But I'll just unpack a little first--in our room.' She disappeared through a door at the end of the sitting-room.

Her last words--softly spoken--produced a kind of shock of joy in Sarratt.

He sat motionless, hearing the echo of them, till she reappeared.

When she came back, she had taken off her serge travelling dress and was wearing a little gown of some white cotton stuff, with a blue cloak, the evening having turned chilly, and a hat with a blue ribbon.

In this garb she was a vision of innocent beauty; wherein refinement and a touch of strangeness combined with the dark brilliance of eyes and hair, with the pale, slightly sunburnt skin, the small features and tiny throat, to rivet the spectator.