"It was real touchin'," she declared, as she rose to her feet with some difficulty, "but it nearly gave me 'ousemaid's knee! Then there was another picture that made a lot o' talk. It was called the 'Race of Hatalanta.' She was runnin' fit to catch the last train 'ome. I shan't forget that pose in a 'urry. My gosh, I can't even think of it without my left leg beginnin' to ache!" At this moment the street door was heard to open. According to her usual custom Evarne had let herself in with her latchkey. "There she is," said Philia, and stepping out into the passage she announced in somewhat triumphant tones, "There's a gentleman 'ere waitin' to see yer, dearie." After an interval of somewhat unaccountable duration, Evarne appeared in the doorway. As she beheld Geoff her whole expression changed, her lips parted into a smile, her eyes lit up. "Oh, it is you! I am so very glad, so delighted!" she gasped. "Well, I won't be hintrudin' no longer," declared Philia as she left the room. But her absence or presence was unmarked at that moment. Evarne was in Geoff's arms, and each was gazing at the other as if years of separation had intervened between this moment and their last meeting. "I am so very glad you have come," declared Evarne again. "You cannot tell how badly I have wanted you. I felt as if I should die if I couldn't see you! Do you know where I have been? No, how should you? I have been to your studio! I don't mean upstairs, but I walked past and looked up at the window. I hoped you might just happen to look out. I did want you so much; I wanted comforting so badly." "Evarne, every time I see you, you make me love you even more devotedly than I did before. But how truly wicked to want to see me, and not send a message at once. I have been thinking about you every minute of the day. Dearest, tell me, are you worrying so sadly about anything Winborough said?" "It is the whole thing--the whole business. Oh, why could you not have been poor? Why could not you have been just an ordinary person, so that we could have lived for one another, without anyone having either the wish or the right to interfere? I am so afraid of your cousin--and worse still, I know that everyone will be on his side. I feel the force of the entire world against me, and it's crushing." "But we can safely defy the whole world to weaken our love for one another, can't we, my best and dearest?" She wrenched herself suddenly from his arms. "Oh, I don't know!--I don't know! How can we be sure of anything?" So saying, she flung herself down amid the cushions of the big velvet arm-chair. Geoff stood motionless for a moment, then seating himself on one of its wide arms, he leaned over, resting his hand upon the opposite side.