had reflected before making up his mind, it had been a good time for building

mes a week, and would mouse about among the debris for hours, careful never to soil his clothes, moving s

nutes' together, as though peering in

unts, and five minutes before the proper time he entered the tent w

table, and with a nod Soames sat down to study t

at last; "they come to nearly s

Bosinney's face

n. They stick you with everything if you don't look sharp.... Take ten per cen

shook h

off every fa

movement of anger, which sent the ac

he flustered out, "you've

ered sharply, "that there'd be extras. I've

cted to a ten pound note here and there. How was I to

e had created and believed in-had made him nervous of being stopped, or forced to the use of makeshifts; on the other, Soames' not less true and wholehearted devotion t

money anybody else would, and now that you've got a house that for its size is not to be beaten in the county, you don't want to pay for it. If you

ich he had set his heart, and just at the crucial point when the architect's personal care made all the difference. In the meantime there was Irene to be thought of! She had been

suppose you needn't cry out. All I meant was that when you tell me a thing

eap. For the kind of work I've put into this house, and the amount of time I've given to it, you'd have had to pay Littlemaster or som

was, the consequences of a row rose before him too vividly. He saw

said sulkily, "and se

osinney. "But we'll hur

in time to take J

id: "Coming to our place, I suppose to mee

d wild grasses. The warm, soft breeze swung the leaves and the golden buds of the

or grass, and fling out his arms to embrace he knows not what. The earth gave forth a fainting warmth, stealing up through the chilly garment in which winter

ften. Seated on the fallen trunk of a tree, he had promised for the twentieth time that if

ny such thing!" By some awkward fatality he remembered it now. What queer things men would swear for the sake of women! He would have s

he fresh, sweet savour of the spri

mes, no musician, had regarded as an unmitigated bore, his eye had been caught by the face of a girl dressed in mourning, standing by herself. The lines of her tall, as yet rather thin figure, showed through the wispy, clinging stuff of her black dress, her black-gloved hands were crossed in front of her, her lips slightly parted, and her large, dark eyes wandered from face to face. Her hair, done low on her neck, seemed

th yellow hair and d

n, died this year. She lives with her stepmother.

e, please,"

o one of a forenoon. Soames made this lady's acquaintance with alacrity, nor was it long before he perceived in her the ally he was looking for. His keen scent for the commercial side of family life soon told him that Irene cost her stepmother more than the fifty pounds

glow; and at each visit he proposed to her, and when that visit was at an end, took her refusal away with him, back to London, sore at heart, but steadfast and silent as the grave. He tried to come at the secret springs of her resistance; only once had he a gleam of light. It was at one of those assembly dances, which afford the only outlet to the passions of the population of sea

diplomatic talent, he learnt nothing. Once after they were married he asked her, "What made you refuse me so often?" She

in the spring air. Soames looked at him waiting there. What was the matter with the fellow that he looked so happy? What was he waiting for with that smile on his lips and in his eyes? Soames could not see

should like Irene's opinion. I'm ordering the purple leather curtains for the doorway of this court; and if you distemper the dr

ou mean that my

evaded th

p of iris plants in the

iled supe

some time," he said, "an

to say to each other,

Soames

u find Irene

a snub as saying: "If you want to discu

es had felt all the afternoon

they were close to the St

expect to h

if you really wish me

quite understand," he

what I contemplated. I m

up, only I'm not in th

t my mi

-for in spite of his fastidious air and that supercilious, dandified tacitur

Bilson told her that Mr. Bosinney was in the drawing-room; the mistress-she said-was

pped her

said, "I'll just go in.

am

understanding look, did not even open the dr

he oaken rug chest-a slim, imperious young figure, with a small resolute face, in a white fro

oom door softly, meaning

ith a sweet hot scent

e, and heard Bosinney's voice, not i

things I wanted to talk about,

answered: "Why

n one t

he little court. It was from there that the scent of the azaleas came, and, standing with th

h flaming cheeks and angr

urself-We can go over

It was not the look of a coquette, but-far worse to the watchi

o go for a drive

you; it's only ten miles-th

d Uncle

t drifted into June's fac

ah!

t w

re-I thought you'd

come softly with a tremble from

into the open sp

re!" she said; "I ca

and direct, swept

se? I haven't seen it yet, you

face the colo

e that day with Uncle

does he matter? You

habit of throwi

steps and June saw Soames

rene, looking from one to the other