“Never,” replied her husband; “you are all he loves in the world. A case, Mr. Knox,” he turned to me, “of deathless fidelity rarely met with nowadays and only possible, perhaps, in its true form in an Oriental.” Mrs. Camber having seated herself upon one of the few chairs which was not piled with books, her husband had resumed his place by the writing desk, and I sought in vain to interpret the glances which passed between them. The fact that these two were lovers none could have mistaken. But here again, as at Cray’s Folly, I detected a shadow. I felt that something had struck at the very root of their happiness, in fact, I wondered if they had been parted, and were but newly reunited for there was a sort of constraint between them, the more marked on the woman’s side than on the man’s. I wondered how long they had been married, but felt that it would have been indiscreet to ask. Even as the idea occurred to me, however, an opportunity arose of learning what I wished to know. I heard a bell ring, and: “There is someone at the door, Colin,” said Mrs. Camber. “I will go,” he replied. “Ah Tsong has enough to do.” Without another word he stood up and walked out of the room. “You see,” said Mrs. Camber, smiling in her naive way, “we only have one servant, except Ah Tsong, her name is Mrs. Powis. She is visiting her daughter who is married. We made the poor old lady take a holiday.” “It is difficult to imagine you burdened with household responsibilities, Mrs. Camber,” I replied. “Please forgive me but I cannot help wondering how long you have been married?” “For nearly four years.” “Really?” I exclaimed. “You must have been married very young?” “I was twenty. Do I look so young?” I gazed at her in amazement. “You astonish me,” I declared, which was quite true and no mere compliment. “I had guessed your age to be eighteen.” “Oh,” she laughed, and resting her hands upon the settee leaned forward with sparkling eyes, “how funny. Sometimes I wish I looked older. It is dreadful in this place, although we have been so happy here. At all the shops they look at me so funny, so I always send Mrs. Powis now.” “You are really quite wonderful,” I said. “You are Spanish, are you not, Mrs. Camber?” She slightly shook her head, and I saw the pupils begin to dilate. “Not really Spanish,” she replied, haltingly. “I was born in Cuba.” “In Cuba?” She nodded. “Then it was in Cuba that you met Mr. Camber?” She nodded again, watching me intently. “It is strange that a Virginian should settle in Surrey.” “Yes?” she murmured, “you think so? But really it is not strange at all. Colin’s people are so proud, so proud. Do you know what they are like, those Virginians? Oh! I hate them.” “You hate them?” “No, I cannot hate them, for he is one. But he will never go back.” “Why should he never go back, Mrs. Camber?” “Because of me.” “You mean that you do not wish to settle in America?” “I could not--not where he comes from. They would not have me.”