"I have seen a landscape, which had no special charm in broad daylight,
transformed into a glimpse of paradise by the magic of the moon," he
mused as he lingered over his breakfast. "Perhaps this girl is a very
ordinary creature after all--a mere street wanderer, coarse and
vulgar."
But Sir Oswald stopped himself, remembering the refined tones of the
voice which he had heard last night--the perfect self-possession of the
girl's manner.
"No," he exclaimed, "she is neither coarse nor vulgar; she is no common
street ballad-singer. Whatever she is, or whoever she is, there is a
mystery around and about her--a mystery which it shall be my business
to fathom."
When he had breakfasted, Sir Oswald Eversleigh sent for the ballad-
singer.
"Be good enough to tell the young person that if she feels herself
sufficiently rested and refreshed, I should like much to have a few
minutes' conversation with her," said the baronet to the head-waiter.
In a few minutes the waiter returned, and ushered in the girl. Sir
Oswald turned to look at her, possessed by a curiosity which was
utterly unwarranted by the circumstances. It was not the first time in
his life that he had stepped aside from his pathway to perform an act
of charity; but it certainly was the first time he had ever felt so
absorbing an interest in the object of his benevolence.
The girl's beauty had been no delusion engendered of the moonlight.
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