had not, he held to it that gran was
prejudiced to the point of injustice. Accordingly he kept his own
counsel now, and plumed himself thereon mightily.

And Fortune favoured him; for though all the ladies were at home, the
one he sought was by herself in the drawing-room, when he was ushered
in.

"I say, it's you I want," said Val, immediately. "Look here, Maud, I
want to see you alone, and without any one's knowing. Where are the
others?"

"Sue and Sybil are out----"

"But I was told they were in!"

"That's Grier's laziness. He has grown intolerably lazy of late. As he
is under notice to go, he won't put himself out of his way for any one
of us, and says 'At Home' or 'Not at Home,' just as it suits him,
without taking the trouble of finding out."

"Where are they gone?" demanded Val, as usual diverted from his course
by any chance observation. Despite the purpose with which he was big, he
could not help feeling inquisitive as to which house in the
neighbourhood was being honoured.

"Only to the rectory," said Maud, indifferently; "but they are there,
and there they will stay for ages. It is a sort of farewell visit. What
do you want to see me about?"

"Stop a bit. There's Leo. Is she--where is she?"

"In bed. She caught a chill yesterday going out in the damp."

"You are sure she is not out in the damp again, to-day?" said Val,
significantly, and gave his companion what he considered a meaning look.
"Hey? Are you sure of that, Maud?"

"As I was with her five minutes ago, I think I may be," retorted Maud,
and convinced by this preamble that Leo, not herself, was the real
object of the visit, she was less gracious than before. "I thought you
said it was me you wanted?"--she threw out, however.

"So it is. I don't want Leo--not a bit. I don't want her ever again,
that's more. You'd say the same if you'd seen what I saw. Give me time,
and I'll tell you all about it. That's what I came for."

"Really, Val, I--it's not the thing, you know, to come to one of us with
complaints of the other. If you have any fault to find with Leo, you
must say so to herself."

"You wait till you hear. You won't be so keen for me to go to Leo----"

"But I really can't," said Maud, rising. Her pride revolted at the idea
of being the confidant of some silly quarrel, which did not concern her
in the slightest. "I don't know anything about it, and I don't want to
know. Do talk of other things."

"What? When I came here on purp