y, which seemed like a dream of the past. Six
months had passed since that memorable day when she and Mollie had
bidden adieu to the Court; and Uncle Bernard still lived, and was
apparently in the same condition.

Mrs Thornton kept her friends well informed of the news of the
neighbourhood, so that they knew that, though Victor Druce had
ostensibly returned to town at the expiration of his three months'
visit, he was constantly running down and bringing friends with him for
a few days' shooting, with the privilege of a son of the house. For the
rest, Margot Blount had returned to town, and Jack Melland's
communications were limited to an occasional picture-postcard bearing
half a dozen words of greeting. Mollie made no comment on the briefness
of these missives, and was always cheery and busy, but sometimes on her
return from her day's work Ruth would look at her anxiously, and wonder
if it were only imagination that Mollie looked different, thinner and
older--a woman rather than a girl. Perhaps after all she had the harder
path--shut up in the house, without the daily variety of seeing fresh
rooms and fresh faces. The regular constitutional, too, was in itself
health-giving, and though Ruth received much pity at home on the score
of her long, wet walks, it was astonishing what pleasant surprises
loomed out of the fog at times. She smiled to herself, and a dimple
dipped in her cheek.

The good old fairy days were not yet over, when a tired Cinderella,
trudging through the mire, was suddenly provided with a comfortable
carriage, springing as it were out of the earth to carry her to her
destination. It was extraordinary how often Dr Maclure's brougham
"happened" to be travelling in the same direction as herself on wet
evenings; and although the doctor himself was conspicuous by his
absence, the coachman was wonderfully quick to recognise one figure out
of many, and to draw up with a "Just driving past your house, miss. Can
I give you a lift?"

Ruth had no doubt that it was the master, not the man, who was
responsible for these meetings, and the conviction brought with it a
glow of content, of which as yet she failed to realise the meaning.
Nevertheless, her heart beat with a pleasurable excitement as she
threaded her way through the crowded streets, wondering if once again
the fairy equipage would be sent to the rescue, if it would appear at
this corner or the next. At last, through the driving sleet, she
rec