fraid of colds and wet feet."

"Vrouw Van Heigen was," Julia answered, "but Denah and I were not. It
is the last opportunity we shall have for a little while; Joost goes
to Germany on business to-morrow."

Rawson-Clew laughed. "Which means, I suppose," he said, "that she will
neglect the crochet work, and you will have to superintend it? Not
very congenial to you, is it?"

"Good discipline," she told him.

"And for that reason to be welcomed? Really you deserve to succeed in
whatever it is you are attempting; you do not neglect details."

"Details are often important," she said; "stopping at home and doing
crochet work while Joost is in Germany, for instance, may help me a
good deal."

The tone struck Rawson-Clew as implying more than the words said, but
he did not ask for an interpretation, and before long she had put a
question to him. They were nearing a large house that stood far back
from the road on the left hand side. It was a big block of a place,
greyish-white in colour, and with more than half of its windows
bricked up, indescribably gloomy. A long, straight piece of water lay
before it, stretching almost from the walls to the road, from which it
was separated by a low fence. Tall, thick trees grew in a close row on
either side, narrowing the prospect; a path ran up beside them on the
one hand, the only way to the house, but in the steamy mist which lay
thick over everything this evening one could hardly see it, and it
looked as if the place were unapproachable from the front.

Julia glanced curiously towards the house; it was the only one of any
size or possible interest in the village; the only one, she had
decided some time ago, that Rawson-Clew could have any reason to
visit.

As they approached the gate she ventured, "You go here, do you not?"

"Yes," he answered; "to Herr Van de Greutz."

"The cousin tells me he is a great chemist," Julia said.

"He is," Rawson-Clew agreed, "and one much absorbed in his work; it is
impossible to see him even on business except in the evening."

He paused by the gate as he spoke. "You have not much further to go,
have you?" he said. "Will you excuse me carrying your basket further?
I am afraid I am rather behind my time."

Julia took the basket, assuring him she had no distance to carry it,
but her eyes as she said it twinkled with amusement; it was not really
late, and she knew it.

"You are afraid of what will be said next," she thought as she looked
b