What is a husband to a sick
sister? Go, my dear, or you will miss your train!"

"No, I won't go," said Hilda; "you have made it impossible for me to
go. I'll stay and entertain your guest, and Judy will suffer. Yes; don't
kiss me just now, Jasper; I think you are cruel, but I'll stay."

Hilda went over to the bell and rang it.

Susan answered the summons.

"Give the cabman this shilling," said Mrs. Quentyns, "and tell him that
he is not required."

"You have done quite right, my love," said Quentyns, "and when you have
got over your first little feeling of annoyance you will see the matter
in the same light that I do. I'll telegraph to Little Staunton early in
the morning to tell them to expect us by the 11.35 train. Of course Judy
would have been asleep hours before you reached her to-night, so it does
not really matter in the least. Now come upstairs and put on your very
prettiest dress, that soft pink _chiffon_, in which you look as like a
rosebud as a living woman can. I have capital news for you, Hilda, my
love; Rivers certainly is a brick; he has got me to act as counsel
in----"

Quentyns talked on in his satisfied, joyous tones. He had won the
victory, and could afford to be very gracious and generous. Hilda felt
as if a band of iron had closed round her heart. She was too gentle and
sweet in her nature to be long angry with her husband. Her face was a
little paler than usual, however, and her eyes had a weary look in them.

Rivers, who was a very keen observer of human nature, noticed the silent
depression which hung over her, but Hilda's husband failed to observe
it.

"I can easily manage her," he muttered to himself; "it would have been
beyond all reason to have had her absent from our first little dinner
just because a child had fainted. Pshaw!--I can see that Hilda is going
to be painfully fanciful; it all comes from having lived so long in the
wilds of the country. Well, I'll take her down to Little Staunton
to-morrow, and be specially good to her, but she must get over these
absurdities about Judy, or life will not be worth living."

The dinner was a success, and Hilda looked lovely. A certain dreamy and
far-away expression in her eyes added the final touch to her beauty.
When the men sat together over their wine, Rivers spoke of her in tones
of rapture.

"You're the luckiest fellow in Christendom, Jasper," he said; and Jasper
Quentyns, who looked up to Tom Rivers as the first of men, felt alm