’One of my cherished ideas is that it is impossible to love without imagination.’

Again Arthur Burdon made no reply, but a curious look came into his eyes as he gazed in front of him.  It was the look which might fill the passionate eyes of a mystic when he saw in ecstasy the Divine Lady of his constant prayers.

’But Miss Dauncey has none of that narrowness of outlook which, if you forgive my saying so, is perhaps the secret of your strength.  She has a delightful enthusiasm for every form of art.  Beauty really means as much to her as bread and butter to the more soberly-minded.  And she takes a passionate interest in the variety of life.’

’It is right that Margaret should care for beauty, since there is beauty in every inch of her,’ answered Arthur.

He was too reticent to proceed to any analysis of his feelings; but he knew that he had cared for her first on account of the physical perfection which contrasted so astonishingly with the countless deformities in the study of which his life was spent.  But one phrase escaped him almost against his will.

’The first time I saw her I felt as though a new world had opened to my ken.’

The divine music of Keats’s lines rang through Arthur’s remark, and to the Frenchman’s mind gave his passion a romantic note that foreboded future tragedy.  He sought to dispel the cloud which his fancy had cast upon the most satisfactory of love affairs.

’You are very lucky, my friend.  Miss Margaret admires you as much as you adore her.  She is never tired of listening to my prosy stories of your childhood in Alexandria, and I’m quite sure that she will make you the most admirable of wives.’

‘You can’t be more sure than I am,’ laughed Arthur.

He looked upon himself as a happy man.  He loved Margaret with all his heart, and he was confident in her great affection for him.  It was impossible that anything should arise to disturb the pleasant life which they had planned together.  His love cast a glamour upon his work, and his work, by contrast, made love the more entrancing.

‘We’re going to fix the date of our marriage now,’ he said.  ’I’m buying furniture already.’

’I think only English people could have behaved so oddly as you, in postponing your marriage without reason for two mortal years.’

’You see, Margaret was ten when I first saw her, and only seventeen when I asked her to marry me.  She thought she had reason to be grateful to me and would have married me there and then.  But I knew she hankered after these two years in Paris, and I didn’t feel it was fair to bind her to me till she had seen at least something of the world.  And she seemed hardly ready for marriage, she was growing still.’

‘Did I not say that you were a matter-of-fact young man?’ smiled Dr Porhoet.

’And it’s not as if there had been any doubt about our knowing our minds.  We both cared, and we had a long time before us.  We could afford to wait.’