"Oh, yes, I've heard that," John cheerfully assented. "But don't they almost always squint or something? I've heard, too, that there are such things as tufted fortune-hunters, but theirs is a career that requires a special vocation, and I'm afraid I haven't got it." "Then you're no true Marquis of Carabas," the lady took him smartly up. "You've found me out--I'm only a _faux-marquis_," he laughed. "Thrrr!" breathed Lady Blanchemain, and for a little while appeared lost in thought. By-and-by she got up and went to the window, and stood looking out. "I never saw a lovelier landscape," she said, musingly. "With the grey hills, and the snow-peaks, and the brilliant sky, with the golden light and the purple shadows, and the cypresses and olives, with the river gleaming below there amongst the peach-blossoms, and--isn't that a blackcap singing in the mimosa? It only needs a pair of lovers to be perfect--it _cries_ for a pair of lovers. And instead of them, I find--what? A hermit and celibate. Look here. Make a clean breast of it. _Are_ you cold-blooded?" she asked from over her shoulder. John merely giggled. "It would serve you right," said she, truculently, "if some one were to rub your eyes with love-in-idleness, to make you dote upon the next live creature that you see." John merely chuckled. "I'll tell you what," she proceeded, "I'm a bit of an old witch, and I'll risk a soothword. As there isn't already a woman, there'll shortly be one--my thumbs prick. The stage is set, the scene is too appropriate, the play's inevitable. It was never in the will of Providence that a youth of your complexion should pass the springtime in a spot all teeming with romance like this, and miss a love adventure. A castle in a garden, a flowering valley, and the Italian sky--the Italian sun and moon! Your portraits of these smiling dead women too, if you like, to keep your imagination working. And blackcaps singing in the mimosa. No, no. The lady of the piece is waiting in the wings--my thumbs prick. Give her but the least excuse, she'll enter, and ... Good Heavens, my prophetic soul!" she suddenly, with a sort of catch in her throat, broke off. She turned and faced him, cheeks flushed, eyes flashing. "Oh, you hypocrite! You monstrous fibber!" she cried, on a tone of jubilation, looking daggers. "Why? What's up? What's the matter?" asked John, at fault. "How _could_ you have humbugged me so?" she wailed, in delight, reverting to the window. "Anyhow, she's charming. She's made for the part. I couldn't pray for a more promising heroine." "She? Who?" asked he, crossing to her side. "Who? Fie, you slyboots!" she crowed with glee. "Ah, I see," said John. For, below them, in the garden, just beyond the mimosa (all powdered with fresh gold) where the blackcap was singing, stood a woman. IX