rican colonies on pain of instant arrest and
deportation."

Cecil waited to hear no more, but, pleading an imperative engagement,
rushed away to summon the members of his party to a hurried council of
war in their private sitting-room. All were present with the exception
of Miss Arminster, who had gone to spend the day at a convent in the
suburbs, where she had been brought up as a child.

After an hour of useless debating the council ended, as Banborough might
have foreseen from the first, in the party giving up any solution of the
problem as hopeless, and putting themselves unreservedly in his hands to
lead them out of their difficulties. Cecil, who felt himself ill
equipped for the role of a Moses, jammed his hat on his head, lit his
pipe, and, thrusting his hands in his pockets, said he was going out
where he could be quiet and think about it.

"Going to the Blue Nunnery, he means," said Smith, laughing, and nudging
Spotts.

The actor grunted. Apparently the author's attentions to the fascinating
Violet did not meet with his unqualified approval.

An hour later Banborough stood in the grey old garden of the nunnery,
the sister who was his guide silently pointing out to him the figure of
the little actress, whose bright garments were in striking contrast to
the severe simplicity of her surroundings. When the Englishman turned to
thank the nun, she had disappeared, and he and Miss Arminster had the
garden to themselves.

She stood with her back to him, bending over some roses, unconscious of
his presence, and for a few moments he remained silent, watching her
unobserved. The ten days which had passed had done much to alter his
position towards her, and he had come to fully realise that he was
honestly in love with this woman. Even the fact of her having been
married at Ste. Anne de Beau Pre, which information he had elicited from
her on the occasion of their pilgrimage to that shrine a few days
before, had not served to cool his ardour. Indeed, the fact that his
suit seemed hopeless made him all the more anxious to win her for his
wife.

After he had been watching her for some minutes, a subtle intuition
seemed to tell her of his presence, and he approached her as she raised
her face from the roses to greet him.

"I came to see you--" he began, and paused, hardly knowing how to
continue.

"Am I not then allowed even one holiday?" she asked.

"Is my presence so much of a burden?" he inquired, realising for