"A very good one--he went out with Forbes against Fort Duquesne, and made an enviable record. Now, his duties are merely nominal;--he is attached to his Excellency's staff." Parkington nodded. "Well, I will try to keep on side-stepping. Only, what one overlooks when alone, one cannot let slip in a crowd. I am quite willing to do anything that will not compromise me." Miss Marbury's laughter had floated to them, at intervals; now, she and Herford came slowly into view. "Waiting?" she asked--"for what?" "For you to change escorts," said Maynadier. "It is my turn, now." Herford was perfectly willing to yield to Maynadier. His sole purpose had been to take Judith from the Englishman, and, that effected, he was ready to retire. He stepped back, and bowed himself away. "You have accomplished wonders, Miss Marbury," he said. "The doldrums have completely vanished. I trust you may be as successful with Mr. Maynadier." "Mr. Maynadier never gets the doldrums," she answered, over her shoulder. "He is far too serious minded!" "Which might mean, that I am a bore," said Maynadier. "Fishing, monsieur?" "No." "What do you call it, then?" "What do _you_ call it?" he asked. "Now, Dick, you want me to say you are the most entertaining man in the world." "Not unless you think so." "You know you are conceited, dreadfully conceited." "No one ever told me so." "No one ever took the trouble to tell you." "Except you." "And that is because I like you so well." "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth!" he soliloquized. "What?" "I said, whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth." "I should like to see the Lord, or any one else, chastening you!" "My dear Judith!" "Does that shock you?" "A trifle. You handle the Lord rather unceremoniously." "Not any more unceremoniously than you men do, when we women are not present." He laughed indulgently, bending down over her. "Do you know," said he, "that you have a peculiarly fetching way with you this evening?" "I always have had it," she answered, with a fling of the head, "but _you_ have never noticed it." "I have been blind," he said. "Yes, you have been blind," she agreed, with a quick glance upward. "Henceforth, my eyes are open." "Such is the result of walking in the moonlight, Dick. Oh, you will improve, in time!--give the moonlight a chance." "It requires more than the moonlight," he declared. "Of course--a pretty girl is essential, too." "And it requires more than a pretty girl." "No, the moon and the girl are sufficient." "Does not inclination play a part?" "It is resultant of the other two." "But in varying degrees." "Oh, yes!" she said.--"For instance, you are more earnest to-night than you used to be--though, in truth, sir, I never before knew you to take the two necessary ingredients in one dose." "The girl and the moonlight, you mean?" She nodded, smiling naïvely. "That is because they were never offered me----" "Offered you!" she exclaimed. "Do you expect them to be _offered_?"