-repression. "I'm an idiot to argue with you!" she said.

"Don't be too hard on yourself!" said Max kindly. "Your imbecility takes
quite an attractive form, I assure you. So our gallant hero occupies the
shrine of your young affections, does he? It must be rather cramping for
him. Is he never allowed to come out and stretch himself?"

Olga said no word in answer. Her lips were firmly closed.

"Poor chap!" said Max. "He must find it a tight squeeze, notwithstanding
his size. If you don't slow up pretty soon, fair lady, you will knock
the Priory into a heap of ruins."

"I know what I'm about," breathed Olga.

He caught the remark and threw it back with his customary readiness. "Do
you really? I humbly beg to question that statement. If you did know,
you would proceed with caution."

Olga applied her brake and brought the car adroitly to a standstill in
front of the house before replying. Then she flung him a challenging
glance.

"Yes," he said with deliberation. "I don't question your cleverness,
fair lady;--only your wisdom. You are too prone to let your feelings run
away with you, and that is the most infectious disorder that I know."

She laughed, avoiding his eyes, and hotly aware of a certain
embarrassment that made reply impossible. "Perhaps, when you have quite
finished your lecture, you will get out," she said, "and let me do the
same. It's hot sitting here."

"Evidently," said Max.

He turned and descended, held up a hand to her, then, as she ignored it,
stooped to guard her dress from the wheel. She whisked it swiftly from
his touch, and ran in through the open door, encountering the master of
the house just coming out with a suddenness that involved a collision.

He held her up with a sharp, "Hullo, hullo! Why don't you look where you
are going?"

And Olga, crimson and breathless, extricated herself with more of speed
than dignity. "I'm so sorry, Colonel Campion. The sun is so blazing, I
didn't see you. I've come to fetch Violet. She has promised to spend a
few days with me while Dad is away."

Colonel Campion's thin, bronzed face was grim, but he raised no
objection to the projected visit. He turned at once to Max.

"Hullo, Wyndham! You, is it? Come in and have a drink."

And Olga, feeling herself dismissed, hastened away to find her friend.
She stood somewhat in awe of Colonel Campion, despite the fact that his
young half-sister defied him continually with impunity. There was
something fatef