WHITEWASH
of his lady, deep in animated conversation with a woman in lavender. But she was not looking at him, it was not she that called his attention. Suddenly his eyes met Victoria's as she stared in an evident effort to place him. A vision, clear and sharp, flashed before his eyes—a vision of that same face, and another as striking, framed in the darkness of a dormer-window and illuminated by a candle, suddenly thrust aloft. His heart stopped beating.
"Auray!" He almost spoke the word. Outwardly his calm did not desert him. Changing his direction, as if he had perceived some one requiring his attention, he disappeared into the adjoining room, where the punch-bowl, ringed with glasses, called the convivially inclined. He poured himself a glass, noticing as he did so a slight tremor in his hand. With wonderful nerve he steadied himself and drank. "This has got to be planned for," he thought. "I must keep out of sight, if possible; if not, it will have to be brazened out. Oh, the damnable luck of it!"
A superstitious fear tightened about his heart. He had always been so amazingly fortunate.
115
