daring to go home to her relatives; or else there was some still more
intricate drama beneath it all; something horrible, inexplicable, the
truth of which he would never fathom. All these hypotheses increased
his perplexity. Meanwhile, he went on sketching her face, studying it
with care. The whole of the upper part, the clear forehead, as smooth
as a polished mirror, the small nose, with its delicately chiselled
and nervous nostrils, denoted great kindliness and gentleness. One
divined the sweet smile of the eyes beneath the closed lids; a smile
that would light up the whole of the features. Unfortunately, the
lower part of the face marred that expression of sweetness; the jaw
was prominent, and the lips, rather too full, showed almost blood-like
over the strong white teeth. There was here, like a flash of passion,
something that spoke of awakening womanhood, still unconscious of
itself amidst those other traits of childlike softness.

But suddenly a shiver rippled over the girl's satiny skin. Perhaps she
had felt the weight of that gaze thus mentally dissecting her. She
opened her eyes very wide and uttered a cry.

'Ah! great heavens!'

Sudden terror paralysed her at the sight of that strange room, and
that young man crouching in his shirt-sleeves in front of her and
devouring her with his eyes. Flushing hotly, she impulsively pulled up
the counterpane.

'Well, what's the matter?' cried Claude, angrily, his crayon suspended
in mid-air; 'what wasp has stung you now?'

He, whose knowledge of womankind was largely limited to professional