woman who feels that happiness is her right and intends to have it,--were they beginning to soften for him--for him? Oh, the bliss of the thought, that those frank eyes might one day fall before his, that Félicia might own that she loved him! There was the sound of a footstep in the corridor of the railway carriage, and Usk snatched at his paper hurriedly, and began to study it with all his might, holding it up so as to hide his face. When he thought the intruder had passed on, he ventured to lower his screen, only to meet the mocking, not unkindly gaze of a tall lank man who was leaning against the inner doorway, evidently waiting for him to look up. “I would bet my bottom dollar that I could state right now what you are thinking of,” said the newcomer slowly. “Oh, it’s you, Hicks! Didn’t know you were a thought-reader.” “I don’t begin to be one, sir. You gave yourself away, you see.” Mr Hicks’s gaze rested on the paper, and Usk flushed quickly as he perceived that it was upside-down. But there was no use in being dignified with Hicks, and he yielded the position with a laugh. “I suppose you’re on your way home by the new route?” he said lightly, seeking safety in flight from the original subject. “I’m just running down to Llandiarmid for a day or two to see my people.” “Is that so?” drawled Mr Hicks. “A rare and beautiful thing is family affection, any way! But I guess London licks the country this fall, doesn’t it?” “It has been a good deal pleasanter this year than usual,” agreed Usk. “I admire to see a young man open and candid, sir. Have you got any more acquainted with the Steinherzes yet?” “You are nothing whatever but a good Inquisitor spoilt! I have seen a certain amount of them.” “And so far as one of the party is concerned, it’s pretty generally concluded that to see her is to--you know how it goes along? But maybe you are an exception?” “Really, a man can’t call his innermost feelings his own when you’re anywhere about, Hicks.” Mr Hicks nodded approvingly. “But after all, it was you that introduced me to her, and I’ll make you a present of the information, which you have probably guessed already, that I am going home to have a business talk with my father.” Mr Hicks nodded again, and Usk, whose tongue seemed to have been loosed by his first admission, went on-- “There are times, you know, when a man feels he has to pay rather dear for the virtues of his family. It’s quite delightful, of course, to know that no landowner in South Wales does more for his tenants than my father, but the worst part of it is that it leaves so awfully little for us to live upon.” “Don’t go around worrying over that,” said Mr Hicks soothingly. “The good American girl regards it as her mission these days to shore up the tottering British coronet with her dollars.”