 his, as if she had expected something
further.
    »Who is the young artist that lives here?«Elgar inquired. »I met him at
Pompeii, and to-day came upon him here in the courtyard. A slight, rather boyish
fellow.«
    »I think you mean Mr. Marsh,« replied Cecily, smiling. »He has recently been
at Pompeii, I know.«
    »You are on friendly terms with him?«
    »Not on unfriendly,« she answered, with amusement.
    Elgar averted his face. Instantly the flow of his blood was again turbid; he
felt an inclination to fling out some ill-mannered remark.
    »You must come in contact with all kinds of odd people in a place like
this.«
    »One or two are certainly odd,« was the reply, in a gentle tone; »but most
of them are very pleasant to be with occasionally. Naturally we see more of the
Bradshaws than of any one else. There's a family named Denyer - a lady with
three daughters; I don't think you would dislike them. Mr. Marsh is their
intimate friend.«
    It was all but as though she pleaded against a mistaken judgment which
troubled her. To Mallard she had spoken of her fellow-boarders in quite a
different way, with merry though kindly criticism, or in the strain of generous
idealization which so often marked her language.
    »Do you know anything of his work?« Elgar pursued.
    »I have seen a few of his water-colour drawings.«
    »He showed you them?«
    »No; one of the Miss Denyers did. He had given them to her.«
    »Oh!« He at once brightened. »And how did they strike you?«
    »I'm sorry to say they didn't interest me much. But I have no right to sit
in judgment.«
    Elgar had the good taste to say nothing more on the subject. He let his eyes
rest on her down-turned face for a moment.
    »You see a good deal of Miriam, I'm glad to hear.«
    »I am sometimes afraid I trouble her by going too often.«
    »Have no such fear. I wish you were living under the same roof with her. No
one's society could do her so much good as yours. The poor girl has too long
been in need of such an aid to rational cheerfulness.«
    They were interrupted by the entrance of an English maid-servant, who asked
whether Miss Doran would
