‘I don’t see any other motive for your presence here. You’re not a play-going man.’ ‘I come to see La Chicot simply because she is quite the most beautiful woman in face and form that I ever remember seeing. I come as a painter might to look at the perfection of human loveliness, or as an anatomist to contemplate the completeness of God’s work, a creature turned out of the divine workshop without a flaw.’ ‘Did you ever hear such a fellow?’ cried Latimer. ‘He comes to look at a ballet-dancer, and talks about it as if it were a kind of religion.’ ‘The worship of the beautiful is the religion of art,’ answered Gerard, gravely. ‘I respect La Chicot as much as I admire her. I have not an unworthy thought about her.’ Latimer touched his forehead lightly with two fingers, and looked at his friend Brown. ‘Gone!’ said Latimer. ‘Very far gone!’ replied Brown. ‘Come and try the Dutch oysters, Gerard, and let us make a night of it,’ said Latimer persuasively. ‘Thanks, no. I must go home to my den and read.’ And so they parted, the idlers to their pleasure, the plodding student--the man who loved work for its own sake--to his books. CHAPTER V. A DISAPPOINTED LOVER. Laura Malcolm remained at the Manor-house. Mr. Clare, the vicar, had persuaded her to relinquish her idea of going into lodgings in the village. It would be a pity to abandon the good old house, he argued. A house left to the care of servants must always suffer some decay; and this house was full of art treasures, objects of interest and of price which hitherto had been in Laura’s charge. Why should she not stay in the home of her girlhood till it was decided whether she was to rule there as mistress, or to abandon it for ever? ‘Your remaining here will not compromise your freedom of choice,’ said Mr. Clare kindly, ‘if you find before the end of the year that you cannot make up your mind to accept John Treverton as a husband.’ ‘He may not ask me,’ interjected Laura, with a curious smile. ‘Oh yes, he will. He will come to you in good time to offer you his heart and hand, you may be sure, my dear. It cannot be a difficult thing for any young man to fall in love with such a girl as you, and it seems to me that this John Treverton is very worthy of any woman’s regard. I see no reason why your marriage should not be a love match on both sides, in spite of my old friend’s eccentric will.’ ‘I’m afraid that can never be,’ answered Laura, with a sigh. ‘Mr. Treverton will never be able to think of me as he might of any other woman. I must always seem to him an obstacle to his freedom and his happiness. He is constrained to assume an affection for me, or to surrender a splendid fortune. If he is mercenary he will not hesitate. He will take the fortune and me, and I shall despise him for his readiness to accept a wife chosen for him by another. No, dear Mr. Clare, there is no possibility of happiness for John Treverton and me.’