she said earnestly.

He stood up and looked again with swift appreciation at Toby. The girl
was dressed very simply in white, her vivid face shadowed by a broad
straw hat. She met his look with a grimace of boyish dissatisfaction.

"Bunny! What a ghastly gathering! For goodness' sake, don't look at me
like that! I feel like a painted marionette!"

"Are you painted?" said Bunny. "You don't look it."

She made a vehement gesture of disgust. "As soon as this show it over, I
shall get into riding things and go like the--like the--"

"Like the dish when it ran away with the spoon," suggested Bunny with a
grin, as she paused. "Well, if you'll be the spoon, I'll be the dish, and
we'll show 'em all a clean pair of heels. Shall we?"

"I certainly won't be the spoon," said Toby with decision. "You can find
someone else to play that part. Try Miss Melrose! She doesn't look as if
she'd object."

"She's a very pretty girl," said Bunny rather aggressively.

"Of course she's a pretty girl. It's what she's for." Toby's chin went
up. "She couldn't be anything else."

Bunny laughed. "Well, cheer up! She's not the only one on board. Do you
know any of these people?"

Toby shook her head promptly. "And don't want! Aren't they awful? Oh,
here's Jake! Wonder how much he's enjoying himself."

Whether Jake were enjoying himself or not was not apparent in his manner
as he came up and shook hands with Bunny, then turned to lift his little
girl on to his shoulder.

"Hold tight, Innocence! What do you think of it all?"

"I think it's lovely, Daddy," she answered, clasping him closely. "Does
Mummy like it too?"

He smiled at the anxiety in her question. "Guess she'll come through it
all right. She's not exactly keen on this sort of thing. But we're here,
eh, Innocence? That ought to make a difference."

Old General Melrose turned sharply at the sound of the soft voice. He had
not noticed Jake until that moment.

"Why, Bolton!" he said. "What are you doing here?"

Jake moved forward deliberately. "Well," he said, "I guess I'm here in
support of my wife who has undertaken the chief part in the ceremony
about to take place."

The old soldier looked at him from under beetling brows. "Ah! Your wife!
That's Maud Brian, isn't it? Somehow I always think of her as Maud Brian.
So she still keeps up the old friendship with Saltash! I wonder you allow
that."

Jake's red-brown eyes held a smile. "She pleases herself, sir," he said,
"and-