‘It does look rather odd, doesn’t it? But who would grudge her a little amusement? she will soon have to work hard enough.’ ‘Certainly; but I think if my husband had been dead not six weeks, and I had cared at all for him, I should not be very anxious for amusement.’ ‘I think Fräulein Ford is right,’ said Max, audaciously hazarding an independent remark. ‘Max! He only says that because he has the greatest veneration for you, Sara, and thinks all you say and do is right.’ ‘Does he?’ said Sara, with rather a feeble smile, while her eyes wandered restlessly around, as they had done ever since her arrival. ‘Ah!’ she added, a light breaking over her pale face, ‘there is Herr Falkenberg; I wondered where he was.’ He came up to her and shook hands, and remained beside her. Luise and Max moved off, she lightly leaning on his arm and whispering in his ear: ‘_Nun, mein Lieber_, what do you think? Will you still say there is nothing between them? Did you not see how dismal she was—quite _verstimmt_, I declare, until Falkenberg came up, when in a moment everything became _couleur de rose_. As for him, I really begin to think that the unapproachable and fastidious Rudolf has fallen a victim at last.’ ‘And what wonder?’ murmured Max, peaceably. ‘Not much, I confess. But say what you like, it is a tremendous match for her.’ ‘Why so tremendous?’ inquired Herr Helmuth, who appeared not quite so complaisant as usual this evening. ‘I am sure even Falkenberg never met a more beautiful or charming woman.’ ‘_Even_ Falkenberg! I can tell you, Herr Bräutigam, that if it had not been for a certain long-legged, stupid fellow, who has not a word to say for himself, and on whom I took pity because I could not bear to see him look always as if he were on the brink of tears or suicide—if it had not been for this fellow, I say, who put me into this predicament, _I_ would have shown you whether _even_ Falkenberg was impervious to everyone except a stony Englishwoman like Miss Ford.’ Highly delighted, and completely restored to acquiescence and submission, Max laughed again, a mightier laugh than ever, and they repaired to the dancing-room. * * * * * Father Somerville had a very long conversation with Frau Goldmark, relating entirely to Miss Ford and Herr Falkenberg. He had won her heart by telling her that at Brentwood there was a small but beautiful picture of her husband’s—a St. Agatha. ‘Ah, _die heilige Agathe_!’ replied Frau Goldmark, artlessly. ‘Yes, a very handsome housemaid of ours sat for it—an _Elsässin, die_ Lisbeth. It made a beautiful picture.’ This opened the way to a conversation about the pictures in general of the late Herr Goldmark, then to a description of the _lebenden Bildern_, and the pictures in which Sara Ford had taken part: to the fact that in ‘Yes or No’ she had looked so beautiful, that Herr Falkenberg had bought the picture the very next morning.