Then she closed her eyes again and clasped her hands upon her bosom.
"I will risk it," she said; and deep joy awoke within her heart.
A party of English people came from the dining-room on to the piazza with a clatter.

They had arrived that evening and gone in late to dinner.

Jane had hardly noticed them,--a handsome woman and her daughter, two young men, and an older man of military appearance.

They did not interest Jane, but they broke in upon her reverie; for they seated themselves at a table near by and, in truly British fashion, continued a loud-voiced conversation, as if no one else were present.
One or two foreigners, who had been peacefully dreaming over coffee and cigarettes, rose and strolled away to quiet seats under the palm trees.
Jane would have done the same, but she really felt too comfortable to move, and afraid of losing the sweet sense of Garth's nearness.

So she remained where she was.
The elderly man held in his hand a letter and a copy of the MORNING POST, just received from England.