ttering like a nest
of starlings, shrilling high against the slow rumble of the wheels. Miss
Hampton alone was silent amongst them. Their talk was of matrimony, and
the leading lady sparkled out with an engaging inquiry which embraced
the whole carriageful.

'And what about Miss Hampton?'

'Oh,' said the little brown lady demurely, 'I shall die an old maid!'

It was at this instant that a singular and yet accustomed pang assailed
the dramatist's heart. He ought to have known it well enough, in all
conscience, for he had already had an opportunity of studying it four
times over. May Gold had taught it, and Claudia had taught it, and
Annette for a fleeting instant, and Gertrude through a heavy year or
two. He looked at the smiling little face before him, and it took a new
sweetness in his eyes. If he had had his absolute will at that moment,
he would have taken its owner in his arms, and have cried 'No!' to
her protestation. But, then, it is difficult to do these things in
the presence of a whole carriageful of people who make a profession
of comedy, and he restrained himself, wondering a little why such an
impulse should have assailed him. Yet from that time forward he began to
watch and to listen for the monitions of his own heart, which of itself
is a dangerous thing for any susceptible young man to do, and he began
to find charms in Miss Hampton which were quite separate from the
exceptional delicacy of her English speech. He knew very well that he
had no right to fall in love with any woman; he was bound to Annette; he
was tied to her so long as she should live. But being newly awakened to
a sense of the weakness which had pursued him through his life so far,
he became afraid, and watched his own emotions with a jealous care.

The man who is born to fall in love will do it, whatever happens; but
there are, of course, ways and ways of doing it, and this particular way
of keeping guard over the emotions is perhaps as swift as any.

He held the figure at arm's length, as it were, and critically surveyed
it. Why, he asked himself repeatedly, should this simple little
personality appeal to him so strongly? To say the most and the least of
it, it was feminine, and he had made up his mind about the sex when he
had quitted Gertrude. He had honestly despaired of finding a woman who
was not either a coquette or a fool, and he had taught himself to use
the whole sex after the manner of his conception; and now the cynic
fee