Never had he beheld such lightning change in a woman. It couldn't be a change; all this calm self-possession, all the cool badinage, all this gaiety, this laughing malice, this serene capacity for appraising man and his motives must have existed in her--hidden, not latent; concealed, not embryotic! He was illogical and perfectly masculine. She was only a young girl, awakened, and making her first campaign. CHAPTER XVIII LESSE FOREST As they came out of the forest and crossed the grassy circle where the fountain was splashing they saw an automobile standing in the drive by the front door. "What does that mean?" exclaimed Guild, under his breath. Both had halted, checked by the same impulse. "Is it likely to be Baron von Reiter?" he asked, coldly. She said, with admirable composure: "Whoever it is, we shall have to go in." "Yes, of course.... But if it happens to be the Baron----" "Well?" she asked, looking away from him. "In that event, have you nothing to say to me--_now_?" "Not now." "Haven't you, Karen?" She shook her head, gazing steadily away from him. "All right," he said, controlling his voice; "then I can make my adieux to you indoors as well as here." "Are you leaving immediately?" "Yes. I should have left this morning." After a moment's silence: "Shall I hear from you?" "Have I your permission to write--if I can do so?" "I don't know yet. I shall write you first. Are you to be at Lesse Forest for a few days?" "Yes. A note will reach me in care of Mrs. Courland." Her pretty head was still averted. "We ought to go in now," she said. Guild glanced sharply at the car as they passed it, and the chauffeur touched his cap to them. It was a big, dark blue, three-seated touring car, and there seemed to be nothing at all military in its appointments or in the chauffeur's livery. He opened the front door for Karen, and they walked into the hall together. A man rose quickly from a leather chair, as though he were a little lame. "Hello, Kervyn!" he said gaily, advancing with hand extended. "How are you, old top!" "Harry!" exclaimed Guild; "I'm terribly glad to see you!" They stood for a moment smiling at each other, hand clasped in hand. Then Darrel said: "When your note came this morning, we decided to motor over, Miss Courland and I--" He turned toward a brown-eyed, blond young girl: "Valentine, this is the celebrated vanishing man I've been worrying over so long. You may not think he is worth worrying over, now that you see him, and maybe he isn't; but somehow or other I like him." Miss Courland laughed. "I think I shall like him, too," she said, "now that I know he isn't merely a figment of your imagination--" She turned her brown eyes, pleasantly and a trifle curiously, toward Karen, who had paused beside the long table--a lithe and graceful figure in silhouette against the brilliancy of the sun-lit doorway.