Though all the
pot-plants and half-hardy shrubs were sunning themselves in the open-air,
the orangery did not look bare, for every inch of the inside walls had
been utilised for growing grapes and peaches.
There was a fountain set in the centre of the stone floor, and near the
fountain was a circular seat.
"Let us sit down," said Paul de Virieu suddenly. But when Sylvia Bailey
sat down he did not come and sit by her, instead he so placed himself
that he looked across at her slender, rounded figure, and happy smiling
face.
"Are you thinking of staying long at Lacville, Madame?" he asked
abruptly.
"I don't know," she answered hesitatingly. "It will depend on my friend
Madame Wolsky's plans. If we both like it, I daresay we shall stay three
or four weeks."
There fell what seemed to Sylvia a long silence between them. The
Frenchman was gazing at her with a puzzled, thoughtful look.
Suddenly he got up, and after taking a turn up and down the orangery, he
came and stood before her.
"Mrs. Bailey!" he exclaimed. "Will you permit me to be rather
impertinent?"
Sylvia reddened violently.
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