Quite abruptly, she could not tell why, Charmian felt that there was a dawning of hope in her sky. Her depression seemed to lift a little. She was conscious of her youth, of her grace and charm, her prettiness, her intelligence. She was able to put a little trust in them. "Susan," she said, clasping her companion's left hand, "the other day, when we were in the garden of the hotel, such a strange feeling came to me. I couldn't trust it then. I thought it must be nonsense. But it has come to me again. It seems somehow to be connected with all sorts of things--here." "Tell me what it is." "Yes, I must. The other day it came when I saw the dragoman, Mustapha Ali, walking toward the hotel--when he was just under that arch of pink roses. The horn of a motor sounded in the road, and the white dust flew up in a cloud. Then I heard, far away, the siren of a ship. It was all an impression of Algiers. It was Algiers. And I felt--I shall be here again with _him_." She gazed at Susan. Romance was alight in her long eyes. "And now, when I look at that island, the feeling comes again. It seems to come to me out of the palm trunk and the lilies, almost as if they knew, and told me." Susan Fleet looked at Charmian with a new interest. "It may be so," she said. "Perhaps part of your destiny is to learn through that man, and to teach him." "Oh, Susan! If it should be!" Life suddenly seemed glittering with wonder to Charmian, quivering with possibility. "But you must learn to love, if you are to do any real good." "Learn! Why, I've just told you--" "No, no. You don't quite understand me. Our personal loves must be expanded. They must become universal. We must overflow with love." Charmian stared. This very quiet, very neat, and very practical woman had astonished her. "Do you?" she almost blurted out. "It's very, very difficult. But I wish to and try to. Do you know, I think perhaps that is why you have told me all this." "Perhaps it is," said Charmian. "I could never have told it to anyone else." CHAPTER IX Just before Charmian left England Mrs. Mansfield had begun to suspect her secret. Already from time to time she had wondered whether Charmian refused to accept Claude Heath, as she had accepted all the other habitues of the house, because she really liked him much better than she liked them. She had wondered and she had said, "No, it is not so." Had she not been less than frank with herself, and for another reason which made her reluctant to see truth? She scarcely knew. But when Charmian was gone and her mother was quite alone, she felt almost sure that she had to face a fact very unpleasant to her. There had been something in the girl's eyes as she said good-bye, a slight hardness, a lurking defiance, something about her lips, something even in the sound of her voice which had troubled Mrs. Mansfield, which continued to trouble her while Charmian was away. Charmian in love with Claude Heath!