Now for the first time Margot stood directly in his path, and waited

with a thrill of curiosity and excitement to see whether he would echo

his brother's welcome. In this Highland glen the ordinary forms and

ceremonies of society were hopelessly out of place, and it seemed as if

perforce there must be an atmosphere of camaraderie between the few

visitors whom Fate had thrown together in the spirit of holiday-making.

Margot's prettiest smile and bow were in waiting to greet the faintest

flicker of animation on the grave, dark face, but it did not come. Mr

Elgood's deep-set eyes stared at her with an unseeing gaze--stared as it

were straight through her, without being conscious of her presence. She

might have been a chair, a table, a post of wood by the wayside, for all

the notice bestowed upon her by the man whose favour she had travelled

some hundreds of miles to obtain.

Another moment and he had left the shop, leaving Margot to draw out her

purse and pay for her purchases in a tingling of pique and

disappointment.

"That gentleman will be staying up at the Nag's Head with yourself,"

vouchsafed the spotted postmaster affably. "A fine gentleman--a ferry

fine gentleman! They say he will be a ferry great man up in London. I

suppose you will be hearing of his name?"

Margot's response was somewhat depressed in tone.

"Yes. She had heard of Mr Elgood... She would take four, not five,

postcards of the Nag's Head. No; there was nothing else she was

needing. The two penny packets of notepaper were certainly very cheap,

the coloured tints and scalloped borders quite wonderful to behold; but

she did not require any to-day, thank you. Perhaps another time. Good

morning!"

Outside in the road Ronald was pacing up and down, twirling his stick,

and looking bright and animated. He came hurrying back to meet Margot,

hardly waiting to reach her side before breaking into speech.

"Well--well! You saw him? Did you notice the shape of his head? You

can see it all in his face--the force and the insight, the imagination.

The face of a scholar, and the body of a sportsman, A magnificent

combination! Did you notice his walk?"

"Oh, I noticed him well enough. I noticed all there was to see. I have

no complaints to make about his appearance."

"What have you to complain of then? What has gone wrong?"

"He never noticed me!"

Ron laughed; a loud boyish laugh of amusement!

"Poor old Margot! That was it, was it? An unforgivable offence. He

lives up in the clouds, my dear; compared with him, you and I are

miserable little earth-worms crawling about the ground. It will take

some time before he is even aware of our presence. We will have to make

friends with the brother, and trust by degrees to make him conscious of

our existence. It's worth waiting for!"




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