Rowland looked interrogative; whereupon she beckoned him forward and motioned him to look behind the screen.

He obeyed, and for some moments stood gazing.

Roderick, with his back turned, stood before an extemporized pedestal, ardently shaping a formless mass of clay.

Before him sat Christina Light, in a white dress, with her shoulders bare, her magnificent hair twisted into a classic coil, and her head admirably poised.

Meeting Rowland's gaze, she smiled a little, only with her deep gray eyes, without moving.