As a child in Washington she had looked wonderingly upon the statues of heroes and the frequent military pageants of the capital; and she had wept at the solemn pomp of military funerals.

Once on a battleship she had thrilled at the salutes of a mighty fleet in the Hudson below the tomb of Grant; and soon thereafter had felt awe possess her as she gazed upon the white marble effigy of Lee in the chapel at Lexington; for the contemplation of heroes was dear to her, and she was proud to believe that her father, a veteran of the Civil War, and her soldier brother were a tie between herself and the old heroic times.
Armitage was aware that a jeweler's shop was hardly the place for extended conversation with a young woman whom he scarcely knew, but he lingered in the joy of hearing this American girl's voice, and what she said interested him immensely.

He had seen her first in Paris a few months before at an exhibition of battle paintings.

He had come upon her standing quite alone before _High Tide at Gettysburg_, the picture of the year; and he had noted the quick mounting of color to her cheeks as the splendid movement of the painting--its ardor and fire--took hold of her.
He saw her again in Florence; and it was from there that he had deliberately followed the Claibornes.
His own plans were now quite unsettled by his interview with Von Stroebel.

He fully expected Chauvenet in Geneva; the man had apparently been on cordial terms with the Claibornes; and as he had seemed to be master of his own time, it was wholly possible that he would appear before the Claibornes left Geneva.