But the young girl's face remained serious, like the eastern sky when the opposite sunset is too feeble to make it glow.

"Do you really know ?" she asked, looking at Rowland.
"One cannot know in such a matter save after proof, and proof takes time.

But one can believe." "And you believe ?" "I believe." But even then Miss Garland vouchsafed no smile.

Her face became graver than ever.
"Well, well," said Mrs.Hudson, "we must hope that it is all for the best." Mr.Striker eyed his old friend for a moment with a look of some displeasure; he saw that this was but a cunning feminine imitation of resignation, and that, through some untraceable process of transition, she was now taking more comfort in the opinions of this insinuating stranger than in his own tough dogmas.

He rose to his feet, without pulling down his waistcoat, but with a wrinkled grin at the inconsistency of women.