"Did you see her dress?" cried Lady Lyndwood mischievously, with the pleasure even a good-natured coquette feels in seeing another woman make the least of herself. "La! She will never start a fashion! Which reminds me, I wonder if Rose brought those satins I asked of him!" Miss Chressham roused herself from depths of different thoughts. "Let us go after him, Aunt Agatha. I think he will be in the withdrawing-room." CHAPTER VIII LAVINIA The curious perfume of the lilies in the tall red pots was so strong that my lord opened the long windows on to the night. "The moon is just rising," he said, and lingered a little, looking out. He was alone with Marius in the beautiful room overlooking the terrace. Through the folding door standing open into the next chamber might be seen Miss Chressham seated at her harp and the dowager Lady Lyndwood lying back gracefully with an open book on her knee. It was difficult for any of them to realise there was a new mistress of the house, a new Countess of Lyndwood under the very same roof. These four were so much the same as they had always been. The lazy luxury of Lyndwood Holt was unchanged; yet but for this stranger they would have been scattered, and others in their places here. The candle-light showed the rich fittings, the splendid furniture. The elegant melody of the harp sounded delicately in keeping with the fine chambers. Marius, listening to it, sighed, in sentimental mood. My lord had spoken to him. Frankly and charmingly, Marius had asked his pardon and expressed his gratitude. They felt themselves, perhaps, better friends than they had been since they were boys. Rose was pleased that he had made his brother happy, secretly flattered and touched by being able to play the bountiful, and Marius was honestly grateful. Presently my lord returned from the window. He was splendidly attired. The cloud that darkened his face on his arrival had lifted; he was a little flushed, and his eyes were dark, as if with excitement, otherwise he was composed and pleasant. The Countess Lavinia had not appeared since she entered the house, nor had Rose mentioned her. Susannah and Marius had been silent about her, too, but my lady was able to bring her name naturally into their conversation. The Earl leant against the mantelpiece; the pale-pink silk he wore caught the light and glimmered, the brightest thing in the room. Marius, sitting at his ease in one of the great leather chairs, studied my lord's face, and wondered at it for its attraction and charm. He had never thought about his brother's looks, though a certain magnificence of bearing about the Earl had always held him in awe; but to-night, as he gazed up at the proud expressive countenance of Rose, he was almost startled by the extreme handsomeness of the blunt-featured, composed, slightly defiant face with the nostrils a little distended, the lips firmly set, and the large eyes very brilliant under the long lashes.