hey? What do you say?"

"This!" replied Gerald, throwing a pillow with accurate aim. "Does it
occur to your arboreal, if not river-drift mind, that there are people
under this room? Heehaw! excuse me for not sooner addressing you in your
own language. Here, belay that! I want to know what you think of them
all."

"Jolly!" was Phil's brief but emphatic verdict. But Gerald seemed to
demand something more. "Isn't Mr. Montfort the most corking person you
ever saw?"

"Except three, I should say he was. That lame chap is a corker, too.
Reminds me a bit of the Codger, I don't know why."

"So he does!" said Gerald, eagerly. "I didn't see it before. Queer
stunt, too, because she always makes me think of Hildegarde."

"Who? Miss Peggy? I don't--"

"No, no! Who said anything about Miss Peggy? Miss Montfort, of course."

"They are all Miss Montforts. You mean Miss Margaret? Well--I see what
you mean. She hasn't Hildegarde's beauty, though. Very attractive,
but--"

"That's what I mean!" said Gerald, eagerly. "There's something of that
quiet way, that takes hold of you and--oh, I didn't mean that they
would be taken for sisters. Look here, Elderly Ape, was you thinking of
getting up, or should I bring his gruel,