We all partook of a light luncheon to-gether, after which repast Heliobas and Father Paul withdrew together.

Zara looked after their retreating figures with a sort of meditative pathos in her large eyes; and then she told me she had something to finish in her studio--would I excuse her for about an hour?
I readily consented, for I myself was desirous of passing a little time in solitude, in order to read the manuscripts Heliobas had given me.

"For," thought I, "if there is anything in them not quite clear to me, he will explain it, and I had better take advantage of his instruction while I can." As Zara and I went upstairs together, we were followed by Leo--a most unusual circumstance, as that faithful animal was generally in attendance on his master.

Now, however, he seemed to have something oppressive on his mind, for he kept close to Zara, and his big brown eyes, whenever he raised them to her face, were full of intense melancholy.

His tail drooped in a forlorn way, and all the vivacity of his nature seemed to have gone out of him.
"Leo does not seem well," I said, patting the dog's beautiful silky coat, an attention to which he responded by a heavy sigh and a wistful gaze approaching to tears.