‘You wish a reason for jealousy? Eh bien, you may have it. Still, there certainly was something in the idea of a treaty. The great ordeal—that which she had most dreaded—had proved to be no ordeal at all. Gerald reached out a hand to stop her. “Flesh and flowers are all alike to me. It was no easy matter to determine her age, for, though she still retained a certain youthfulness of appearance, she had many marks in her countenance, usually indicating the decline of life, but which in her case were, no doubt, the result of constant and severe indisposition. He, who had faced the gale, would have been instantly stifled. All the furniture was moved, all the meals were disarranged, and everybody, Ann Veronica included, appeared in new, bright costumes. It might be that the boy had taken one drink too many, or someone had given him knock-out drops. "There's no outlet that way. .