when I was first married,"
said Mrs Thornton, with a laugh and a shrug. "But, as one gets older,
there are so many more serious things to cry over that one learns to be
philosophical. I thought I might put some big, spreading branches in
these old pots to cover the walls as much as possible, for we must have
some rooms available in case of a shower. A wet day is too terrible a
catastrophe to contemplate, so we won't even imagine it. Given sunshine
and unlimited borrowing, we can struggle through. Think of it, my
dears--I have invited over a hundred people, and we possess twelve
teaspoons!"

Mollie gurgled with laughter in her hearty, infectious manner.

"I'd give up sugar for the day, and do without. That's one off the
list. Shall we ask the butler to send down a supply? I'm sure he has
hundreds stowed away in those great plate-chests."

"My dear, no! I should not think of it!" cried Mrs Thornton, aghast.
"I can manage quite well without troubling the squire. Pray don't
repeat any of my thoughtless remarks to him. My husband says that my
tongue runs away with me far too often."

Ruth protested politely, but Mollie preserved an unusual silence for the
rest of the visit. She was evidently thinking hard, and the result of
her cogitations was, that when she returned to the Court she paid a
surprise visit to Mr Farrell in his sanctum.

The old man was sitting reading in his favourite chair, and as he looked
up it struck Mollie that he looked more alert than she had seen him
since her arrival. The voice in which he answered her greeting was
certainly less wearied and fretful than usual. He looked, if such a
miracle could be believed, almost pleased to see her.

"Well,--so you have returned from your wanderings!"

"Yes, here I am, come to bother you again. There's a whole half-hour
before you need begin to dress, and I've something very important to
talk to you about."

"What does that mean, pray? More new dresses? I should have thought
you could hardly have come to the end of the last supply by this time."

"Goodness, no! They will last for years. It is something far more
important."

Mollie seated herself on a low chair directly opposite the old man,
leant her elbows on her knees, her chin on her hands, and said
hesitatingly--

"Uncle Bernard!"

"Mary!"

"Do you remember the first evening we were here, when you spoke to us
about our visit? You said that you might possibly allow each of u