This refusal to listen to Annette’s considerations put a stop to the discussion. The judge took a book of travels and affected to be lost in its matter and marvels, and Mrs. Bloommaert found it impossible to get him to resume the conversation and finish it with more satisfactory decision. Finally she said: “I do wish, Gerardus, you would talk to us a little. There are many things I want to ask you about.” “Not to-night, Carlita.” “Of course we are going to the naval ball, and preparations specially for it must be made. Why do you not answer me, Gerardus?” “My dear Carlita, no husband ever repented of having held his tongue. I am in no mood to talk to-night.” “You promised Sappha that pearl necklace.” “Hum-m-m!” “And I cannot lend her mine, as I shall want to wear it.” There was no answer, but then silence answers much; and Mrs. Bloommaert, considering her husband’s face, felt that she had begun to win. He was evidently pondering the position, for he was not reading. During this critical pause Leonard Murray entered. He was aware at once of the constrained atmosphere, and with the egotism of jealousy he attributed it to his sudden appearance. For once he was really _de trop_. He interrupted an important decision, and Mrs. Bloommaert was annoyed. Under cover of his entry, and the slight commotion it caused, the judge resumed his reading. “I must ask your indulgence, Mr. Murray,” he said politely, “but I am just now accompanying Mr. James Bruce in search of the sources of the Nile; and it is not easy to live between Egypt and the Bowling Green.” Leonard said he understood, and would be sorry to interrupt a mental trip so much to Judge Bloommaert’s taste. But he did not understand--not at all. He was mortified at his reception, and he had not that domestic instinct which would have taught him that the constraint he felt was of a family nature and did not include him. In his present sensitive, jealous mood he believed the judge was reading because he preferred reading to his society--that Mrs. Bloommaert was silent and restless because, in some way, he had interfered; and that Sappha’s shy, abortive efforts to restore a cheerful, confidential feeling were colder and more perfunctory than he had ever before seen them.