assurance, the same confident tilt of the head, the same high forehead
and clear cut features.

Evidently a similar thought was running through my father's mind.

"Ah, Mademoiselle," he said swiftly in the French tongue, "stay where
you are! Stay but a moment! For as you stand there in the shadows,
you epitomize the whole house of Blanzy, their grace, their pride,
their beauty."

She tried to suppress a smile, but only half succeeded.

"I fear the Captain has been drinking again," she said quietly. "Not that
I am sorry. The wine improves you, I think."

"Mademoiselle lures me to a drunkard's grave," exclaimed my father,
bowing low, "but pray be seated. A chair for the lady, my son. Early this
afternoon they told me not to expect you. I trust you have had everything
possible done for your comfort?"

For a moment she favored me with an incurious glance.

"I was unable to see you on the ship, captain, and I wanted to have a
word with you at the first opportunity. Otherwise I would not have
favored you with a tableau of the house of Blanzy. I wanted to speak with
you--alone."

She had declined the chair I offered her, and was standing facing him,
her eyes almost on a level with his.