er gay, quizzical smile. She was
one of the fortunate women who possess the happy knack of making a guest
feel comfortable, and at home, and her welcome sent Claire's spirits
racing upwards.

Many times during the last fortnight had she debated the wisdom of
visiting Erskine Fanshawe's home, but the temptation was so strong that
at every conflict prudence went to the wall. It was not in girl nature
to resist the longing to see his home and renew her acquaintance with
his mother; and as it had been repeatedly stated that he himself was to
spend most of August in Scotland, she was absolved from any ulterior
design. Janet Willoughby had obviously looked upon the visit with
disfavour, but Claire was too level-headed to be willing to victimise
herself for such a prejudice. Janet would have a fair field in
Scotland. She could not hold the whole kingdom as a preserve!

"You are looking charming, my dear," Mrs Fanshawe said. "I always say
it is one of the tests of a lady to know how to dress for a journey. A
little pale, perhaps, but we shall soon change that. This high air is
better than any tonic. I laze about during the heat of the day, and
have a two hours' spin after tea; I never appear until eleven, and I
rest in my own room between lunch and tea, so you won't have too much of
my society, but I've a big box of new books from Mudie's for you to
read, and there's a pony-cart at your disposal, so I dare say you can
amuse yourself. I love companionship, but I couldn't talk to the
cleverest woman in Europe for twelve hours at a stretch."

"Nor I!" agreed Claire, who to tell the truth was more elated at the
prospect of so much time to herself than she felt it discreet to betray.
She was enchanted with her first view of the beautiful Surrey
landscape, and each turn of the road as they sped uphill seemed to open
out more lovely vistas. They drove past spinneys of pine trees, past
picturesque villages, consisting of an old inn, a few scattered
cottages, a pond and a green, along high roads below which the great
plain of thickly-treed country lay simmering in a misty haze. Then
presently the road took a sudden air of cultivation, and Claire staring
curiously discovered that the broad margin of grass below the hedge on
either side, was mown and rolled to a lawn-like smoothness, the edges
also being clipped in as accurate a line as within the most carefully
tended garden. For several hundred yards the margin stretched