He had been among the first to leave the dining-room, several paces in front of Tristram and the others, and instantly came to her and suggested a tour of the pictures.

He quite agreed with the financier--these long, narrow rooms were most useful! And Zara, thankful to divert her mind, went with him willingly, and soon found herself standing in front of an immense canvas given by the Regent, of himself, to the Duke's grandfather, one of his great friends.
"I have been watching you all through dinner," Lord Elterton said, "and you looked like a beautiful storm: your dress the gray clouds, and your eyes the thunder ones--threatening." "One feels like a storm sometimes," said Zara.
"People are so tiresome, as a rule; you can see through them in half an hour.

But no one could ever guess about what you were thinking." "No one would want to--if they knew." "Is it so terrible as that ?" And he smiled--she must be diverted.

"I wish I had met you long ago, because, of course, I cannot tell you all the things I now want to--Tristram would be so confoundedly jealous--like he was this afternoon.

It is the way of husbands." Zara did not reply.