"So I have," answered Victor, smiling in turn, partly from the pleasure of meeting her, partly from the sheer magnetism of her glance, "but it is no fault of mine that I have not been able to speak to you: I have found no opportunity."
"But I thought you always said that; people made opportunities when they desired to do so?"
"Then the time has come for me to retract my assertion. As a general rule, a man cannot make opportunities: he can only take advantage of them when they come, as I hope to take advantage of the present," he added smiling.
"But I thought you were going home?"
"I was going home a minute ago, but so long as you will let me talk to you I shall stay."
"It is a very small favor to grant," said Eleanor, blushing a little. "But why were you leaving so early?"
"Partly because I had no hope of seeing you; partly because I am not a 'young duke' to pencil a line to my steward and know that a princely collation will be served at noon to-morrow for half a hundred, or even for a dozen or two people."
"What do you mean?" she asked, for though she caught the allusion to Disraeli's rose-colored romance, the application puzzled her.
"I see you have not heard of our gypsy plan," he answered, and at once proceeded to detail it.
She was not so much delighted as he expected, but a pretty, lucid gleam came into her eyes at the mention of Claremont.