urned in the lock as she
approached, and she rushed forward to select her stores with hardly a
glance in Hector's direction, though with many eager expressions of
thanks.

"You are good! I am relieved! You deserve the Victoria Cross at least.
I was quite agitated watching you, but you managed splendidly-
splendidly. Did you get horribly dusty squeezing through?"

"I think I did, rather. I will go to your father's room and have a
brush. I'll see you at lunch."

"Yes, yes!" Peggy flew past, her arms full of the tins and bottles for
which cook was waiting, leaving the things which were not immediately
needed to be selected on a second visit. When she returned, five
minutes later, Hector had disappeared, and she had leisure to look
around, and feel a pang of shame at the general disorder. A room with
more elaborate preparation for order, and less success in attaining it,
it would have been difficult to discover. Shelves and cupboards were
profusely labelled, and every nook or corner had been dedicated to some
special use, but, alas! practice had fallen short of precept, and the
labels now served no other purpose than that of confusion, since they
had no longer any bearing on their position. Odd morsels of string and
paper were littered over the floor, and empty cases, instead of being
stored away, were thrown together in an unsightly heap beneath the
window. A broken case showed where Hector's foot had descended, and the
boards lay kicked aside, the nails sticking out of their jagged edges.

"Misery me! and himself a soldier too, with eyes staring out of every
side of him!" sighed Peggy, with a doleful imitation of Mrs Asplin's
Irish accent. "If this isn't a lesson to you, Mariquita Saville,
there's no hope left! It's most perturbing to have one's secret faults
exhibited to the public gaze. It will be quite an age before I dare put
on airs to Hector, after this!"

She made a mental vow to set the room in order first thing next day, but
at present could think of nothing but lunch; and when her own
preparations were completed she rejoined the little party in the garden,
and beguiled her father into talking of his past adventures, to prevent
the time from hanging too heavily on his hands.

Hector did not appear until at last the gong sounded, and when he did,
the first glance at him evoked a chorus of exclamations. His face was
white and drawn, and he dragged one foot after him in halting fashion.
In spit