As yet it was scarcely dark out of doors, and in a few minutes Dare had the satisfaction of seeing the same woman cross the ward and emerge upon the slope without. This time she was bonneted, and carried a little basket in her hand. A nearer view showed her to be, as he had expected, Milly Birch, Paula’s maid, who had friends living in Markton, whom she was in the habit of visiting almost every evening during the three hours of leisure which intervened between Paula’s retirement from the dressing-room and return thither at ten o’clock. When the young woman had descended the road and passed into the large drive, Dare rose and followed her. ‘O, it is you, Miss Birch,’ said Dare, on overtaking her. ‘I am glad to have the pleasure of walking by your side.’ ‘Yes, sir. O it’s Mr. Dare. We don’t see you at the castle now, sir.’ ‘No. And do you get a walk like this every evening when the others are at their busiest?’ ‘Almost every evening; that’s the one return to the poor lady’s maid for losing her leisure when the others get it--in the absence of the family from home.’ ‘Is Miss Power a hard mistress?’ ‘No.’ ‘Rather fanciful than hard, I presume?’ ‘Just so, sir.’ ‘And she likes to appear to advantage, no doubt.’ ‘I suppose so,’ said Milly, laughing. ‘We all do.’ ‘When does she appear to the best advantage? When riding, or driving, or reading her book?’ ‘Not altogether then, if you mean the very best.’ ‘Perhaps it is when she sits looking in the glass at herself, and you let down her hair.’ ‘Not particularly, to my mind.’ ‘When does she to your mind? When dressed for a dinner-party or ball?’ ‘She’s middling, then. But there is one time when she looks nicer and cleverer than at any. It is when she is in the gymnasium.’ ‘O--gymnasium?’ ‘Because when she is there she wears such a pretty boy’s costume, and is so charming in her movements, that you think she is a lovely young youth and not a girl at all.’ ‘When does she go to this gymnasium?’ ‘Not so much as she used to. Only on wet mornings now, when she can’t get out for walks or drives. But she used to do it every day.’ ‘I should like to see her there.’ ‘Why, sir?’ ‘I am a poor artist, and can’t afford models. To see her attitudes would be of great assistance to me in the art I love so well.’ Milly shook her head. ‘She’s very strict about the door being locked. If I were to leave it open she would dismiss me, as I should deserve.’ ‘But consider, dear Miss Birch, the advantage to a poor artist the sight of her would be: if you could hold the door ajar it would be worth five pounds to me, and a good deal to you.’ ‘No,’ said the incorruptible Milly, shaking her head. ‘Besides, I don’t always go there with her. O no, I couldn’t!’ Milly remained so firm at this point that Dare said no more.