" I saw you walking in the garden just now," pur-
sued that glittering personage ; " you made quite a
picture in- your pretty dress, I assure you."

" Oh ! do you like it ? " Mary's face was trans-
fused by a blush of surprised pleasure.
" It is really charming," said Mrs. Fox-Darriel
unblinkingly, while Mrs. Jedsley's eyes travelled up
and down poor Mary's ungainliness.
" Against the deeper shades of green, you know,
and with your golden hair, you looked quite — quite
like an Albert Moore. Has your friend, Mr. Perior,
gone? I saw him with you." There was a subtly
delightful intimation in this question that filled
Mary with a half painful, half delicious embarrass-
ment.
" Mr. Perior is with Camelia," she said, the crude
fact hardly jarring on the dulcet echo of Mrs. Fox-
Darnel's question. He was her friend, Mary knew,
felt it with a wave of gratitude that quieted many
aches, but was it then so evident — so noticeable ?

" Ah yes ! Camelia is rather fond of teasing him, I
am afraid," said Mrs. Fox-Darriel, observing Mary's
flush, and noting as an unkindhess of nature that
her hair, the only grace she possessed, should grow
so thickly at the back and with such unbecoming
scantiness around the high brow. Mary's whole
being had been quivering with the pain of her dis-

71



THE CONFOUNDING OF CAMELIA

possession, but a grateful warmth now stole through
the chill of bereavement.
Her flush had not died when Camelia came in,
Perior following her. Camelia's face was imperturb-
ably gay, but from a certain severity and tension in
Perior*s expression, Mrs. Fox-Darriel surmised that
the pastoral promenade had not been altogether
peaceful.
