set them on break-ankle expeditions to rescue my belongings, the
school might not succeed so well as could be desired. I'm off now to
write some letters which must go by the early post; but before I go I
must just say again how grateful I am for your help to-day, and still
more for the way in which you tried to shield me from blame. You were
very, very good, and I'll not forget it!"

She held out her hand with a frank gesture of gratitude, and Hector took
it and held it firmly in his own.

"I'd do more than that to please you, Peggy," he said once more. "A
great deal more than that!" He looked her full in the face with his big
grey eyes as he spoke, and brought his other hand down to press hers
more closely, while Peggy sat with crimson cheeks and downcast eyes,
conscious that she was behaving like any foolish school-girl, yet
miserably incapable of doing otherwise. Then suddenly her hand was
dropped, Hector sat upright with an elaborate affection of indifference,
and a voice spoke from the further end of the room.

"I beg your pardon. I did not mean to interrupt. I came over with your
bag. I heard you had had an accident."

"My dear fellow, come in, come in! It is nothing at all. I have merely
given my ankle a turn. Come in, and we will tell you all about it."

Rob came forward slowly, and Peggy heard as in a dream the murmur of the
two voices, questioning, replying, making arrangements for the future,
but for her own part she could not stir nor lift her eyes from the
floor. She sat in an agony, seeing as in a mirror the scene which had
greeted Rob as he entered the room--Hector's eager glance, her own
embarrassment, his hand and hers clasped tightly together.

What would Rob think? What _could_ he think? If he judged by
appearances, there could be but one solution, and that was that she was
deliberately encouraging Hector's attentions!

Peggy felt sure that he would be furiously angry, but Rob's voice had no
sound of anger in it as he talked to his brother. It was even quieter
than usual, with only a slight tone of formality, to show that anything
unusual had occurred. She summoned up courage to glance across the
room, and met the dark eyes fixed full upon her. Rob had beautiful
eyes, and they had never looked more beautiful than at this moment as he
smiled back with tender, reassuring glance. But Peggy's heart died down
within her, for, oh, if Rob were _not_ angry, things were far, far worse