rowley said nothing about their engagement to
anyone, since it seemed to both that the marriage of a middle-aged
gentleman and a widow of uncertain years could concern no one but
themselves. The ceremony was duly performed in a deserted church on a
warm September day, when there was not a soul in London. Mrs. Crowley
was given away by her solicitor, and the verger signed the book. The
happy pair went to Court Leys for a fortnight's honeymoon and at the
beginning of October returned to London; they made up their minds that
they would go to America later in the autumn.

'I want to show you off to all my friends in New York,' said Julia,
gaily.

'Do you think they'll like me?' asked Dick.

'Not at all. They'll say: That silly little fool Julia Crowley has
married another beastly Britisher.'

'That is more alliterative than polite,' he retorted.

'On the other hand my friends and relations are already saying: What on
earth has poor Dick Lomas married an American for? We always thought he
was very well-to-do.'

They went into roars of laughter, for they were in that state of
happiness when the whole world seemed the best of jokes, and they spent
their days in laughing at one another and at things in general. Life
was a pleasant thing, and they could not imagine why others should not
take it as easily as themselves.

They had engaged rooms at the _Carlton_ while they were furnishing a new
house. Each had one already, but neither would live in the other's, and
so it had seemed necessary to look out for a third. Julia vowed that
there was an air of bachelordom about Dick's house which made it
impossible for a married woman to inhabit; and Dick, on his side,
refused to move into Julia's establishment in Norfolk Street, since it
gave him the sensation of being a fortune-hunter living on his wife's
income. Besides, a new house gave an opportunity for extravagance which
delighted both of them since they realised perfectly that the only
advantage of having plenty of money was to spend it in unnecessary
ways. They were a pair of light-hearted children, who refused firmly to
consider the fact that they were more than twenty-five.

Lady Kelsey and Lucy had gone from the River to Spa, for the elder
woman's health, and on their return Julia went to see them in order to
receive their congratulations and display her extreme happiness. She
came back thoughtfully. When she sat down to luncheon with Dick in their
sitting-room at the