it there, and at the age of maturity
throw open the door. The bird will fly and as it flies it will sing.
It has its moment of joy, but when the moments have passed into days,
its lifeless body falls to the ground. Liberty may come too late.

Teresa looked at her sister with puzzled, unhappy eyes.

"Mary! I don't like it. You ought not to go alone. Those big places
can be so desolate. You see all the other people talking and laughing
together, and feel like a pelican in the wilderness. What would you do
from morning till night? Don't think I'm hinting; I wouldn't come with
you if you asked me, because of Dane, but _do_ take someone! If you go
alone, you'll be bored to death."

Mary rose from the table, the precious envelope in her hand, and turned
towards the door.

"Very well, then," she said quietly, "I will be bored. _But I'll be
bored in my own way_."

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

A SENSATION.

"I should like to ask Peignton and his _fiancee_ to dinner," Martin
said, and Grizel nodded obediently, and said:

"Then we must have roast fowl! Roast fowl, I've discovered, is the
fatted calf of the middle classes. Whenever I tell Cook that a friend
is coming, she says: `A fowl, I suppose, mum. Three-and-three, or
three-and-six?' I always say three-and-three, and feel virtuous for the
rest of the day. If it's three-and-three, there's just breast enough
for `the room'; the extra threepence leaves a picking for the kitchen.
Cook says it's cheaper `in the end' to give the three-and-six, but I
take no notice. Sometimes I suspect the poulterer of a dark design, and
believe that there's no difference at all! The extra threepence is just
a trap for the unwary. However! ... enough of these details. Certainly
we'll ask them if you wish it. And who else? We can't contend with
them alone all night long. I adore lovers in theory, but I object to
feeling _de trop_ in my own house. If we were a _partie carree_ they
would expect me to have an important letter to write for the early post,
and you to come with me to look over my shoulder. No, you don't! We'll
have a crowd, and let them realise from the first that there's no chance
of a quiet moment. Who else?"

Martin deliberated.

"The Raynors? They've been fairly intimate..."

"Certainly not. I must reserve Cassandra to help me later on when we
tackle the formidables. This shall be a lively, informal affair, got up
in a hurry to wish them luck. Quite