"Afterwards we go to _Paris_, and shall return to _Lyndwood_ the beginning of August, when I shall desire _Marius_ to be at home that I may Speak with him. "I have seen but Little of _Miss Hilton_; at present she is Indisposed and confined to her House. "She sings and plays with a Charming air, but I think she hath a Melancholy disposition. "Convey my Service to her Ladyship.--Your dutiful cousin, "LYNDWOOD. "POSTSCRIPTUM.--I have not seen _Miss Boyle_ since I was at the _Wells_. I believe she is still at _Bristol_.--L." As the Earl sealed this letter he smiled with a sad disdain--not at what he had said, but at what lay unexpressed behind the bare sentences, and for a while he sat silent with dreaming eyes. CHAPTER VI THE FAREWELL The theatre was crowded and the air close and heavy; a continual murmur of voices rose from the pit, laughter, snatches of song, and whispers. Rose Lyndwood leant from his box, put up his glass and surveyed the house; behind him two young men yawned, and laughed, aimlessly, lounging against the side of the box. The Earl was silent; they could not involve him in their jests or comments. He remained with face averted idly gazing at the faces below; nearly all turned towards him, he was commonly more stared at than the play. "'Tis vastly warm here," complained one of his companions. "Why aren't they beginning?" Rose Lyndwood suddenly swung about and lifted dark eyes to the speaker. "Who is that opposite with Sandys?" he asked. "The charmer in green?" "Yes, do you know her?" George Cochrane answered. "'Tis Miss Lescelles; the dame in the huge toupee is her mother." "She and Sandys are to be married in July," added the other. "She is prodigious pretty," said my lord languidly, "and I never saw a countenance express more happiness." Lord Cochrane smiled. "She is quite enamoured of Sandys." "Sandys! Good Gad!" yawned the other. Rose Lyndwood gazed again at the lady opposite; rosy and smiling she was in her green gown with her swansdown cloak revealing the pearls on her white neck. "Sandys is to be envied," he said, "in that he can make her look so happy." George Cochrane, signalled by a group entering below, took his leave; his companion followed, and the Earl remained alone in the box. Through the murmuring noises of the audience settling to their places sounded the light joyous laugh of Miss Lescelles, and as Rose Lyndwood glanced in her direction his eyes saddened. At last the curtain stirred and parted; Miss Fenton stepped into the yellow artificial light and lisped the prologue. She was gorgeous in a scarlet farthingale and a gold silk turban looped with diamonds; she ogled the boxes with good effect, and was apt in the management of her fan; the Earl approved her with a smile, and the pit was generous in applause. She withdrew, reluctantly, from the public gaze, and the curtain was looped back before an Eastern scene.