"Mr. Gaunt!" It was too sudden. Usually she had herself perfectly in hand, but the thought of the Ogre, intruding upon her moment of bliss, touched her inmost feeling, and she grew as white as a sheet. Gerald's eyes never left her face. He saw that pallor, saw the fugitive glance of panic that passed across the eyes like a cloud over the sun. It was so, then; it was as he had feared, as he had secretly known! She had been bought by that malevolent-looking man--the creature who had marked her down in the picture gallery, had pursued, hunted, caught, led captive! The feelings in the young man's heart were for a moment so violent that he could not speak. Virginia and he had turned mechanically as he uttered the fatal name, and they now began to walk down Portland Place, towards Regent's Street side by side. "Somehow," said her soft voice at last, "it seems very surprising to me that you should have met Mr. Gaunt. Do tell me how it came about. I--I believed that he was at home--in Derbyshire." The speech showed him the measure of her apprehension. She had thought herself free of her tyrant for a while, and now supposed him to have followed her to London. "Oh, it was in Derbyshire that I met him," he hastened to assure her. "At the house of some people called Ferris. I went down to interview Ferris about a company that he wants to float--a lead-mine. Your husband was lunching there." "Lunching at Perley Hatch?" She seemed surprised, he thought. "Yes. On the same line as I was, I fancy. We all went and had a look at the cave afterwards. I think my father will accept a directorship, and probably Mr. Gaunt also will come on the board." Before reflecting, she cried, in a pleased voice: "Then does that mean that we shall see something of you? Shall you be coming down sometimes to Derbyshire?" Gerald almost choked. There was so much to say about this that he knew he had better say nothing. Yet, as in her case, words leaped to his lips before he reflected. "I hardly know. It is a question as to how much I could bear." "How much you could bear?" Her eyes were raised, astonished, troubled. He knew that if he said what was in his mind, his present chance might vanish in a moment. "I won't say what I meant," he replied in a low tone. "Why should I force my troubles on you? You have enough anxiety with your little sister. But is it too late to get some tea?" "Oh, yes, I have had tea, thanks!" "Where are you staying? " "In Margaret Street--my mother is with me." "Indeed? Do you think she would receive me, if I were to pay a short call?" "I am sure she would be pleased. But you will not find her at home now; she has gone to the theatre." "At this hour?" "She is dining at her club first. She does not like lodging-house food." "Do you?" "Oh, food makes very little difference to me. I put up with it, for I am too tired to go and dine out, after a long day with Pansy."