"You seem to lose it pretty easily, Mr. Flurscheim," she answered.
"Can't help it, Miss Challys. So I'll apologise straight away for doing so and for staring at you the other night, for I know you were annoyed. It never struck me that you might be annoyed, you know. Most girls to-day take it as a compliment when a man looks 'em over."
Meriel stiffened and, looking away, met Guy's eyes. She had known that he expected to be present, and at the recognition her whole face brightened. Guy had already recognised Flurscheim, and though the fact that he was apparently engaged in earnest conversation with Meriel gave him a twinge of apprehension, he did not hesitate to come forward.
Flurscheim looked upon the young man disapprovingly as Meriel put her hand in his. He saw that his existence was momentarily obliterated from the girl's mind. But he did not move from her side, and when, still forgetful, she strolled away with Guy across the lawn without even turning her head in his direction, he muttered a curse in which Guy was included amongst things in general, but from which Meriel herself was just as certainly excluded.
No sooner were they out of hearing than Guy gave expression to the curiosity which the sight of Flurscheim in conversation with Meriel had excited in him.
"However did that bounder Flurscheim manage to corner you, Miss Challys?" he asked.
Meriel glanced round. "Oh! I had quite forgotten him," she said laughing, "although I was wondering how I should manage to escape him when I saw you."
"After staring at you the other night in so impertinent a manner I wonder he had the cheek to face you," continued Guy irritably.
"Oh! he explained all that," replied Meriel. "He sought me out to-day in order to apologise." She told how the connoisseur had been puzzled to account for his familiarity with her face and his ultimate recognition of her as the autotype of one of his missing miniatures.
Guy smiled at the explanation. He realised with an exceptional degree of pleasure that the miniature was now in his own possession. He had long ago carefully removed the picture from the lid of the snuff-box in which it had been set and had reset it himself in a simple gold frame with a circlet of brilliants. It was his by right of possession, and he determined that it should remain his. Incidentally the information Meriel had given him that she had been the object of Flurscheim's scrutiny came as a relief. It was proof that he himself was in no way suspected. At the same time it seemed to Guy an added impertinence on the part of the connoisseur that he should have sought to make Meriel's acquaintance. It gave him pleasure to think that he had despoiled the Jew of his treasures. He would have liked to have confided his thoughts to the girl at his side. He was almost on the point of doing so when his common sense bade him pause. She would not understand. She was not tutored in the doctrine of the rights of the individual to possess everything upon which he may lay his hand. But he could not resist the opportunity which seemed to offer to open her eyes to some of his own beliefs. If he presented them delicately they might not offend. Crudely expressed, he knew that she would not listen.