duction of
bone-dust. As for the "three R's" she herself had given the youngsters
an elementary grounding there, which was about all she was capable of
doing, she declared frankly, with her bright laugh--indeed, she wondered
that she was even capable of doing that.

Lalante's order of beauty was extremely hard to define, but it was there
for all that. Hers were no straight classical features; the contour of
the face was rather towards roundness, and the cupid-bow mouth was not
small, but it was tempting in repose, and perfectly irresistible when
flashing into a frequent and brilliant smile. It was a face that was
provoking in its contradictoriness--the lower half, mobile, mischievous,
fun-loving: while the steady straight glance of the large grey eyes, and
the clearly marked brows, spelt "character" writ in capitals. It
seemed, too, as if Nature had been undecided whether to create her fair
or dark, and had given up the problem half way, for there was a golden
sheen in the light brown hair, which the warmth of colouring that would
come and go beneath the clear skin almost seemed to contradict.

All of which Wyvern was going over in his own mind, for the hundredth
time, as on this particular evening he sat watching her, deciding, not
for the first time either, that if there was one situation more than
another in which she seemed at her very best, it was here in her home
circle. He was not talking much; Le Sage was drowsy and inclined to
nod. However, he was more than content to sit there revelling in the
sheer contemplation of her--now helping to amuse the small boys, now
running a needle through a few stitches of work, now throwing a bright
smile or some laughing remark across to him. Then, having at length
packed the youngsters off to bed, she was free for a long, delightful
chat--Le Sage was snoring audibly by this time. It was an evening--one
of many--that he would remember to the end of his life, and no instinct
or presentiment seemed to warn him that it might be the last of the kind
he was destined to experience. At last Le Sage snored so violently that
he woke himself, and, jumping up, pronounced it time to turn in--which
indisputably it was. But the announcement brought a certain amount of
relief to Lalante, for she had not been without anxiety on the ground of
leaving the two alone together.

"I have been simply adoring you all the evening, my darling," whispered
Wyvern passionately, as he released h