"As Ever," I went on hurriedly; "Gideon's great pal, you know,
brother of Always. And Mrs. Siddons- "

"Who made her debut six years after Garrick's farewell...And
you're all wrong about Kean. But don't let me stop you. Which
is Nell Gwynne?"

"Nelly? Ah, no, she isn't in the picture. But she stopped here
once- for lunch- quite by chance and unattended, save for a poor
fool she had found in the forest. Hunting she had been, and had
lost her horse, and he brought her on her way on a pillion. Be
sure he rode with his chin on his shoulder all the time. She
never said who she was, but he knew her for some great lady, for
all his dullness. Ah, Nell, you- she was very sweet to him:
let him see the stars in her eyes, let him mark the blue cloud of
her hair, suffered him to sit by her side at their meal, gave him
of her fair company, and- and, like them all, he loved her. All
the time, too- from the moment when he turned and saw her
standing there by the fallen tree in the forest, with her loose
hair scrambling over her temples- scrambling to see the stars in
her eyes. The day passed, and then another; and then the weeks
and months, and presently the years, very slowly. But always the
fool saw her standing there in the sunshine, with the dear, faint
smile on her lips, and the bright memory of her eyes lighted his
path when the way was dark, and he might have stumbled, always,
always."

I stopped. She was looking away out of the latticed window up at
the clear blue sky- looking with the look that is blind and seeth
nothing. I came round to the back of her chair and put my hands