'How provoking,' she said, when Desvoeux made his appearance, 'that you should just come this morning to spoil our _tête-à-tête!_ Don't you find, Miss Vernon, that whatever one does in life, there is invariably a man _de trop?_' 'No,' cried Desvoeux gaily; 'Providence has kindly sent me to rescue you both from a dull morning. Ladies have often told me that under such circumstances it is quite a relief to have a man come in to break the even flow of feminine gossip. Come, now, Miss Vernon, were you not pleased to see my carriage come up the drive?' 'No, indeed,' said Maud; 'nothing could be more _mal à propos_. Mrs. Vereker was just going to show me a lovely new Paris bonnet, and now, you see, we must wait till you are gone!' 'Then, indeed, you would hate me,' answered Desvoeux; 'but happily there is no necessity for that, as I happen to be a connoisseur in bonnets, and Mrs. Vereker would not be quite happy in wearing one till I had given my approval. She will go away now, you will see, and put it on for us to look at.' 'Is not he conceited?' said Mrs. Vereker, raining the influence of a bewitching smile upon her guests, and summoning, as she could at pleasure, the most ingenuous of blushes to her cheeks; 'he thinks he is quite a first-rate judge of everything.' 'Not of _everything_,' said the other, 'but of some things--Mrs. Vereker's good looks, for instance--yes, from long and admiring contemplation of the subject! It would be hard indeed if one could not have an opinion about what has given one so much pleasure, and, alas! so much suffering!' Desvoeux said this with the most sentimental air, and Mrs. Vereker seemed to take it quite as a matter of course. 'Poor fellow!' she said; 'well, perhaps I will show you the bonnet after all, just to console you; am I not kind?' 'You know,' said Desvoeux, 'that you are dying to put it on. Pray defer your and our delectation no longer!' 'Rude and disagreeable person!' cried the other, 'Suppose, Miss Vernon, we go off and look at it by ourselves and have a good long chat, leaving him alone here to cultivate politeness?' 'Yes,' cried Maud, 'let us. Here, Mr. Desvoeux, is a very interesting report on something--Education--no, Irrigation--with nice tables and plenty of figures. That will amuse you till we come back.' 'At any rate, don't turn a poor fellow out into such a hurricane as this,' said Desvoeux, going to the window and looking into the garden, where by this time a sand-storm was raging and all the atmosphere thick and murky with great swirls of dust. 'I should spoil my complexion and my gloves, and very likely be choked into the bargain.' 'But it was just as bad when you came, and you did not mind it.' 'Hope irradiated the horizon,' cried Desvoeux; 'but it was horrible. I have a perfect horror of sand--like the people in "Alice," you know--