The young Baroness pointed jestingly to a great panelled mirror opposite them:
"Look there, Uncle Arno, and dare to talk again of being old!"
Raven followed the direction of her hand. There in the clear glass he saw the distinct reflection of his image, the tall commanding figure, in all the vigorous maturity of manly strength. He inspected it with a certain satisfaction, not untinged by a slight secret uneasiness.
"And yet I am close upon fifty," he said slowly. "Do you know that, Gabrielle?"
"Of course I do. But why lay such stress on it? You certainly do not feel as yet any of the premonitory signs of age."
"For which very reason I am sometimes tempted to forget the fact, and this, under given circumstances, may be dangerous. You should be the last to encourage me in such a weakness."
Raven broke off suddenly as he met the girl's wondering, questioning gaze; his speech was evidently quite unintelligible to her. He turned away from the mirror, and went on in a lighter tone:
"So you like living here with me, at the Castle?"
"Certainly, when all is bright and gay, as it is this evening," declared Gabrielle. "But in the daytime the Castle often seems to me very dismal and dull. These high-vaulted ceilings, these deep recesses and massive pillars, keep the whole place in shade, and your study is the very gloomiest room I know. The great heavy curtains shut out every ray of sunlight."
"The sun disturbs me when I am at work," explained the Baron.