He never got over mamma's death." "Oh yes, I see," said Sir James, gently.

Then, in another tone: "So you settled on that beautiful coast?
I wonder if that was the winter I first saw Italy ?" He named the year.
"Yes--that was the year," said Diana.

"Had you never seen Italy before that ?" She looked at him in a little surprise.
"Do I seem to you so old ?" said Sir James, smiling.

"I had been a very busy man, Miss Mallory, and my holidays had been generally spent in Ireland.

But that year"-- he paused a moment--"that year I had been ill, and the doctors sent me abroad--in October," he added, slowly and precisely.