leisurely arose.

"To begin with," he said, "I've seen mamma."

She looked up at him sharply.

"Go on! Wasn't she furious?"

"My dear child, that is but a mild term. She was cold as the nether
mill-stone. I am afraid there isn't much chance for us if we persist in
our folly."

"Don't be absurd! Tell me everything. Has that announcement been
contradicted?"

"Once," said Rivington. "But it has been inserted three times since
then."

"Oh, but you didn't----"

"Yes, but I did. It was necessary. I think everyone is now convinced of
our engagement, including Lady Florence."

Ernestine laughed a little, in spite of herself.

"I can't think what the end of it will be," she said, with a touch of
uneasiness.

"Wait till we get there," said Rivington.

She threw him a glance, half merry and half shy.

"Did you tell mother where I was?"

"On the contrary," said Rivington, "I implored her to tell me."

She drew a sharp breath.

"That was very ingenious of you."

"So I thought," he rejoined modestly.

"And what did she say?"

"She said with scarcely a pause that she had sent you out of town to
give you time to come to your senses, and it was quite futile for me to
question her, as she had not the faintest intention of revealing your
whereabouts."

Ernestine breathed again.

"I said in the note I left behind for her that she wasn't to worry about
me. I had gone into the country to get away from my troubles."

"That was ingenious, too," he commented. "I think, if you ask me, that
we have come out of the affair rather well."

"We have all been remarkably subtle," she said, with a sigh. "But I
don't like subtlety, you know. It's very horrid, and it frightens me
rather."

"What are you afraid of?" he said.

"I don't know. I think I am afraid of going too far and not being able
to get back."

"Do you want to get back?" he asked.

"No, no, of course not. At least, not yet," she assured him.

"Then, my dear," he said, "I think, if you will allow me to say so, that
you are disquieting yourself in vain."

He spoke very kindly, with a gentleness that was infinitely reassuring.

With an impulsive movement of complete confidence, she slipped her hand
through his arm.

"Thank you, Knight Errant," she said. "I wanted that."

She did not ask him anything about Dinghra, and he wondered a little at
her forbearance.

VII

HIS INSPIRATION

The days of Rivington's sojourn slipped by with exceedin