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 his thick, dark moustache. As he did so he incidentally showed the mouth beneath, and Vermont saw that it was the heavy mouth of a sensualist, the teeth being strong and large. A hundred vague reminiscences crowded in upon him; he saw that the boy had grown into the man he might have expected.

“By George!” he was saying, “this is a rum go—meeting you in this fashion. I think I have passed this cottage quite a dozen times within the last month. Have you been here long?”

“A couple of weeks.”

“And you are staying?”

“Just the month. My wife fancied it for a change.”

“She’s young, I suppose?”

TALES. 5

“Wouldn’t come here if she wasn’t. Romantic, I suppose?” and a smile which was like a sneer passed over his face. “They’re all romantic when they’re young—that, and other things. Chiefly the other things. Let me congratulate you. No idea you were married; but then I’ve been out of England for a long time, wandering through Europe and Asia. You know I was always a restless sort