ry--er--acute
danger. It lasted for some four or five weeks, and then was--er--
relieved in a somewhat remarkable manner. You will excuse the details.
I have only to confess that the experience taught me the most useful
lesson of my life--to appreciate the blessings of safety! I don't deny
that in the course of that experience there were moments of excitement
which I intensely enjoyed, but on the whole I discovered that it is much
more agreeable to live in peace." He paused for a moment, and into his
eyes there leaped a delightful smile. "I may add," he said dryly, "that
my wife has relieved me of one great dread. She is good enough to
provide a spice of uncertainty, which makes it impossible that I shall
ever have to complain of monotony in life!"

Everyone looked at Delia, and Delia flicked her long eyelashes, and
stared into space with an expression of angelic innocence. But a dimple
dipped in her cheek. Delia at thirty-eight was still a minx. There was
more than one man in the room who envied Lessing the possession of his
delightful wife!

The general laugh subsided, and Mrs Ingram turned to the Squire's wife.

"So much for Danger!" she said smiling. "Now, Juliet, what have you to
report of Adventure? Your friends will remember how impatiently you
were straining at your bonds. Has the adventure really come along?"

More than one of the listeners felt it an effort at that moment to
repress a smile, so exceedingly unadventurous was the appearance of the
portly dame. Perhaps she felt the covert amusement, for there was a
note of defiance in her voice as she took up the challenge.

"Yes, it _did_," she said emphatically. "It most certainly did, and I
have to thank you, dear Mrs Ingram, for making me--er--_receptive_--so
that when the opportunity arose, I was ready to take it. Before our
talk here fifteen years ago, I had drifted into the belief that nothing
adventurous or interesting could ever happen to me, and that I must just
resign myself to be bored. After that I changed my way of thinking, and
expected the chance to come. I am like Mr Lessing--I prefer not to
give you any details, but I think I am quite safe in saying that no
other woman ever met her husband in the extraordinary circumstances
under which I met mine. It was very adventurous indeed, and we were
engaged--oh, at once, and married in a month, and after my husband's
service abroad we settled down in the dear old house where we are