attached to him, and her clannishly
hospitable soul would have been sorely wounded if he had not spent a
few days at Trevarthen Wood while he was in the neighbourhood. Ralph
Fenton had been obliged to hurry north to fulfil an unexpected concert
engagement; and on the same day Barry left home to join a
shooting-party in Scotland. A few days later Nan and Penelope returned
to London, accompanied by Kitty, who asserted an unshakable
determination to take part in the orgy of spending which Penelope's
forthcoming wedding would entail.

Meanwhile Ralph, being "a big fish" as Penny had once commented, had
secured his future wife's engagement as a member of the concert
party--by the simple method of declining to accept the American tour
himself unless she were included, so that to the joy of buying a
trousseau was added the superlative delight of choosing special frocks
for Penelope's appearances on tour in the States. Lord St. John had
insisted upon presenting the trousseau, Barry Seymour made himself
responsible for the concert gowns, and Kitty announced that the wedding
was to take place from her house in Green Street.

For the first time in the whole of her brave, hard-working life,
Penelope knew what it was to spend as she had seen other women spend,
without being driven into choosing the second-best material or the less
becoming frock for the unsatisfying reason that it was the cheaper.
The two men had given Kitty carte blanche as regards expenditure and
she proceeded to take full advantage of the fact, promptly quelling any
tentative suggestions towards economy which Penelope, rather
overwhelmed by Mrs. Seymour's lavish notions, occasionally put forth.

The date on which the concert party sailed was already fixed; leaving a
bare month in which to accomplish the necessary preparations, and the
time seemed positively to fly. Nan evaded taking part in the shopping
expeditions which filled the days for Penelope and Kitty, since each
new purchase, each frail, chiffony frock or beribboned box which
arrived from dressmaker or milliner, served only to remind her that the
approaching parting with Penelope was drawing nearer.

In women's friendships there must always come a big wrench when one or
other of two friends meets the man who is her mate. The old, tried
friendship retreats suddenly into second place--sometimes for a little
while it almost seems as though it had petered out altogether. But
when once the plunge ha