Vivian; it would really be very good for me!” She had turned round more and more to her hostess as she talked; and at last she had given both her hands to Mrs. Vivian, and sat looking at her with a singular mixture of earnestness and jocosity. It was hard to know whether Blanche were expressing a real desire or a momentary caprice, and whether this abrupt little petition were to be taken seriously, or treated merely as a dramatic pose in a series of more or less effective attitudes. Her smile had become almost a grimace, she was flushed, she showed her pretty teeth; but there was a little passionate quiver in her voice. “My dear child,” said Mrs. Vivian, “we should be delighted to have you pay us a visit, and we should be so happy if we could do you any good. But I am afraid you would very soon get tired of us, and I ought to tell you, frankly, that our little home is to be--a broken up. You know there is to be a--a change,” the good lady continued, with a hesitation which apparently came from a sense of walking on uncertain ground, while she glanced with a smile at Bernard and Angela. Blanche sat there with her little excited, yet innocent--too innocent--stare; her eyes followed Mrs. Vivian’s. They met Bernard’s for an instant, and for some reason, at this moment, Bernard flushed. He rose quickly and walked away to the window where he stood looking out into the darkness. “The devil--the devil!” he murmured to himself; “she does n’t even know we are to be married--Gordon has n’t been able to trust himself to tell her!” And this fact seemed pregnant with evidence as to Gordon’s state of mind; it did not appear to simplify the situation. After a moment, while Bernard stood there with his back turned--he felt rather awkward and foolish--he heard Blanche begin with her little surprised voice. “Ah, you are going away? You are going to travel? But that ‘s charming; we can travel together. You are not going to travel? What then are you going to do? You are going back to America? Ah, but you must n’t do that, as soon as I come abroad; that ‘s not nice or friendly, Mrs. Vivian, to your poor little old Blanche. You are not going back to America? Ah, then, I give it up! What ‘s the great mystery? Is it something about Angela? There was always a mystery about Angela. I hope you won’t mind my saying it, my dear; but I was always afraid of you. My husband--he admires you so much, you know--has often tried to explain you to me; but I have never understood. What are you going to do now? Are you going into a convent? Are you going to be--A-a-h!”