woman." He looked
down at her, smiling thoughtfully "The only trouble is, that I shall
probably have to marry the wrong one."

"If you do, it will be your own fault, I should think," said Esther,
laughing. She could not quite understand this man. Had he ever really
loved her, or had it all just been a pretence?

"No," said Micky promptly. "I think it will be your fault."

Esther raised her eyes slowly. Micky was smiling.

"Yes, I mean it," he said seriously. "The first time I ever saw you I
thought to myself, 'Here she is! That right woman I've been waiting
for all my life'--but, of course, you didn't think I was the right
man, and so that ended it," he added philosophically.

Esther did not like to hear him speak so lightly. She would have been
surprised if she could have known the desperate unhappiness in his
heart, the bitterness that drove him to speak so flippantly of all
that he held best and dearest.

She made no attempt to answer him, and presently he said again with
change of voice--

"Are you hungry, I wonder? Because I am! And I've got a firm
conviction that we're coming to a wayside inn. Do you see the chimneys
through the trees?..."

He slowed the car a little.

"There's another car outside--what do you say? Shall we risk it?"

"It would be rather nice," Esther admitted. She was feeling cold; she
was rather glad when the car stopped and Micky gave her his hand.

"They've got a fire anyway," he said cheerily. "I saw it through the
window, and we'll ask for some coffee."

He led the way into the parlour. Two men wrapped in heavy coats stood
by the fire; they moved to make way for Esther. After a moment they
went out of the room, and she saw them in the road bending over the
car next to Micky's.

"We can have coffee and buns," Micky said, coming back after a moment.
"I don't know what they'll be like, but----"

"I shall enjoy them anyway," she told him. "I really am hungry."

He pulled off his gloves and dragged a chair up to the fire for her.

"This is fine," he said. "Have you ever thought what a novelty a
honeymoon would be touring through villages like this? I should like
to just start away and go on driving for miles and miles, just staying
anywhere and getting meals anyhow."

Esther laughed. "I should have thought it was just the sort of thing
you would hate," she said.

"That's where you're mistaken," he told her. "I live in town and in
the way I do because people expect it of me