"
"Who?" demanded his companion jealously.
"Octavia. Unconsciously, yet surely, she has done much for me, and this
year of seeming loss and misery has been the happiest, most profitable
of my life. I have often heard that afflictions were the best teachers,
and I believe it now."
Mrs. Snowdon shook her head sadly.
"Not always; they are tormentors to some. But don't preach, Maurice. I
am still a sinner, though you incline to sainthood, and I have one
question more to ask. What was it that took you and Jasper so suddenly
away from Paris?"
"That I can never tell you."
"I shall discover it for myself, then."
"It is impossible."
"Nothing is impossible to a determined woman."
"You can neither wring, surprise, nor bribe this secret from the two
persons who hold it. I beg of you to let it rest," said Treherne
earnestly.
"I have a clue, and I shall follow it; for I am convinced that something
is wrong, and you are--"
"Dear Mrs. Snowdon, are you so charmed with the birds that you forget
your fellow-beings, or so charmed with one fellow-being that you forget
the birds?"
As the sudden question startled both, Rose Talbot came along the
terrace, with hands full of holly and a face full of merry mischief,
adding as she vanished, "I shall tell Tavie that feeding the
peacocks is such congenial amusement for lovers, she and Mr.
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