"My dear Lady Carfax," he said again. And with that silence fell once more between them, but in some magic fashion his sympathy imparted itself to her. She could feel it as one feels sudden sunshine on a cold day. It warmed her to the heart. She moved at length, turning towards him, and at once he spoke, as if she had thereby set him at liberty to do so. "Shall I tell you what I do when I find myself very badly up against anything?" he said. "Yes, tell me." Instinctively she drew nearer to him. There was that about this man that attracted her irresistibly. "It's a very simple remedy," he said, "simpler than praying. One can't always pray. I just open the windows wide, Lady Carfax. It's a help--even that." "Ah!" she said quickly. "I think your windows must be always open." "It seems a pity to shut them," he answered gently. "There is always a sparrow to feed, anyway." She laughed rather sadly. "Yes, there are always sparrows." "And sometimes bigger things," he said, "things one wouldn't miss for half creation." "Or lose again for the other half," said the cool voice of a skater who had just glided up. Anne started a little, but Lucas scarcely moved. "Lady Carfax is waiting to go on the ice," he said. "And I am waiting to take her," the new-comer said. His slim, graceful figure in its black, tight-fitting garb sparkled at every turn. His eyes shone through his velvet mask like the eyes of an animal in the dark. He glided nearer, but for some reason inexplicable to herself, Anne stepped back. "I don't think I will," she said. "I am quite happy where I am." "You will be happier with me," said the harlequin, with imperial confidence. He waved his hand to Hudson standing a few paces away with her skates, took them from him, motioned her to the bank. She stepped forward, not very willingly. Hudson, at another sign, spread a rug for her. She sat down, and the glittering harlequin kneeled upon the ice before her and fastened the blades to her feet. It only took a couple of minutes; he was deft in all his ways. And then he was on his feet again, and with a royal gesture had helped her to hers. Anne looked at him half dazzled. The shimmering figure seemed to be decked in diamonds. "Are you ready?" he said. She looked into the glowing eyes and felt as if some magic attraction were drawing her against her will. "So long!" called Lucas from the bank. "Take care of her, Boney." In another moment they were gliding into that prism of many lights and colours, and the harlequin, holding Anne's hands, laughed enigmatically as he sped her away. CHAPTER XVII THE SLAVE OF GOODNESS