The Man Appears

"Let me entreat you to favor me by resuming your seat," he said. "And
let me ask your pardon if I have thoughtlessly intruded on you."

He paused, waiting for her reply before he advanced into the room. Still
spell-bound by his voice, she recovered self-control enough to bow to
him and to resume her place on the sofa. It was impossible to leave
him now. After looking at her for a moment, he entered the room without
speaking to her again. She was beginning to perplex as well as to
interest him. "No common sorrow," he thought, "has set its mark on that
woman's face; no common heart beats in that woman's breast. Who can she
be?"

Mercy rallied her courage, and forced herself to speak to him.

"Lady Janet is in the library, I believe," she said, timidly. "Shall I
tell her you are here?"

"Don't disturb Lady Janet, and don't disturb yourself." With that answer
he approached the luncheon-table, delicately giving her time to feel
more at her ease. He took up what Horace had left of the bottle of
claret, and poured it into a glass. "My aunt's claret shall represent
my aunt for the present," he said, smiling, as he turned toward her once
more. "I have had a long walk, and I may venture to help myself in this
house without invitation. Is it useless to offer you anything?"

Mercy made the necessary reply. She was beginning already, after her
remarkable experience of him, to wonder at his easy manners and his
light way of talking.