ome. It is so hot and close in town, and Cloudsdale
must be looking lovely just now. Father expects to leave on Tuesday.
He does not seem very pleased about my engagement. I suppose parents
never are! Good-bye, dear, darling girls. I wish I could be with you
now.

"Your own loving Lettice.

"PS--How surprised you will be. Tell me every word you said when you
read this letter!"

"Humph I slightly awkward if we took her at her word!" It was Rex who
spoke, and there was the same expression of ill-concealed scorn in his
voice which had been noticeable on his face since the announcement of
the news. "Charming epistle, I must say. So much about `dear Arthur'
and her own happiness. One must excuse a little gush under the
circumstances, and Lettice was always demonstrative!"

Hilary looked at him, puckering her forehead in anxious fashion. "You
mean that sarcastically! She says nothing about being happy. I noticed
that myself. There is something strange about the whole thing. I am
quite sure she did not care for him when I was there in spring. What
can have possessed her to accept him?"

"Because he asked her nicely, and puts lots of treacle on the bread,"
said Raymond, laughing. "You could always make Lettice do what you
wanted if you flattered her enough. She would accept any fellow who
went down on his knees and swore he worshipped her. Oh, I say I fancy
having Arthur Newcome as a brother-in-law! We used to call him `Child's
Guide to Knowledge' when he was at Windermere last summer, because he
would insist upon improving every occasion. We played some fine pranks
on him, didn't we, Norah? We'll give him a lively time of it again if
he comes to visit us, as I suppose he will, under the circumstances."

"We can't," said Norah dolefully. "He is engaged to Lettice, and she
would be vexed. I don't feel as if I could ever play pranks again. I
was so looking forward to having Lettice with us again when we went up
to London, but now it will never be the same again. Even if she has a
house of her own, Arthur Newcome will be there, and I could never, never
get to like him as a brother." She put her cup on the table and walked
off by herself into the shrubbery which encircled the lawn, and though
the others looked after her in sympathetic silence, they did not attempt
to follow. As Lettice's special friend and companion, the news was even
more of a shock to her than to the rest, and it was understood t