sort of anniversary, but as old friends you will remember that she is
chary of words, and I was entirely ignorant of its nature. I have been
intensely interested in the history of the various wishes, but I confess
that my chief feeling has been curiosity. Please tell me! What was my
wife's wish?"

Mrs Ingram looked at the corner by the fireplace where for the last
hour a white figure sat, silent, immovable, her face shadowed by an
outstanding beam. Even so fifteen years ago had the girl Lilith
Wastneys watched and waited, until at her hostess's summons she had
moved softly forward to make her extraordinary pronouncement. The
remembrance of that moment was vivid in the minds of her old friends, as
Mrs Ingram answered:

"Lilith," she said deliberately, "wished for Power."

The next moment the silence was broken by a peal of laughter. It was
Hereward Lowther who laughed, giving way to a gust of amusement with the
boy-like unrestraint which still characterised his moods. He threw back
his head, he clasped his knees, he opened his mouth and let the loud
ha-ha's echo through the hall. In a very paroxysm of amusement he
repeated the word, over and again, and between each repetition, swayed
with fresh laughter.

"Power! Lilith? Lilith wished for Power? Of all the inexplicable
wishes! I might have guessed for months but I should never have guessed
that. Lilith? the most humble and retiring of women. Look at her now!
That's where she would always be, if she were not driven forward,--
hiding in some out-of-the-way corner. And you tell me that she wished
for _Power_? When was that--fifteen years ago? And we have been
married for twelve... How extraordinarily she must have changed!"

Through eight different minds the reflection was passing, how
extraordinarily Lilith remained the same, but it did not become mere
friends to contradict the verdict of a husband, so they remained silent,
and, his outburst of amusement over, Hereward Lowther vouchsafed a more
serious attention to the problem.

"Well!" he said thoughtfully, "we may say that vicariously she has
gained her wish. As my wife--" He checked himself as though fearful of
seeming to boast, and added quickly, "I should be delighted to feel that
I have been able to provide Lilith with anything for which she wished!"

Lilith bent forward and sent him a smile of acknowledgment. Then her
eyes travelled round the circle and rested on her hostess's face. The