ven as it is, 'tis sweet to be at home! Until you go away to
Greenwood, you'll not know how dear was Fontenoy! To hear the poplars
rustling and to smell the box again--Is it not strange that I should
have a light heart when they look so cold upon me?"

"I have hopes of Uncle Dick, but Uncle Edward"--Unity shook her head. "I
don't understand Uncle Edward."

"I do," answered Jacqueline, "and I love him most. I'll go now and leave
you to the Last Minstrel. Does Fairfax Cary come to-night?"

"He may--"

Jacqueline laughed. "'He may.' Yes, indeed, I think he may! Oh, Unity,
smell the roses, and look at the light upon the mountains! Good-bye! I'm
for Lewis now."

She passed down the steps and through the garden toward the cedar wood
which led to the old gate on the narrow road. Unity heard her singing as
she went. The voice died in the distance. A door opened, Uncle Edward's
step was heard in the hall, and his voice, harsh and strange, came out
to his niece upon the porch: "Unity, I want you in the library a
moment."

Jacqueline kept her tryst with Rand under the great oak that stood
without the old gate, on land that was not the Churchills'. It was their
custom to walk a little way into the wood that lay hard by, but this
afternoon the narrow road, grass-grown and seldom used, was all their
own. They sat upon the wayside, beneath the tree, and Selim grazed
beside them. There was her full report of all that concerned them both,
and there was what he chose to tell her. They talked of Fontenoy, and
then of Roselands--talked freely and with clasped hands. Her head rested
on his shoulder; they sat in deep accord, bathed by the golden light of
the afternoon; sometimes they were silent for minutes at a time, while
the light grew fairer on the hills. When an hour had passed they rose
and kissed, and he watched her across the road and through the gate into
the circle of Fontenoy. She turned, and waited to see him mount Selim
and ride away. He spoke from the saddle, "At the same hour to-morrow,"
and she answered, "The same hour." Her hands were clasped upon the
top-most bar of the gate. He wheeled Selim, crossed the road, half
swung himself from the saddle, and pressed his lips upon them. "Come
home soon!" he said, and she answered, "Soon."

When the bend of the road had hidden horse and rider, she left the gate
and began her return to the house. Her path lay through a field, through
the cedar wood, and through the flower gard