Ralph felt the slight form beside him lean upon his shoulder till their
faces almost touched. He threw his arm about her waist. Her hot breath
fanned his cheek. “Kiss me!” she murmured in a dreamy voice. Captain Pullen was not slow to accept the invitation so confidingly
extended. What Englishman would be? He turned his face to Harriet
Brandt’s, and her full red lips met his own, in a long-drawn kiss,
that seemed to sap his vitality. As he raised his head again, he felt
faint and sick, but quickly recovering himself, he gave her a second
kiss more passionate, if possible, than the first. Then the following
whispered conversation ensued between them. “Do you know,” he commenced, with his head close to hers, “that you are
the very jolliest little girl that I have ever met!”

“And you--you are the man I have dreamt of, but never seen till now!”

“How is that? Am I so different from the rest of my sex?”

“Very--very different! So strong and brave and beautiful!”

“Dear little girl! And so you really like me?”

“I love you,” said Harriet feverishly, “I loved you the first minute we
met.”

“And I love you! You’re awfully sweet and pretty, you know!”

“Do you really think so? What would Mrs. Pullen say if she heard you?”

“Mrs. Pullen is not the keeper of my conscience. But she must not hear
it.”

“O! no! nor Miss Leyton either!”

“Most certainly not Miss Leyton. She is a terrible prude! She would be
awfully shocked!”

“It must be a secret,--just between you and me!” murmured the girl. “Just so! A sweet little secret, all our own, and nobody else’s!”

And then the fair head and the dark one came again in juxtaposition,
and the rest was lost in--Silence! CHAPTER VII. Doctor Phillips had not been in the Hôtel Lion d’Or five minutes before
Margaret Pullen took him upstairs to see her baby. She was becoming
terribly anxious about her. They encountered Captain Ralph Pullen on
the staircase. “Hullo! young man, and what have _you_ been doing to yourself?”
exclaimed the doctor. He was certainly looking ill. His face was chalky white, and his eyes
seemed to have lost their brightness and colour. “Been up racketing late at night?” continued Doctor Phillips. “What is
Miss Leyton about, not to look after you better?”

“No, indeed, Doctor,” replied the young man with a smile, “I am sure my
sister-in-law will testify to the good hours I have kept since here. But I have a headache this morning--a rather bad one,” he added, with
his hand to the nape of his neck. “Perhaps this place doesn’t agree with you--it was always rather famous
for its smells, if I remember aright! However, I am going to see Miss
Ethel Pullen now, and when I have finished with her, I will look after
you!”

“No, thank you, Doctor,” said Ralph laughing, as he descended the
stairs. “None of your nostrums for me! Keep them for the baby!”

“He is not looking well,” observed Doctor Phillips to Margaret, as they
walked on together. “I don’t think he is, now you point it out to me, but I have not
noticed it before,” replied Margaret. “I am sure he has been living
quietly enough whilst here!”

The infant was lying as she had now done for several days past--quite
tranquil and free from pain, but inert and half asleep. The doctor
raised her eyelids and examined her eyeballs--felt her pulse and
listened to her heart--but he did not seem to be satisfied. “What has this child been having?” he asked abruptly. “Having, Doctor? Why! nothing, of course, but her milk, and I have
always that from the same cow!”

“No opium--no soothing syrup, nor quackeries of any kind?”

“Certainly not! You know how often you have warned me against anything
of the sort!”

“And no one has had the charge of her, except you and the nurse here? You can both swear she has never been tampered with?”

“O! I think so, certainly, yes! Baby has never been from under the eye
of one or the other of us. A young lady resident in the hotel--a Miss
Brandt--has often nursed her and played with her, but one of us has
always been there at the time.”

“A Miss--what did you say?” demanded the doctor, sharply. “A Miss Brandt--a very good-natured girl, who is fond of children!”

“Very well then! I will go at once to the pharmacien’s, and get a
prescription made up for your baby, and I hope that your anxiety may
soon be relieved!”

“O! thank you, Doctor, so much!” exclaimed Margaret “I knew you would
do her good, as soon as you saw her!”

But the doctor was not so sure of himself. He turned the case over and
over in his mind as he walked to the chemist’s shop, wondering how such
a state of exhaustion and collapse could have been brought about. The baby had her first dose and the doctor had just time to wash and
change his travelling suit before they all met at the dinner-table. Here they found the party opposite augmented by the arrival of Monsieur
Alfred Brimont, a young Brussels tradesman, who had come over to Heyst
to conduct his sister home. He was trying to persuade Harriet Brandt to
accompany Olga and stay a few days with them, but the girl--with a long
look in the direction of Captain Pullen--shook her head determinedly. “O! you might come, Harriet, just for a few days,” argued Olga, “now
that the _Bataille de Fleurs_ is over, there is nothing left to stay
for in Heyst, and Alfred says that Brussels is such a beautiful place.”

“There are the theatres, and the Parc, and the Quinçonce, and
Wauxhall!” said young Brimont, persuasively. “Mademoiselle would enjoy
herself, I have no doubt!”

But Harriet still negatived the proposal. “Why shouldn’t we make up a party and all go together,” suggested the
Baroness, “me and the Baron and Bobby and ’Arriet? You would like it
then, my dear, wouldn’t you?” she said to the girl, “and you really
should see Brussels before we go ’ome! What do you say, Gustave? We’d
go to the Hôtel de Saxe, and see everything! It wouldn’t take us more
than a week or ten days.”

“Do as you like, mein tear,” acquiesced the Baron. “And why shouldn’t you come with us, Captain?” continued Madame Gobelli
to Ralph. “You don’t look quite the thing to me! A little change would
do you good. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy! ’Ave you been
to Brussels?”

“I lived there for years, Madame, and know every part of it!” he
replied. “Come and renew your acquaintance then, and take me and ’Arriet about!! The Baron isn’t much good when it comes to sight-seeing, are you,
Gustave? ’E likes ’is pipe and ’is slippers too well! But you’re young
and spry! Well! is it a bargain?”

“I really could not decide in such a hurry,” said Ralph, with a glance
at Margaret and Elinor, “but we might all go on to Brussels perhaps, a
little later on.”

“I don’t think you must buoy up the hopes of the Baroness and Miss
Brandt with that idea,” remarked Miss Leyton, coldly, “because I am
sure that Mrs. Pullen has no intention of doing anything of the sort. If you wish to accompany Madame Gobelli’s party, you had better make
your arrangements without any reference to us!”

“All right!