utweighed every other
consideration. "You--monkey!" he said, folding her close. "You're playing
with me! How dare you torment me like this? You shall pay for it to the
last least farthing. I will never have any mercy on you again."

He kissed her with all the renewed extravagance of love momentarily
denied, and the colour flooded back into Toby's face as the dread receded
from her heart. She gave him more that day than she had ever given him
before, and in the rapture of possession he forgot the ordeal that she
had made him face.

Only later did he remember it--her strange reticence, her odd stumbling
words of warning, her curious attitude of self-defence. And he felt as
if--in spite of his utmost resolution--she had somehow succeeded in
baffling him after all.

CHAPTER X

THE MYSTERY

It was late that evening that Bunny strolled forth alone to smoke a
reminiscent pipe along his favourite glade of larches in Burchester Park.
He went slowly through the summer dusk, his hands behind him, his eyes
fixed ahead. He had had his way with Toby. She had promised to marry him
as soon as old Bishop's retirement left the house in the hollow at his
disposal. But somehow, though he had gained his end, he was not conscious
of elation. Sheila Melrose's words had disturbed him no less than Toby's
own peculiar interpretation of them. There was a very strong instinct of
fair play in Bunny Brian, and, now that he had won his point, he was
assailed by a grave doubt as to whether he were acting fairly towards the
girl. She was young, but then many girls marry young. It was not really
her youth that mattered; neither, when he came to sift the matter, was it
the fact that she had had so little opportunity of seeing the world. But
it was something in Toby's eyes, something in Sheila's manner, that gave
him pause. He asked himself, scarcely knowing why, if it would not be
fairer after all to wait.

He wished that he could have consulted Jake, but yet it would have been
difficult to put his misgivings into definite words. Jake was a brick and
understood most things, but he was away for another week at least.

The thought of the girl's father crossed his mind, only to be instantly
dismissed. Even if he had been within reach, Captain Larpent's sternly
unapproachable exterior would have held him back. He was inclined to like
the man, but he could not feel that Toby's welfare was, or ever had been,
of paramount importance to him. He h