wn for the last eight years. He was a
country man, born and bred, and had never yet succeeded in discovering a
time of year when the land was sufficiently lacking in interest to make
it bearable to leave, and waste the time in town. Moreover, with the
extraordinary meanness which affects some rich men, he hated spending
money on hotel bills, while his own house was open. His wife could run
up for a day when she needed new clothes,--what more did she want?
Cassandra wanted a great deal more,--she wanted to see, and to hear, to
refresh her spirit with art and music, to meet people who spoke her own
language, and understood her own thoughts, and get away from the
stultifying influence of a little country town. She had fought
persistently for years in succession, but she had failed, and now she
fought no more. Bernard said she had come to her senses.

"What are _you_ going to do for the young couple?" he asked gruffly.
"Another dinner would fall flat."

"And they were here so lately," Cassandra agreed quickly. "Shall I fix
the bulb party for next week, and ask the whole Mallison clan to lunch
beforehand? I'm willing, if you are. Of course Captain Peignton would
come too. It would be paying them a little extra attention, and avoid
the bother of another dinner."

"Just as you like!" The Squire was appeased by the prospect of a garden
party, as his wife had intended he should be, and she heaved a sigh of
relief. Another dinner with Dane and Teresa as guests would be
insupportable so soon after that other evening when she had met his eyes
across the banked-up flowers, and felt that strange, sweet certainty of
understanding. After hearing of the engagement she had felt an intense
dread of the next meeting, which must surely reveal to her her own folly
in believing that this man felt any special interest in herself. He had
looked pensive because he was in suspense; his appeal to her had been to
a married woman who had presumably been through the mill, and whose help
he was anxious to gain. She would see him radiant, glowing; his eyes
would no longer linger on hers, he would no longer have the air of
standing by to await her command: he would be wholly, entirely,
obtrusively absorbed in Teresa!

Then suddenly the meeting came about, and nothing had been different;
everything had been bewilderingly the same. They had met in a country
lane, and Cassandra had made her congratulations in her most gracious
and cordia