They sat up, and Mrs. Darnell went
hurriedly to the door.

'That's Alice,' she said. 'She is always in in time. It has only just
struck ten.'

Darnell shivered with annoyance. His lips, he knew, had almost been
opened. Mary's pretty handkerchief, delicately scented from a little
flagon that a school friend had given her, lay on the floor, and he
picked it up, and kissed it, and hid it away.

The question of the range occupied them all through June and far into
July. Mrs. Darnell took every opportunity of going to the West End and
investigating the capacity of the latest makes, gravely viewing the new
improvements and hearing what the shopmen had to say; while Darnell, as
he said, 'kept his eyes open' about the City. They accumulated quite a
literature of the subject, bringing away illustrated pamphlets, and in
the evenings it was an amusement to look at the pictures. They viewed
with reverence and interest the drawings of great ranges for hotels and
public institutions, mighty contrivances furnished with a series of
ovens each for a different use, with wonderful apparatus for grilling,
with batteries of accessories which seemed to invest the cook almost
with the dignity of a chief engineer. But when, in one of the lists,
they encountered the images of little toy 'cottage' ranges, for four
pounds, and even for three pounds ten, they grew scornful, on the
strength of the eight or ten pound article which they meant to
purchase--when the merits of the divers patents had been thoroughly
thrashed out.

The 'Raven' was for a long time Mary's favourite. It promised the utmost
economy with the highest efficiency, and many times they were on the
point of giving the order. But the 'Glow' seemed equally seductive, and
it was only L8. 5s. as compared with L9. 7s. 6d., and though the 'Raven'
was supplied to the Royal Kitchen, the 'Glow' could show more fervent
testimonials from continental potentates.

It seemed a debate without end, and it endured day after day till that
morning, when Darnell woke from the dream of the ancient wood, of the
fountains rising into grey vapour beneath the heat of the sun. As he
dressed, an idea struck him, and he brought it as a shock to the hurried
breakfast, disturbed by the thought of the City 'bus which passed the
corner of the street at 9.15.

'I've got an improvement on your plan, Mary,' he said, with triumph.
'Look at that,' and he flung a little book on the table.

He laughed. 'It beat