She looked silently into his eyes, then with a little sigh dropped her

head on his knees again.

Far away somewhere in the depths of the house somebody was moving. And

presently she asked him who it was.

"Connor, the man of all work. I sent him to Spring Pond village to

buy bed linen and bath towels. I ventured to install a brass bed or

two in case you had thought of coming here with your maid. You see,"

he added, smiling, "it was fortunate that I did."

"You are the most wonderful man in the world, Clive," she murmured,

her eyes fixed dreamily on his face. "Always you have been making life

delightful for me; smoothing my path, helping me where the road is

rough."... She sighed: "Clive, you are very wonderful to me."

* * * * *

Mrs. Jim Connor had come to help; and now, at high noon, she sought

them where they were standing in the garden,--Athalie in ecstasy

before the scented thickets of old-fashioned rockets massed in a long,

broad border against a background of trees.

So they went in to luncheon, which was more of a dinner; and Mrs.

Connor served them with apology, bustle, and not too garrulously for

the humour they were in.

High spirits had returned to them when they stepped out of doors; and

they came back to the house for luncheon in the gayest of humour,

Athalie chattering away blithe as a linnet in a thorn bush, and Clive

not a whit more reticent.

"Hafiz is going to adore this!" exclaimed the girl. "My angel

pussy!--why was I mean enough to leave you in the city!... I'll have a

dog, too--a soft, roly-poly puppy, who shall grow up with a wholesome

respect for Hafiz. And, Clive! I shall have a nice fat horse, a safe

and sane old Dobbin--so I can poke about the countryside at my

leisure, through byways and lanes and disused roads."

"You need a car, too."

"No, no, I really don't. Anyway," she said airily, "your car is

sufficient, isn't it?"

"Of course," he smiled.

"I think so, too. I shall not require or desire a car unless you also

are to be in it. But I'd love to possess a Dobbin and a double

buckboard. Also I shall, in due time, purchase a sail-boat--" She

checked herself, laughed at the sudden memory, and said with

delightful malice: "I suppose you have not yet learned to sail a boat,

have you?"




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