The better
I knew her the greater became my admiration of her beauty and talents;
and, without vanity, I think I may say that she distinctly preferred me
to the other guests, who were mostly very ordinary types of modern young
men. The extraordinary impressions of the first evening had entirely
faded from my mind, when they were suddenly revived in all their
intensity by the following incident.
It was a wet morning and we were all lolling about the billiard-room in
various stages of boredom. Some of the more energetic members of the
party had been out at dawn, cub hunting, and had returned wet through
just as we finished breakfast, in time to add their little quota of
grumbling to the general bulk of discontent. Mrs. Maitland, after making
a fruitless attempt to rally the spirits of the party, gave up the
effort in despair and retired to write letters in her room. Conversation
was carried on in fits and starts, whilst from time to time people
knocked about the billiard balls in a desultory fashion without
exhibiting even a show of interest in the result of the game.
At last someone introduced the subject of fortune-telling. Instantly
there was a revival of interest. Everybody had some scrap of experience
to contribute, or some marvellous story to relate. Only Miss Latouche
remained silent.
"What a pity none of us can tell fortunes!" cried Lily Wallace, eagerly.
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