he drawing-room. She found Miss Newthorpe
there.

'Come now, and tell us what you have been doing all day long,' Mrs.
Ormonde said. 'Why, the sun and the wind have already touched your
cheeks!'

'I have enjoyed myself,' Thyrza replied, quickly, seating herself near
her new friend.

She could give little more description than that. Annabel talked with
her, and presently, at Mrs. Ormonde's request, went to the piano. When
the first notes had sounded, Thyrza let her head droop a little. Music
such as this she had not imagined. When Annabel came back to her seat,
she gazed at her, admiring and loving.

'Now will you sing us 'Annie Laurie'?' said Mrs. Ormonde. 'I'll play
for you.'

'What is that child's future?' Mrs. Ormonde asked of Annabel, when
Thyrza had left them together.

'Not a sad one, I think,' said Annabel, musingly. 'Happily, her husband
will not be an untaught working man.'

'No, thank goodness for that! I suppose they will be married in two or
three weeks. Her voice is a beautiful thing lost.'

'We won't grieve over that. Her own happiness is of more account. I do
wish father could have seen her!'

'Oh, she must come to us again some day. Your father would have alarmed
her too much. Haven't you felt all the time as if she were something
very delicate, something to be carefully guarded against shocks and
hazards? As I saw her from my window going out of the garden this
morning, I felt a sort of fear; I was on the point of sending a servant
to keep watch over her from a distance.

There was a silence, then Mrs. Ormonde murmured:

'I wonder whether she is in love with him?'

Annabel smiled, but said nothing.

'She told me that he is very kind to her. 'Just as kind as Lyddy,' she
said. Indeed, who wouldn't be?'

'We have every reason to think highly of Mr. Grail,' Annabel remarked.
'He must be as exceptional in his class as she is.'

'Yes. But the exceptional people--'

Annabel looked inquiringly.

'Never mind! The world has beautiful things in it, and one of the most
beautiful is hope.'

CHAPTER XVII

ADRIFT

It was partly out of kindness to Thyrza that Totty Nancarrow had
changed her mind about going to Eastbourne. Having seen her and
mentioned the matter, Totty saw at once how eagerly Thyrza would accept
such a chance. But it happened that within the same hour she saw Luke
Ackroyd, and Luke had proposed a meeting on Saturday afternoon. Totty
had no extreme desire to meet him,