and make life agreeable
to her.

'Well now, that's settled,' he said, drawing a long
breath--'Oh--except one thing--you will of course want a larger
salary?'

'Not at all,' said Elizabeth decidedly. 'You pay me quite enough.'

'You are not offended with me for asking?' His tone had become
astonishingly deferential.

'Not the least. I am a business woman. If I thought myself entitled
to more I should say so. But it is extremely doubtful whether I can
really be of any use whatever to you.'

'All right,' said the Squire, returning to his own table. 'Now,
then, let us go on with No. 190.'

'Is it necessary now to put in--well, _quite_ so much about
Penelope?' asked Elizabeth, as she took up her pen.

'What do you think?'

'It seems a little long and dragged in.' Elizabeth looked critically
at the paragraph.

'And we have now unravelled the web?--we can do without her?
Yes--let her go!' said the Squire, in a tone of excessive
complaisance.

* * * * *

When the morning's work was done, and luncheon over, Elizabeth
carried off Pamela to her room. When Pamela emerged, she went in
search of Forest, interviewed him in the gun-room, and then shutting
herself up in the 'den' she wrote to Desmond.

'MY DEAR DEZZY--There are such queer things going on in this
queer house! Yesterday Broomie gave warning, and father
barricaded the park gates, and was perfectly mad, and
determined not to listen to anybody. In the middle of the night
he and Forest took the barricade down, and to-day, Broomie is
to be not only secretary, but land-agent, and anything else she
pleases--queen, in fact, of all she surveys--including me. But
I am bound to say she had been very decent to me over it all.
She _wants_ me to do some of the housekeeping--and she has
actually made father consent to my helping at the hospital
every afternoon. Of course I am awfully glad about that. I
shall bicycle over.

'But all the same it is very odd, and perhaps you and I had
better consider what it _may_ mean. I know from Broomie herself
that she gave notice yesterday--and now she is going to stay.
And I know from Forest that father called him up when it was
quite dark, between three and four in the morning--Mrs. Forest
thought the Germans had come when she heard the knocking--and
asked him to come with him and undo the gates. Forest to