She went silently down the picture-gallery, half astonished to find herself doing his bidding. She put on her walking things mechanically, and came back in a few minutes to find him standing where she had left him. In silence they went down-stairs, and through the piazza with its flowering orange-trees, out into the gardens, where, on the stone balustrade, the peacocks were attitudinizing and conversing in the high key in which they always proclaim a change of weather and their innate vulgarity to the world. Charles led the way towards a little rushing brook which divided the gardens from the park. "I think you must have had a very low opinion of me beforehand to say what you did yesterday," he remarked, suddenly. "I was angry," said Ruth. "However true what I said may have been, I had no right to say it to--a comparative stranger. That is why I repeat that it would be better not to make matters worse by mentioning the subject again. It is sure to annoy us both. Let it rest." "Not yet," said Charles, dryly. "As a comparative stranger, I want to know,"--stopping and facing her--"exactly what you mean by saying that she, Lady Grace, did not understand the rules of the game." "I cannot put it in other words," said Ruth, her courage rising as she felt that a battle was imminent. "Perhaps I can for you. Perhaps you meant to say that you believed I was in the habit of amusing myself at other people's expense; that--I see your difficulty in finding the right words--that it was my evil sport and pastime to--shall we say--raise expectations which it was not my intention to fulfil?" "It is disagreeably put," said Ruth, reddening a little; "but possibly I did mean something of that kind." "And how have you arrived at such an uncharitable opinion of a comparative stranger?" asked Charles, quietly enough, but his light eyes flashing. She did not answer. "You are not a child, to echo the opinion of others," he went on. "You look as if you judged for yourself. What have I done since I met you first, three months ago, to justify you in holding me in contempt?" "I did not say I held you in contempt." "You must, though, if you think me capable of such meanness." Silence again. "You have pushed me into saying more than I meant," said Ruth at last; "at least you have said I mean a great deal more than I really do. To be honest, I think you have thoughtlessly given a good deal of pain. I dare say you did it unconsciously." "Thank you. You are very charitable, but I cannot shield myself under the supposition that at eight-and-thirty I am a creature of impulse, unconscious of the meaning of my own actions." "If that is the case," thought Ruth, "your behavior to me has been inexcusable, especially the last few days; though, fortunately for myself, I was not deceived by it." "If you persist in keeping silence," said Charles, after waiting for her to speak, "any possibility of conversation is at an end."