"Handsome, yes, I suppose she is," he answered, rather absently. "But she is not exactly my step-sister," he went on, rousing himself. "She is--let me see--she is, or was rather, for my brother-in-law is dead, my sister's husband's step-sister. A terrible relationship, isn't it? Nearly as bad as `Dick's father and John's son,' which I have never been able to master. But Roma and I have never troubled ourselves much to define our precise connection. It seemed quite unnecessary. We have always been a great deal together, and took it for granted we were some sort of cousins, I suppose." To which Eugenia replied, "Oh, indeed," without repeating her admiration of the young lady under discussion. "What a pretty name Roma is," she said, suddenly, after a minute or two's silence. "It is uncommon enough, any way," replied Captain Chancellor. "But in Miss Eyrecourt's case there was a reason for it. She was born there--at Rome I mean." "Then is she partly Italian?" asked Eugenia. "I could quite fancy she was." "Because she is so dark? Oh, no; she is not Italian, though, as far as looks go, her name suits her. But in everything else she is the very reverse. I always tell her she should have had fair hair and light grey eyes," said Captain Chancellor, with some bitterness. "Why?" said Miss Laurence, inconsiderately, regretting the question as soon as it was uttered. "Evidently he dislikes her," she said to herself. "How silly of me to urge him to talk about her." "I don't think I could possibly make you understand why. A cold, calculating nature would always be an enigma to you," he replied, and the vivid colour which his words called forth on Eugenia's cheeks seemed to confirm his assertion. But he was a little mistaken. Like most essentially transparent characters, Miss Laurence could not endure to be considered easy of comprehension. And to some extent her self-judgment was correct, for without the keynote to her undisciplined, half-developed nature, it was _not_ easy to reconcile its inconsistencies--a careless or ignorant touch would too surely make terrible discord of its possible harmonies. "I do not think you know enough of me to pronounce upon me so positively," she said, a little coldly; but the words and the coldness were so very girlish that they only amused her hearer. He thought it better, however, not to reply to them, though he could not help smiling a little as he hastened to change the subject. He tried for a congenial one. "Wareborough can't be a very disagreeable place if we judge by Mrs Dalrymple," he began. "She seems to have taken kindly to it, though her unmarried life was spent in a very different part of the country. How hearty and happy she seems!"