In her soft hazel eyes there was the expression of one who was always looking far away at some horizon unseen by others. Sir Paget was not so dull or so slow as not to perceive all this, and to draw his own deductions therefrom. A change had decidedly come over him since he detected her emotion on the day the Black Watch marched, and he had become captious, fractious, jealous, and inclined to be sneering, while watchful of every expression in her face. In the library one day she was looking at a terrestrial globe on a tall and handsome stand. She saw that, as the crow flies, the distance was two thousand five hundred miles at least to where the Black Watch were face to face with the swarthy followers of Arabi; and, stooping, she pressed her lips to Egypt in general. '_He_ is there--I here! On the globe, how short the distance seems!' 'What _are_ you about, Lady Puddicombe?' said a voice, sharply, behind her--the voice of Sir Paget, who was jerking his bald head forward most alarmingly. 'Kissing a globe!--what tomfoolery--what strange fancy is this?' 'I was only examining it,' she faltered. 'Only examining it!' he snarled; 'very, closely apparently, and in what quarter did your geographical studies lie? Why, your lips were absolutely upon it.' 'A giddiness came over me,' replied Eveline, ashamed alike of her sudden emotion and enforced duplicity. He eyed her viciously, and his eyes glittered dangerously. 'At luncheon this afternoon you were more dull and _distraite_ even than I have seen you before,' said he, peering at her through his gold _pince-nez_. 'Now, pray, what was the meaning of that? What ails you--what oppresses you?' 'It is very wrong. I cannot help it,' urged the girl, desperately. 'Like all the rest of the world, you were thinking of--I suppose, Egypt?' 'I was, Sir Paget.' 'D--n Egypt, and everyone there!' exclaimed the baronet, coarsely and savagely. 'What is Egypt to you, madam, in particular?' 'My brother----' 'Your brother--bosh, madam, bosh! Don't think to hoodwink me. A young married lady should always make herself agreeable, especially to her husband; it is one of the first principles of good-breeding and of wifely quality.' Eveline coloured with pain and keen annoyance at what these remarks implied; but Sir Paget in his anger was not disposed to content himself with them alone. 'Kissing a globe, indeed! To my mind it is evident that you think less of your brother than of your brother's friend--that fellow Cameron,' he exclaimed, giving full swing to his jealousy. 'He comes, I believe, of a decent stock enough; but that should not have encouraged him to act like the other adventurer Holcroft with your cousin, and dare to raise his eyes to you.'