She made a sudden movement and sat upright on her chair, as if she meant to shake herself free from something. "There was no other," she said. "It wasn't even a dream. There never was anything but this." She left her chair and stood up before him, smiling. "The sky was not blue," she said, "nor the hills purple; there were no chestnut trees, and no carnations. Let us go and sit with the rest, and listen to Mr. Arbuthnot and admire Miss Varien's sleeves." But he stood perfectly still. "I told you I was going away," he said, "and I am going. To-morrow I shall come and see the children--unless you tell me that you do not wish to see me again." "I shall not tell you that," she returned, "because it would be at once uncivil and untrue." "Then I shall come," he said. "That will be kind of you," she responded, and gave him her hand, and after he had made his bow over it, and his adieus to the rest of the company, he left them. Bertha crossed the room and stood near the fire, putting one foot on the fender, and shivering a little. "Are you cold?" asked Miss Varien. "Yes--no," she answered. "If I did not know better, I should think I was." "Allow me," said Miss Varien, "to make the cheerful suggestion that that sounds quite like malaria." "Thank you," said Bertha; "that seems plausible, and I don't rebel against it. It has an air of dealing with glittering generalities, and yet it seems to decide matters for one. We will call it malaria." CHAPTER XXII. The room which Mrs. Sylvestre occupied in her friend's house was a very pretty one. It had been one of Mrs. Amory's caprices at the time she had fitted it up, and she had amused herself with it for two or three months, arranging it at her leisure, reflecting upon it, and making additions to its charms every day as soon as they suggested themselves to her. "It is to be a purely feminine apartment," she had said to Richard and Arbuthnot. "And I have a sentiment about it. When it is complete you shall go and stand outside the door and look in, but nothing would induce me to allow you to cross the threshold." When this moment had arrived, and they had been admitted to the private view from the corridor, they had evidently been somewhat impressed.