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CHAPTER VII.

AT THE PIANO.

IT

T had long been arranged that as soon as Mademoiselle Mathilde had finished her course of water-drinking, she and the Princess Zaraikine should go for a few weeks to the Eaux-Chaudes. Mr. Fleming's plans had been necessarily altered by his illness, and it came gradually to be understood that the whole party should make the same excursion at the same time. I think it was Mademoiselle Mathilde who first proposed the plan; she could not bear the idea, she said, of being

deprived of the only society she had had for many weeks past.

"I should miss your coming in and out, Mr. Humphrey," she said, "and as for your Mr. Fleming, I was mistaken in him, and I am not ashamed to own it. I thought he was one of your moody, illbred Englishmen, but I was wrong. He is rather silent, and I never know what to say to him when we happen to be alone together; but he has good manners. know what good manners are no one better."

women.

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Mr. Fleming's manner always charmed Some one once said of him that his was a chivalrous soul born out of due time and robbed of its belief, and the words expressed sufficiently well that which gave an individual charm and refinement to a man who was not handsome, and who showed much indifference in the matter of tailors. Only, in his case, any such general belief would, I think, have

been largely modified in any age by his particular views about women. To mere beauty he was too much accustomed for it to affect him beyond a certain point, and though he looked upon plain women as imperfect creations, he was tolerant of them when they were cultivated and intelligent and could talk well. But a touch of commonness in mind or speech repelled him, and from obtrusive, loud-voiced women he absolutely fled. But I do not think they ever found it out, for he had an habitual gentleness and deference of manner which arose from great natural courtesy and kindness of heart, and which in a man whose powerful and delicate genius was known to all the world, could not fail to be flattering. Even Mademoiselle Mathilde who had no sort of respect for genius-she was no philosopher, but she held the advanced view that genius is a malady of which the less there is in the world the better-even Mademoiselle Ma

thilde, as we have seen, was won over; though, I believe that Mr. Fleming had no very great liking for the old lady, and seldom said more to her than was demanded by the ordinary courtesies of life.

Humphrey, we may be sure, offered no opposition to this change in Mr. Fleming's plans. He asked for nothing better than to be near Ersilia, and if henceforward he found pain as well as delight in her society, if her unconscious kindness, her sweet indifference at once soothed and chilled him, it will be readily believed that he was not the less anxious on that account to linger on in the one presence that had power to transform the world for him. Perhaps, after it was finally settled that they should remain at the Eaux-Bonnes, he thought that those old mountain walks with his cousin might be resumed, but if so he was disappointed. It happened then as it often does in

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life. People

People fall into some pleasant habit and fancy, perhaps, that it will last for ever. There comes a slight break,

of no importance they think; to-day it rains, but to-morrow it will be fine. But to-morrow it rains again, and the next day the relative position of things is altered; the charm is broken, and refuses to work again. Twice, indeed, Humphrey asked Ersilia to join him in his walks, but on the first occasion she was busy with her manuscripts; Mr. Fleming was giving her invaluable help, and she wished to devote the afternoon to her work. The second time she consented, but it did, in fact, begin to rain (for the weather was broken) and she could not go.

Humphrey did not mind the rain. A restless spirit was in the lad during those last days at the Eaux-Bonnes. He took long walks by himself over the mountains, starting early, and returning late, wander