e. Wenna was timid and a trifle sad: she
said little beyond "Yes, Mr. Trelyon," and "No, Mr. Trelyon," and even
that was said in low voice. As for him, he spoke to her gravely and
respectfully: it was already as if she were a mere stranger.

Had some of his old friends and acquaintances seen him now, they would
have been something more than astonished. Was this young man, talking
in a gentle and courteous fashion to his companion, and endeavoring to
interest her in the various things around her, the same daredevil lad
who used to clatter down the main street of Eglosilyan, who knew no
control other than his own unruly wishes, and who had no answer but a
mocking jest for any remonstrance?

"And how long do you remain in Penzance, Mr. Trelyon?" Mrs. Rosewarne
said at length.

"Until to-morrow, I expect," he answered.

"To-morrow?"

"Yes: I am going back to Eglosilyan. You know my mother means to give
some party or other on my coming of age, and there is so little of
that amusement going on at our house that it needs all possible
encouragement. After that I mean to leave Eglosilyan for a time."

Wenna said nothing, but her downcast face grew a little paler: it was
she who was banishing him.

"By the way," he continued with a smile, "my mother is very anxious
about Miss Wenna's return. I fancy she has been trying to go into that
business of the sewing club on her own account; and in that case she
would be sure to get into a mess. I know her first impulse would be to
pay any money to smooth matters over, but that would be a bad
beginning, wouldn't it?"

"Yes, it would," Wenna said, but somehow, at this moment, she was less
inclined to be hopeful about the future.

"And as for you, Mrs. Rosewarne," he said, "I suppose you will be
going home soon, now that the change seems to have done you so much
good?"

"Yes, I hope so," she said, "but Wenna must go first. My husband
writes to me that he cannot do without her, and offers to send Mabyn
instead. Nobody seems to be able to get on without our Wenna."

"And yet she has the most curious fancy that she is of no account to
anybody. Why, some day I expect to hear of the people in Eglosilyan
holding a public meeting to present her with a service of plate and an
address written on parchment with blue and gold letters."

"Perhaps they will do that when she gets married," the mother said,
ignorant of the stab she was dealing.

It was a picturesque and pleasant bit of cou