Gwen eyed Zara and Zara eyed Gwen with great curiosity, and used their intuitions with so much skill that in two minutes each girl knew all about the nature of the other girl. Miss Evans could not deny but what the dancer was handsome enough to attract any one, even the most fastidious, while Zara thought that Gwen was one of the most charming young ladies she had ever seen. "I'm sure he will be very happy with you," she said abruptly. "Who?" asked Gwen, sitting down and getting ready to fence. Zara laughed meaningly. "My dear, there is only one 'he' in the world for you." "So I thought, until I found him out," retorted Miss Evans sharply. "Oh, I understand all about your finding him out. Mr. Vane gave me a full description of my mother's meddling. But if you had waited to hear what took place after your departure from the churchyard there would have been no need for me to come down." "I did not ask you to come down," said Gwen pointedly. "You did not. Mrs. Perage did, however, as she was anxious for your mistake to be corrected. I am anxious, also, else I would not have troubled to take this long journey." "Why did you undertake it, then?" "Because I have the greatest respect for Mr. Hench." "The greatest love, you mean." "Indeed, I mean nothing of the sort," said Zara candidly. "I have no more love for Mr. Hench than I have for that table. Didn't you hear Mrs. Perage say that I was engaged to Mr. Bracken?" "Yes! I suppose you are," admitted Gwen reluctantly. "But there is always one who loves and one who is loved, you know." "Heine, the German poet, said that, Miss Evans. I congratulate you on the wide range of your reading. It shows that you are not narrow, and not being narrow, I trust that you will do Mr. Hench justice." "He proposed to you. I heard him say so myself." "My dear," said the dancer, after the lenient fashion of an elder sister, "Mr. Hench at that time would have proposed to any woman of decent character and decent looks. Your Heine quotation implied that although I did not love him, he loved me. There you are entirely wrong. He admired me, certainly, but----" "But he proposed to you," interrupted Miss Evans doggedly. Zara's cheeks grew crimson and her voice became sharper. "We are two women talking together," she said decisively. "Therefore, it is useless for us to skirt about the bush as we would do with men. Mr. Hench never loved me; he had no conception of love when he proposed, and I told him so. Can't you understand how a lonely man must wish for a home and a comrade, so that he may have some centre in life? I used those very words to him. Mr. Bracken gives me that true love which is more than admiration, which was all Mr. Hench had to offer. He could not give me his heart because he did not know that he possessed one. Since coming here he has made the discovery that he has a heart and he has given it to you." "Have you seen him; did he tell you so?"