He spoke no word to anybody though there were some cries of greeting, but passed on, still singing the monotonous song, followed by a crowd of children.
Presently he turned a corner, and was lost to sight.

For a moment longer the lullaby floated across the garden and the green fields, then the cornet and the concertina began again, and Ferrol turned towards Christine.
He had seen her paleness and her look of consternation, had observed the sulky, penetrating look of the bear-leader's eye, and he knew that he was stumbling upon a story.

Her eye met his, then swiftly turned away.

When her look came to his face again it was filled with defiant laughter, and a hot brilliancy showed where the paleness had been.
"Will you dance with me ?" Ferrol asked.
"Dance with you here ?" she responded incredulously.
"Yes, just here," he said, with a dry little laugh, as he ran his arm round her waist and drew her out upon the green.
"And who is Vanne Castine ?" he asked as they swung away in time with the music.
The rest stopped dancing when they saw these two appear in the ring-through curiosity or through courtesy.
She did not answer immediately.

They danced a little longer, then he said: "An old friend, eh ?" After a moment, with a masked defiance still, and a hard laugh, she answered in English, though his question had been in French: "De frien' of an ol frien'." "You seem to be strangers now," he suggested.