Whatever the others might think of his broken engagement, her artless eyes said plainly, "My feeling is happy surprise." Mrs.Gallilee summoned her son to attend her, in no friendly voice.
She, too, had looked at Carmina--and had registered the result of her observation privately.
"Are we to hear your reasons ?" she inquired.
Ovid had made the one discovery in the world, on which his whole heart was set.

He was so happy, that he kept his mother out of his secret, with a masterly composure worthy of herself.
"I don't think a sea-voyage is the right thing for me," he answered.
"Rather a sudden change of opinion," Mrs.Gallilee remarked.
Ovid coolly agreed with her.

It _was_ rather sudden, he said.
The governess still looked at him, wondering whether he would provoke an outbreak.
After a little pause, Mrs.Gallilee accepted her son's short answer--with a sudden submission which had a meaning of its own.

She offered Ovid another cup of tea; and, more remarkable yet, she turned to her eldest daughter, and deliberately changed the subject.

"What are your lessons, my dear, to-day ?" she asked, with bland maternal interest.
By this time, bewildered Mr.Gallilee had finished his bread and butter.