such as she had never foreseen, for
which she had received no training. When Denzil revealed to her his
real standing in the world, spoke laughingly of the wealth he had
inherited, and of his political ambitions, her courage failed before
the prospect. She had not dared to let him see all her despondency, for
his impatient and sanguine temper would have resented it. To please him
and satisfy his utmost demands was the one purpose of her life. But the
task he had imposed seemed to her, in these hours of faintness, no less
than terrible.

He entered, gay as usual, ready with tender words, pet names and
diminutives, the "little language" of one who was still a lover. Seeing
how things were with her, he sat down to look over an English
newspaper. Presently his attention strayed, he fell into reverie.

"Well," he exclaimed at length, rousing himself, "they have the news by
now."

She gave no answer.

"I can imagine how Mary will talk. 'Oh, nothing that Denzil does can
surprise me! Whoever expected him to marry in the ordinary way?' And
then they'll laugh, and shrug their shoulders, and hope I mayn't have
played the fool--good, charitable folks!"

Still she said nothing.

"Rather out of sorts to-day, Lily?"

"I wish we were going to stay here--never to go back to England."

"Live the rest of our lives in a Paris hotel!"

"No, no--in some quiet place--a home of our own."

"That wouldn't suit me, by any means. Paris is all very well for a
holiday, but I couldn't make a home here. There's no place like
England. Don't you ever think what an unspeakable blessing it is to
have been born in England? Every time I go abroad, I rejoice that I am
not as these foreigners. Even my Scandinavian friends I can't help
despising a little--and as for Frenchmen! There's a great deal of the
old island prejudice in me."

Lilian smiled, raising herself slightly upon the sofa.

"These old Latin nations have had their day," he continued, with a wave
of the arm. "France, Italy, Spain--they have played their part in
civilization, and have nothing left now but old relics and modern
bluster. The future's with us Teutons. If I were not an Englishman, I
would be an American. The probability is that we shall have a hard
fight one of these days with the Slavs--and all the better, perhaps; I
don't think the world can do without fighting yet awhile."

"I should be sorry to hear you teaching people that," said Lilian.

"Oh," he laughed, "it wo