n the train to Paris, they would be stuck with the
same people for five mortal hours, whether they liked it or not, and
they would stare, and stare, and stare. Whatever father and mother
said, it would make no difference, for they would think they were only
pretending. Oh, Nan, I wouldn't be you! You will catch it!"

Nan shrugged her shoulders recklessly. "Time works wonders. If they
were coming home to-morrow I should tremble; but after ten days'
galumptious holiday it wouldn't be in human nature to come home and be
cross with a poor, hard-working Cinderella. Besides, why should they be
vexed? When I'm married you can use as much rice as you like. I don't
mind if I scatter it broadcast wherever I go. I shall just smile back
in the people's faces, and hang on to Adolphus for support. If I can
afford a little amusement to my fellow-creatures, I shall not be so
selfish as to object; and I must say that for my own part I do adore
finding out a bride and bridegroom, and staring at them with all my
eyes."

"I shall never marry; but if I do I shall wear my oldest clothes on my
honeymoon, and snap at my husband every time he opens his mouth. That's
the way to manage!" said Christabel with an air, and the two elder girls
exchanged smiles of amusement. Neither of them volunteered any
information as to how she herself would behave in the circumstances, for
the nearer such a possibility becomes, the less easy it is to discuss it
in indifferent fashion. Lilias dropped her lids in smiling modesty, and
Maud's eyes shone with a happy glow. She was twenty-three now, and for
the last four years a secret hope had dwelt in her heart, and invested
the future with charm. It had begun on a certain holiday time, when Jim
for the second or third time had brought home his friend Ned Talbot for
a visit, and Ned had caught his foot in a rabbit-hole, and sprained it
so severely that he was a prisoner at Thurston House for weeks, instead
of days. Lilias and Nan were away at school at that time, but Maud had
finished her education, and shared with her mother the task of amusing
the invalid. She read aloud to him; played on the piano; was demolished
at Halma; and, above all, talked to him on one topic after another,
growing ever more and more intimate, until at the end of the visit it
had seemed as if there was no secret which was held back from Ned
Talbot's knowledge. He had not said so much in return, but there was no
sense of ch