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 to course through her veins, she raised her smiling eyes to his.

"What would our friends think of this?" she asked, again with that delightful ingénue blush of hers.

"Just at present I don't in the least care," he answered, gaily; "but I promise you they won't be able to say anything."

The waiter appeared with oysters.

"Are you still determined to go away?" she asked, after a moment's silence.

"I ought to—" he answered, uncertainly.

"But that's not the question. Are you, I said?" and she raised her violet eyes to his face, half-wistful, half-mocking.

"To explain just why," he said, gravely, "I must tell you. I was taken aback when I saw you this afternoon sitting with a girl I never expected to see again, a girl whom I saw last in Europe; whose gray eyes I shall never forget."

Philippa dropped her oyster-fork, and her eyes dilated.

"Victoria Claudel! For goodness sake, what do you mean?" 147