He laughed again, and then, going back to his desk, began to add up his figures.  At the second column, however, he paused, and commenced to sketch faces on the blotting paper.

‘She’s the daughter of a minister,’ he said, musingly.  ’I can guess, then, what like she is—­prim and demure, like a caricature by Cham.  In that case she will be safe from me, for I could never bear an ugly woman.  By the way, I wonder if ugly women think themselves pretty; their mirrors must lie most obligingly if they do.  There was Adele, she was decidedly plain, not to say ugly, and yet so brilliant in her talk.  I was sorry she died; yes, even though she was the cause of my exile to New Caledonia.  Bah! it is always a woman one has to thank for one’s misfortunes—­curse them; though why I should I don’t know, for they have always been good friends to me.  Ah, well, to return to business, Mademoiselle Kitty is coming, and I must behave like a bear in case she should think my intentions are wrong.’

He went to work on the figures again, when suddenly he heard a high clear voice singing outside.  At first he thought it was a bird, but no bird could execute such trills and shakes, so by the time the voice arrived at the office door M. Vandeloup came to the conclusion that the owner of the voice was a woman, and that the woman was Miss Kitty Marchurst.

He leaned back in his chair and wondered idly if she would knock at the door or enter without ceremony.  The latter course was the one adopted by Miss Marchurst, for she threw open the door and stood there blushing and pouting at the embarrassing situation in which she now found herself.

‘I thought I would find Mrs Villiers here,’ she said, in a low, sweet voice, the peculiar timbre of which sent a thrill through Gaston’s young blood, as he arose to his feet.  Then she looked up, and catching his dark eyes fixed on her with a good deal of admiration in them, she looked down and commenced drawing figures on the dusty floor with the tip of a very dainty shoe.

‘Madame has gone down the mine,’ said M. Vandeloup, politely, ’but she desired me to say that she would be back soon, and that you were to wait here, and I was to entertain you;’ then, with a grave bow, he placed the only chair in the office at the disposal of his visitor, and leaned up against the mantelpiece in an attitude of unstudied grace.  Miss Marchurst accepted his offer, and depositing her small person in the big cane chair, she took furtive glances at him, while Gaston, whose experience of women was by no means limited, looked at her coolly, in a manner which would have been rude but for the charming smile which quivered upon his lips.