Not only on her own account, but on that of the Marquess, Celia

regretted keenly the advent of Lord and Lady Heyton at the Hall. Of the

man, Celia had formed a most unfavourable opinion, and she could not but

see that his wife, beautiful as she was, was shallow, vain, and

unreliable, the kind of woman who would always act on impulse, whether

it were a good or evil one. Such a woman is more dangerous than a

deliberately wicked and absolutely heartless one.

The coming of these two persons had broken up the quiet and serenity of

the great house; she felt sorry for the Marquess, who had been forced

almost into an open quarrel with his son on this first night; and she

felt sorry for herself; for she had taken an instinctive dislike to Lord

Heyton, and knew that she would have hard work to avoid him. There are

men whose look, when it is bent upon a woman, is an insult; the touch of

whose hand is a contamination; and Celia felt that Lord Heyton was one

of these men. She shut herself up in the library the next morning, and

though she heard him in the hall, and was afflicted by the pungent

cigarette, which was rarely out of his lips, he did not intrude on her;

but as she was passing through the hall, on her way for a walk, she met

him coming out of the smoking-room. His was a well-groomed figure, and

save for the weak and sensuous lips, and the prominent eyes with the

curious expression, he was, physically, by no means a bad specimen of a

young man; but Celia was acutely conscious of the feeling of repulsion,

and she quickened her pace. With his hands still in his pockets, he

almost intercepted her.

"Good morning, Miss Grant!" he said, with the free-and-easy manner of a

man addressing a dependent. "First-rate morning, isn't it? Going for a

walk?"

"Yes, my lord," replied Celia, giving him his title with a little

emphasis, and speaking coldly, with her eyes fixed on the ground, her

hands touching Roddy, who had not offered to go to Lord Heyton, but

gazed up at Celia as if he were saying, "I don't like this man. Let us

go for our walk and get away from him."

"Not a bad idea, a walk; tip-top morning," said Heyton. "I'll come with

you, if you'll allow me."

Celia bit her lip, and flushed angrily; for the request for permission

was so evidently a mere matter of form.




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