e obligingly
brought the car to a standstill outside the station entrance.

Toni jumped lightly out, an alluring little figure in her beautiful
sable coat and cap, and made her way swiftly on to the platform,
glancing at the big station clock as she did so.

The train was not due for five minutes; and to pass the interval of
waiting, Toni strolled over to the bookstall in search of a paper. As
she stood turning over a few magazines, a familiar voice accosted her,
and she moved quickly to face the speaker.

"Mrs. Rose--I hope you have not quite forgotten me?"

"Mr. Dowson! Of course I've not forgotten you." She put out a friendly
little hand, which the young man seized in a fervent grasp. "My cousin
Fanny told me you were coming down to Sutton."

"Yes. I had to change here. It's an awkward little journey." He was
gazing at her fixedly, but withal so respectfully that Toni could not
take offence. "You are, I believe, a resident of this little riverside
colony of Willowhurst?"

"Well, we live by the river," said Toni cheerfully, amused, as of yore,
by his somewhat pedantic diction. "But do tell me, Mr. Dowson, how do
you expect to make a fortune here?"

"I do not expect to do so," he informed her promptly. "I assure you this
move on my part was not actuated by any mercenary motive, Mrs. Rose."

"Wasn't it?" She felt vaguely uncomfortable. "Well, I hope you will
succeed. After all, I suppose people do have toothache in the country."

"Fortunately, they do," was Mr. Dowson's reply, and Toni was happily
able to acquit him of any unkind meaning. "But may I say that I have
never seen you looking so well, Mrs. Rose? Evidently the river life
suits you admirably."

Toni did look particularly well at that moment. The keen frosty air had
brought a tinge of wild-rose to her cheeks, and a sparkle to her eyes;
and the animation of her expression hid the very slight traces of mental
distress which at a less favourable moment might have been evident to a
searching scrutiny.

"I'm very well, thanks," she replied carelessly. "I've been motoring,
and now I'm waiting for my husband. He has been in town to-day."

Although she did not wish to dismiss the young man summarily, he
imagined she desired him to go; and since to the true lover his
mistress' unspoken wish has the force of a command, Mr. Dowson hastened
to obey what he deemed her bidding.

"I must hurry to the other side to take my train," he said immediately.
"May I ex