 of resuming her
walk.
    »You are tired of standing still,« said Jasper. »May I walk back a part of
the way with you?«
    »Thank you; I shall be glad.«
    They went on for a few minutes in silence.
    »Have you published anything with your signature, Miss Yule?« Jasper at
length inquired.
    »Nothing. I only help father a little.«
    The silence that again followed was broken this time by Marian.
    »When you chanced to mention Mr Reardon's name,« she said, with a diffident
smile in which lay that suggestion of humour so delightful upon a woman's face,
»you were going to say something more about him?«
    »Only that -« he broke off and laughed. »Now, how boyish it was, wasn't it?
I remember doing just the same thing once when I came home from school and had
an exciting story to tell, with preservation of anonymities. Of course I blurted
out a name in the first minute or two, to my father's great amusement. He told
me that I hadn't the diplomatic character. I have been trying to acquire it ever
since.«
    »But why?«
    »It's one of the essentials of success in any kind of public life. And I
mean to succeed, you know. I feel that I am one of the men who do succeed. But I
beg your pardon; you asked me a question. Really, I was only going to say of
Reardon what I had said before: that he hasn't the tact requisite for acquiring
popularity.«
    »Then I may hope that it isn't his marriage with my cousin which has proved
a fatal misfortune?«
    »In no case,« replied Milvain, averting his look, »would he have used his
advantages.«
    »And now? Do you think he has but poor prospects?«
    »I wish I could see any chance of his being estimated at his right value.
It's very hard to say what is before him.«
    »I knew my cousin Amy when we were children,« said Marian, presently. »She
gave promise of beauty.«
    »Yes, she is beautiful.«
    »And - the kind of woman to be of help to such a husband?«
    »I hardly know how to answer, Miss Yule,« said Jasper, looking frankly at
her. »Perhaps I had better say that it's unfortunate they are poor.«
    Marian cast down her
