In the case of Mr.Gryce she had found it well to flutter ahead, losing herself elusively and luring him on from depth to depth of unconscious intimacy.

The surrounding atmosphere was propitious to this scheme of courtship.

Mrs.Trenor, true to her word, had shown no signs of expecting Lily at the bridge-table, and had even hinted to the other card-players that they were to betray no surprise at her unwonted defection.

In consequence of this hint, Lily found herself the centre of that feminine solicitude which envelops a young woman in the mating season.

A solitude was tacitly created for her in the crowded existence of Bellomont, and her friends could not have shown a greater readiness for self-effacement had her wooing been adorned with all the attributes of romance.