With wondrous eyes and marvellous hair...!'
Good heavens! The last time I sang that song was at Oxford! A man called Sinclair—I'd been at school with him; he was killed at Neuve Chapelle; he was President ... The old Phoenix Club. Jim was there, and Jack Summertown, and George Oakleigh, and Eric Lane, the new playwright, and Jack Waring.... I suppose there's no news of him?"
"I don't think so," Barbara answered soberly. The name took away her lightness of heart and robbed the very sunshine of its glory.
"And I made a bet with Jim," said O'Rane after a moment's musing. "Tell me about your dream," he added abruptly.
"Oh, I couldn't! It's sacred! Besides, I don't remember very much about it except that he was the most adorable little boy in the world.... I was rather adorable, too, with my little bare feet. And he fell in love with me, and I fell in love with him. I had been feeling wretchedly ill and miserable, but I'm happy now. I think the only thing to do now is to find him and insist on marrying him; we should be wonderfully happy together, because I've never loved any one as I loved that child. How does one start?"
O'Rane shook his head sadly.
"We've no machinery for romance now. In the old days you'd have sat on a throne with your hair in two enormous plaits and a gold crown set with sapphires, and your father would have caused all the men in his kingdom to pass in front of you, and you'd have stepped suddenly forward, when you saw your lover, and you'd have taken him by the hand and made room for him by your side, and both of you would have lived happily ever afterwards."
"The sunshine's gone to your head, too! Why are we sitting still? I want to run about.... Mr. O'Rane, what would happen if I took off my shoes and stockings in Hyde Park?"
"You can do anything, Lady Barbara."
"Yes, but people would say that I was doing it for effect. I don't do things for effect. I do things because I want to, because I can't help myself. Long before I believed in Destiny, I felt that there was something inside me stronger than my will...."