me in bed, Barry, will you?" urged Nan as he
helped her up the steps and into the great hall, its ancient panelling
of oak gleaming like polished ebony in the afternoon sunlight.

Barry pulled thoughtfully at his big fair moustache.

"If Kitty says 'bed,' you know it'll have to be bed," he answered, his
eyes twinkling a little.

Nan subsided on to the wide, cushioned divan.

"Nonsense!" she exclaimed crossly, "You don't stay in bed because
you've scratched your ankle."

"No. But you must remember you've had a bit of a shock."

By this time Kitty and Roger had joined them, overhearing the last part
of the conversation.

"Of _course_ you'll go to bed at once," asserted Kitty firmly. "Will
you give her a hand upstairs, Barry?"

"You see?" said Barry, regarding the patient humorously. "Come along,
Nan! Shall I carry you or will you hobble?"

"I'll _walk_," returned Nan with emphasis.

"Bed's much the best place for you," put in Roger.

He followed her to the foot of the staircase and, as he shook hands,
said quietly:

"Till Monday, then."

"Where's Penelope?" asked Nan, as Barry assisted her upstairs with a
perfectly unnecessary hand under her arm, since--as she curtly informed
him--she had "no intention of accomplishing two faints in one day."

"Penelope is out with Fenton--need you ask?" And Barry chuckled
good-humouredly. "Kitty fully expects them to return an engaged
couple."

"Oh, I do hope they will!" cried Nan, bubbling up with the
instantaneous feminine excitement which generally obtains when a
love-affair, after seeming to hang fire, at last culminates in a _bona
fide_ engagement. "Penny has kept him off so firmly all this time,"
she continued. "I can't think why, because it's perfectly patent to
everybody that they're head over ears in love with each other."

Barry, who could have hazarded a very fair idea as to the reason why
from odd scraps of information on the subject elicited from his wife,
was silent a moment. Finally he said slowly:

"I shouldn't ask Penelope anything about it when she comes in, if I
were you. If matters aren't quite settled between them yet, it might
upset everything again."

Nan paused outside the door of her bedroom.

"But, my dear old Barry, what on earth is there to upset? There's no
earthly obstacle to their marrying that I can see!"

As she spoke she felt a sudden little qualm of apprehension. It was
purely selfish, as she told herself with a twi