n
exquisite view of the lawns and the park beyond.

"Oh, a host of your friends," she said. "Do you like sugar, Drake? Fancy
an aunt having to ask her nephew that! I shall get used to all your fads
and fancies presently. There are the Northgates, and the Beeches, and
old Lord Balfreed"--she ran through the list, and he listened absently
until she came to--"and the Turfleighs."

"The Turfleighs?" he said, with something that was almost a frown; and,
seeing it, the countess noticed how stern his face had become.

"Yes. Lady Luce and her father will arrive to-morrow, just in time for
the dance. They are staying at a place near here--the Wolfers'. You
remember them? They are coming with her, of course."

"Quite a gathering of the clans," he said, as brightly as he could. "It
is a long time since Anglemere had such a beau fete. Who is that?" he
broke off to inquire. "One of the guests?"

Lady Angleford looked out of the window.

"I am so near-sighted----"

"A tall, thin man, with long hair," he said. "He has just gone round the
corner toward the lodge."

"That must be the man who is staying at the south lodge," she said. "His
name is Falconer, and he is a musician."

"A musician staying at the south lodge?" said Drake, with surprise. "Ah,
yes! I remember hearing the violin, as I passed the other day."

"Yes," said Lady Angleford. "The young fellow the engineers sent down is
staying at the lodge with his sister and their friend, this Mr.
Falconer. They were to have gone yesterday, when the work was completed;
but I thought they had better stay a few days, until after the dance, at
any rate, in case anything should go wrong with the electric light. It
is such a nuisance if they happen to pop out all of a sudden; and they
generally do when there is something on. You don't mind their being
here?"

He smiled.

"Why should I? It was a good idea to keep him. I suppose there is to be
a resident engineer?"

"Yes; I suppose so. It would not be a bad idea to keep this young
fellow, for I'm told that he has done the work very well. I've not seen
him or his sister. I hear that she is an extremely pretty girl, and very
ladylike, and I meant calling at the lodge and asking if they were
comfortable; but I have been so busy."

"I can quite understand that," he said. "I only hope you will not have
tired yourself out for to-morrow night."

She laughed.

"I am not easily tired; and I'm tough, though I'm small," she retorted