he garden bench watched the great vessel
in silence until she disappeared behind the cliff.

"A week ago," said Robert softly, "a week ago I was steaming along this
very coast. Only one little week!"

He broke off suddenly, and there was no response, but Vanna felt Jean's
fingers twitch within her arm. Was she too beginning to realise the
bearing of this week upon her own life?

During the days which elapsed before Mr and Mrs Goring and the two
schoolboys arrived at the Cottage, Jean kept sedulously by her friend's
side, and allowed Robert Gloucester no chance of a _tete-a-tete_.
Instead of being ordered to keep her distance, as on the occasion of
Piers Rendall's visit, Vanna was held firmly by the arm, invited to join
every expedition, considered so necessary that, without her company no
expedition could be faced. Where Jean went, Vanna must needs go also;
who wished to see one, must see the other also.

But when the family arrived, the chaperonage could no longer be
preserved. The Cottage was crowded to its fullest limit. Miggles was
busy with household affairs. Mr Goring, his wife, the two schoolboys,
all made their own demands on the girls' time. If Jean were bidden to
accompany her father for a walk along the downs, Vanna must needs hunt
for crabs among the rocks below. If Vanna was writing letters to
tradespeople, Jean must run to the village and order cakes for tea.
Young girls should make themselves useful; a daughter should be ready to
wait on her father; a sister should be glad to amuse her brothers in
their holidays. In these days it was worth while for an occupant of the
inn-parlour to keep a sharp lookout on the winding path leading from the
cliff to the village, for if by chance a girl's graceful form were seen
descending, there was time to snatch hat and stick, and reach the corner
of the road at the same moment as herself.

Jean, intercepted on her way to fulfil a commission, and without
possibility of escape, would promptly adopt an air of freezing dignity,
reply in monosyllables, and hurry through her work in the shortest
possible space of time; but no amount of coldness, of snubbing, or
neglect could damp the ardour of Gloucester's pursuit. Before a week
was past, the budding romance was discerned not only by the different
members of the household, but by the village _en bloc_; and while
parents discussed prospects and settlements, and the schoolboys planned
holiday visits to "Jean's ho