tears."

"But I'm coming; I want to come!" Peignton assured her. "It's too hot
for golf, and a picnic would be good fun if we can find a spot where
there's some air, and not too much undergrowth. I like to eat at a
picnic, not to be eaten myself. I was up half a dozen times last night
anointing myself with ammonia."

"I know a place. I spotted it a week ago. Just beyond Queensdom, the
cliff shelves steeply and leaves a patch of shade open to all the air
there is. It's quite a short walk,--a mile or a mile and a half; the
servants can leave the baskets, and come back for their own lunch, and
in the afternoon we'll sleep, Cassandra and I, and discuss the
iniquities of husbands, while you two go off on your lone, and come back
to us for tea... What it is to be engaged!"

Teresa smiled happily, Martin raised his eyes to the ceiling in tragic
self-vindication.

"_Who_ is always holding forth on the necessity of exercise? _Who_ is
always warning me against the danger of a sedentary life? _Who_
insisted upon a house near to golf links? _Who_ goads me every night of
her life to arrange a match for the next day?"

"I do," cried Grizel. "Of course. It's my duty. And then I'm furious
when you go. Of course again. Any wife is. Do you expect me to be
_pleased_?"

"It would seem a natural inference.--If you really mean what you say."

"I _do_ mean it. I want you to have everything you like; I'm a monster
of unselfishness over night, but to sit still in the morning, watching
you dressing yourself up, polishing your clubs, starting off grinning
from ear to ear, so happy to go off without me, and to feel pleased at
the time--no! that's beyond me!" Grizel declared vigorously. "I'm
human, my good man. Don't expect me to act like an angel."

Bernard Raynor glanced across at his wife and laughed; his slow,
complaisant laugh.

"You must be a full-blown angel, Cass. What? Never gives _you_ any
qualms! Wait a bit, Mrs Beverley, and you'll find it comes easy
enough. In another year you'll be thankful to be rid of him. Deadly
mistake to hang together all the time! Go your own way, and allow the
other to do the same; that's the sure tip for matrimony. Then you jog
on contentedly, and avoid spars."

The blue, shallow eyes roved round the table, complacently seeking
approval; complacently unconscious of the artificiality of the smiles
vouchsafed. Cassandra held her head high, disdaining a reply. Grizel
hu