The Storm Centre

He sought to win her to some demonstration of interest when they were presently at table, with old Janus skirmishing about the dining room with a silver salver, hindering the meal rather than serving it. Only conventional courtesy characterized her, although she gave Baynell a radiant smile when offering a second cup of tea; an official smile, so to speak, strictly appertaining to her pose as hostess, as she sat behind the massive silver tea service that had been in the Roscoe family for many years.

She left the conversation almost wholly to the gentlemen when they had returned to the library. Quiescent, inexpressive, she leaned back in a great arm-chair, her beautiful eyes fixed reflectively on the fire. The three "ladies," on a small sofa, apparently listened too, the little dumb girl seeming the most