"

"What do you mean by 'blowing out the candle'?" she asked.

"Well," he answered, "it means, shut up shop, drop the curtain, or
anything you like. It means X Y Z and the grand finale!"

"Oh!" she said, with a little start, as the thing dawned upon her.
"Don't speak like that; you're not going to die."

"Give me your handkerchief," he answered. "Give it to me, and I'll tell
you--how soon."

She jammed her hand down in her pocket. "No, I won't," she answered. "I
won't!"

She never did, and he liked her none the less for that. Somehow, up to
this time, he had always thought that he would get well, and to-morrow
he would probably think so again; but just for the moment he felt the
real truth.

Presently she said (they spoke in French):

"Why is it you like our old kitchen so much? It isn't nearly as nice as
the parlour."

"Well, it's a place to live in, anyhow; and I fancy you all feel more at
home there than anywhere else."

"I feel just as much at home in the parlour as there," she retorted.

"Oh, no, I think not. The room one lives in the most is the room for any
one's money."

She looked at him in a puzzled way. Too many sensations were being born
in her all at once; but she did recognise that he was not trying to
subtract anything from the pomp of the Lavilettes.

He belonged to a world that she did not know--and yet he was so
perfectly at home with her, so idly easygoing.

"Did you ever live in a castle?" she asked eagerly. "Yes," he said,
with a dry little laugh. Then, after a moment, with the half-abstracted
manner of a man who is recalling a long-forgotten scene, he added: "I
lived in the North Tower, looking out on Farcalladen Moor. When I wasn't
riding to the hounds myself I could see them crossing to or from the
meet. The River Stavely ran between; and just under the window of the
North Tower is the prettiest copse you ever saw. That was from one side
of the tower. From the other side you looked into the court-yard. As a
boy, I liked the court-yard just as well as the moor; for the pigeons,
the sparrows, the horses and the dogs were all there. As a man, I liked
the moor better. Well, I had jolly good times in Castle Stavely--once
upon a time." "Yet, you like our kitchen!" she again urged, in a maze of
wonderment.

"I like everything here," he answered; "everything--everything, you
understand!" he said, looking meaningly into her eyes.

"Then you'll like the wedding--Sophie's wedding," she