"Yes, if you are coming." "I can't. Mr. Trevelle is going to dine with us." "What! hasn't he done talking yet? Someone ought to take away the key. That man is wound up!" "At any rate, he is the life and soul of things. He's got nearly twenty thousand pounds for us in five days." "I'll have to borrow a monkey of him. Is your tame millionaire coming also? They say in the papers that he's been sent for by the Cabinet! Is he going to sell some of his wheat cheap, or what?" Gabrielle froze perceptibly. "I have seen very little of Mr. Faber. It is not to be supposed that he is interested in what we do. They say he is going to America from Queenstown. All the steamers are to sail from there next week." "If the strike lets them! Is Maryska going with him?" "I don't think so; we are to have charge of her. Won't you come in, or must you go? I am perishing here!" "Oh!" he said with chagrin, "I must go, as usual"--and he lurched off down the street without even offering his hand to her. The truth was that he was angry both with himself and with her. Brief as their odd engagement had been, he knew that it had been a great mistake. He felt vaguely that his brains were no match for hers, and that she was coming to understand the fact. And then there was his new attitude towards Maryska. How strangely the child could influence him! He remembered almost every word she had said since they set out for the Savoy together. The memory of the many _faux pas_ she had made was so humorous that he stood upon the pavement to laugh at them again. There followed a recollection of the moment when she had put her arms about him, and he had kissed her. His whole soul had gone out into that kiss! The warm lips upon his own, the hands which thrilled him, the hair brushing his face lightly--all had moved him in a transport of desire he could not resist. And he was engaged to Gabrielle! His step quickened when he remembered it, and he tried to sweep the inevitable accusation aside. He was engaged to Gabrielle, who trusted him. A silent voice asked, was it cricket?--and he could make no answer.