ing a sob.

He began to smile. "I wish I had. I haven't enjoyed one of them."

That comforted her a little. At least Rose had not scored an unqualified
victory! "You've been bored?" she asked.

"Horribly bored," said Sir Eustace. "There's been no fun for anyone since
the weather broke."

She gathered her courage in both hands. "And so you're going home?" she
said, and lay in quivering dread of his answer.

He did not make one immediately. He seemed to be considering the matter.
"There doesn't seem to be much point in staying on," he said finally,
"unless things improve."

"But they will improve," said Dinah quickly. "At least--at least they
ought to."

"A fortnight of bad weather isn't particularly encouraging," he remarked.

"Of course it isn't! It's horrid," she agreed. "But every day makes it
less likely that it will last much longer. And I expect it's much worse
in England," she added.

"I wonder," said Sir Eustace. "There's the hunting anyway."

"Oh no; it would freeze directly you got there," she said, with a shaky
little laugh. "And then you would wish you had stayed here."

"I could shoot," said Sir Eustace.

"And there is the Hunt Ball, isn't there?" said Dinah with more
assurance.

He looked at her keenly. "What Hunt Ball?"

She met his eyes with a faint challenge in her own. "I heard you were
going to stay with the de Vignes. They always go to the Hunt Ball every
year."

"Do you go?" asked Sir Eustace.

She shook her head. "No. I never go anywhere."

She saw his eyes soften unexpectedly as he said, "Then there isn't much
inducement for me to go, is there?"

Her heart gave a wild throb of half-incredulous delight. She made a small
movement of one hand towards him, and quite suddenly she found it grasped
in his. He bent to her with a laugh in his eyes.

"Shall we go on with the game,--Daphne?" he whispered. "Are you well
enough?"

Her eyes answered him. Was he not irresistible? "Oh," she whispered, "I
thought--I thought you had forgotten."

He glanced round, as if to make sure that they were alone, and then
swiftly bent and kissed her quivering lips. "But the past has no claims,"
he said. "Remember, it is a game without consequences!"

She laughed very happily, clasping his hand. "I was afraid it was all
over," she said. "But it isn't, is it?"

He laughed too under his breath. "I am under the very strictest orders
not to excite you," he said, passing the question by. "If the doctor