ng myself aside, I
feel pretty sure that the girls won't seem quarrelsome to you; they
would have to be very fractious indeed before that were possible.'

'We shall continue to be friends, I am sure.'

Jasper let his eyes wander about the room.

'This is your father's study?'

'Yes.'

'Perhaps it would have seemed odd to Mr Yule if I had come in and begun
to talk to him about these purely private affairs. He knows me so very
slightly. But, in calling here for the first time--'

An unusual embarrassment checked him.

'I will explain to father your very natural wish to speak of these
things,' said Marian, with tact.

She thought uneasily of her mother in the next room. To her there
appeared no reason whatever why Jasper should not be introduced to Mrs
Yule, yet she could not venture to propose it. Remembering her father's
last remarks about Milvain in connection with Fadge's magazine, she must
wait for distinct permission before offering the young man encouragement
to repeat his visit. Perhaps there was complicated trouble in store
for her; impossible to say how her father's deep-rooted and rankling
antipathies might affect her intercourse even with the two girls. But
she was of independent years; she must be allowed the choice of her
own friends. The pleasure she had in seeing Jasper under this roof, in
hearing him talk with such intimate friendliness, strengthened her to
resist timid thoughts.

'When will your sisters arrive?' she asked.

'I think in a very few days. When I have fixed upon lodgings for them I
must go back to Finden; then they will return with me as soon as we
can get the house emptied. It's rather miserable selling things one has
lived among from childhood. A friend in Wattleborough will house for us
what we really can't bear to part with.'

'It must be very sad,' Marian murmured.

'You know,' said the other suddenly, 'that it's my fault the girls are
left in such a hard position?'

Marian looked at him with startled eyes. His tone was quite unfamiliar
to her.

'Mother had an annuity,' he continued. 'It ended with her life, but if
it hadn't been for me she could have saved a good deal out of it. Until
the last year or two I have earned nothing, and I have spent more
than was strictly necessary. Well, I didn't live like that in mere
recklessness; I knew I was preparing myself for remunerative work. But
it seems too bad now. I'm sorry for it. I wish I had found some way of
supporting my