people take me for the eldest of the lot."

"I wonder why?" said Anne.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It is not really surprising, is it? Lucas has
been on the shelf for the past ten years and I"--he glanced at her
shrewdly--"have not!"

"Oh!" said Anne, and asked no more.

For the first time the definite question arose in her mind as to whether
in admitting this man to her friendship she had made a mistake. He had a
disquieting effect upon her, she was forced to acknowledge.

Yet as they drifted apart in the throng she knew with unalterable
conviction that the matter did not rest with her. From the outset the
choice had not been hers.

He had entered the gates of her lonely citadel on the night of the Hunt
Ball, and though she was by no means sure that she liked him there, she
fully realised that it was too late now to try to bar him out.




CHAPTER VII

THE FALL