And what could woman wish for more?

He was no laggard in love either. On the very morning after the arrival
of Max and Dudley, Mr. Lindsay called soon after breakfast to make
inquiries about the amount of holly and evergreens which would be
available for the decoration of the church, and was shown into the
morning-room, where most of the great work of preparation for Christmas
was taking place.

Mrs. Wedmore and all the young people were there, Max and Dudley having
been pressed into the service of filling cardboard drums with sweets for
what Max called "the everlasting tree." The tree itself stood in a
corner of the room, a colossal but lop-sided plant with a lamentable
tendency to straggle about the lower branches, and an inclination to run
to weedy and unnecessary length about the top.

Max was a hopeless failure as an assistant. He was always possessed with
a passionate desire to do something different from what he was asked to
do; and when they gave way and indulged his fancy, the fancy
disappeared, and he found that he wanted to do something else.

"It's always the way with a man!" was Queenie's scornful comment on her
brother's failing.

Queenie herself looked upon the whole business of the tree as a piece of
useless frivolity unworthy the time and attention of grown-up people.
And she went about the share in it which she had been persuaded to
undertake with a stolid and supercilious manner which went far to spoil
the enjoyment of the rest.

Dudley entered, into the affair with some zest, but it was noticeable
that he devoted himself to Queenie, and exchanged very few remarks with
Doreen. There was a certain barrier of constraint springing up between
him and Doreen which had risen to an uncomfortable height by the time
the curate entered.

Doreen, whose cheeks were much flushed and whose eyes were unusually
bright, was extremely gracious. She offered to take Mr. Lindsay into the
grounds to interview the gardener, so that they might come to an
understanding about the evergreens to be used. She glanced at Dudley as
she made this proposal. He glanced back at her; and in his black eyes
she fancied for a moment that she saw a mute protest, a plea.

For a moment she hesitated. Standing still in the middle of the room,
not far from where he was busy helping Queenie to tie up a particularly
limp and fragile box of chocolates, she seemed to wait for a single
word, or even for another look, to turn her from her p