A strange little scene--not English at all.

The English, he understood, were a phlegmatic people.

What had this little Southerner to do among them?
And what sort of fellow was the husband?
It was evident that some mute coloquy passed between the husband and wife--disapproval on his part, attempt to assert authority, defiance, on hers.

Then the fair-skinned English face, confronting Daphne, wavered and weakened, and Roger smiled into the eyes transfixing him.
"Ah!" thought Lelius, "she has him, de poor fool!" Roger, coming over to his mother, began a murmured conversation.

Daphne, still breathing quick, consented to talk to Dr.Lelius and Mrs.French.
Lelius, who travelled widely, had brought her news of some pictures in a chateau of the Bourbonnais--pictures that her whole mind was set on acquiring.