He found in this the most practical and probable view of what must otherwise be deemed by mortal minds incredible; and, being a frank and honest fellow, he had not scrupled to openly tell his friend what he thought.  Alwyn had received his remarks with the most perfect sweetness and equanimity,—­but, all the same, had remained unchanged in his opinion as to the reality of his betrothal to his Angel-love in Heaven.  And one or two points had certainly baffled Villiers, and perplexed him in his would-be precise analysis of the circumstances:  first, there was the remarkable change in Alwyn’s own nature.  From an embittered, sarcastic, disappointed, violently ambitious man, he had become softened, gracious, kindly,—­showing the greatest tenderness and forethought for others, even in small, every-day trifles; while for himself he took no care.  He wore his fame as lightly as a child might wear a flower, just plucked and soon to fade,—­his intelligence seemed to expand itself into a broad, loving, sympathetic comprehension of the wants and afflictions of human-kind; and he was writing a new poem, of which Villiers had seen some lines that had fairly amazed him by their grandeur of conception and clear passion of utterance.  Thus it was evident there was no morbidness in him,—­no obscurity,—­nothing eccentric,—­nothing that removed him in any way from his fellows, except that royal personality of his,—­that strong, beautiful, well-balanced Spirit in him, which exercised such a bewildering spell on all who came within its influence, He believed himself loved by an Angel!  Well,—­if there were angels, why not?  Villiers argued the proposition thus: 

“Whether we are Christians, Jews, Buddhists, or Mahometans, we are supposed to accept angels as forming part of the system of our Faith.  If we are nothing,—­then, of course, we believe in nothing.  But granted we are something, then we are bound in honor, if consistent, to acknowledge that angels help to guide our destinies.  And if, as we are assured by Holy Writ, such loftier beings do exist, why should they not communicate with, and even love, human creatures, provided those human creatures are worthy of their tenderness?  Certainly, viewed by all the chief religions of the world, there is nothing new or outrageous in the idea of an angel descending to the help of man.”

Such thoughts as these were in his mind now, as he ever and anon glanced across the glittering table, with its profusion of lights and flowers, to where his poet-friend sat, slightly leaning back in his chair, with a certain half-perplexed, half-disappointed expression on his handsome features, though his eyes brightened into a smile as he caught Villiers’s look, and he gave the smallest, scarcely perceptible shrug, as who should say, “Is this your brilliant Duchess?—­your witty and cultured society?”