Dan made up his mind at once. He would go over to Gissing in the afternoon, and leave the book at the White House.
He confided a secret to Mrs. Barrimore when he found her alone on his return. Somehow Mrs. Barrimore was a woman in whom men easily confide. Colonel Lane had once described her grey eyes as “wells of sympathy.”
First of all, Dan told her that he had seen Miss Le Breton at “St. Mary, Star of the Sea.”
Then came the secret.
“You know, Mrs. Barrimore,” he began, with a certain shyness of manner, “it was when my eyes went wrong I vowed that, if they got well, I would paint a picture of ‘Our Lady’ for the little church where I went as a boy, and that it should be my thank-offering. To-day, when I saw the face of Miss Le Breton, I knew that she was the model I wanted. I must paint her. Oh, Mrs. Barrimore, the love and sorrow—yet peace, in those wonderful eyes of hers! Well, fortune favored me. Mrs. Le Breton left her prayer-book behind her. Here it is! I am going to take it to her this afternoon, and I hope they will ask me to go in. If they do, I shall try to make myself charming.”
“My dear boy,” said Mrs. Barrimore, “you will not need to try to be charming; you need only be yourself!”
“You darling!” cried the impulsive boy. “I want to kiss you for that!”
Mrs. Barrimore held up her face. “You may have your kiss, Dan! You are almost like another son!”
When breakfast was over, Mrs. Barrimore, Mr. Burns and Phyllis went to Blacklands Church, and Dan passed the time smoking in a wicker chair on the terrace, and in thinking of the girl he hoped to paint.
After luncheon he dressed himself with some care, and started to walk to Gissing.