f the room he was sitting in.

"Not now, Judy darling," she would say, when the child bounded eagerly
into their presence. "Jasper is just going out--when he is out I will
attend to you. Go on with your drawing in the dining room until I come
to you, Judy."

Judy would go away at once obedient and happy, but Hilda's face would
flush with anxiety, and her eyes would not meet her husband's. So
between each of these young people there was that wall of reserve which
is the sad beginning of love's departure; but Hilda, being the weaker of
the two and having less to occupy her thoughts, suffered more than
Jasper.

On a certain evening when Judy had been a happy resident of No. 10
Philippa Terrace for over a month, Quentyns was about to leave his
office and to return home, when his friend Tom Rivers entered his room.

"Have you any engagement for to-night, Quentyns?" he asked abruptly.

"None," said Jasper, visible relief on his face, for he was beginning to
dislike the evenings which he spent with a wife who always had a sense
of constraint over her, and with the knowledge that Judy's presence was
only tolerated when he was by. "I am at your service, Tom," said Jasper.
"Do you want me to go anywhere with you?"

Rivers was a great deal older than Quentyns, he was a very clever and
practical man of the world. He looked now full at Jasper. He had not
failed to observe the eager relief on his friend's face when he asked if
he had any engagement. To a certain extent Jasper had made Rivers his
confidant. He had told him that Hilda's little sister, who had been so
ill and had given them all such a fright, was staying now at Philippa
Terrace.

Rivers shrewdly guessed that Hilda's little sister was scarcely a
welcome guest, as far as Quentyns was concerned. Rivers had taken a
fancy to pretty Mrs. Quentyns. With a quick mental survey he saw again
the picture of the young wife on the night when he had dined at Philippa
Terrace.

"She did not look perfectly happy," he thought. "I hope Quentyns is good
to her. I seldom saw a more charming face than hers, but with such eyes,
so full of expression, so full of that sort of dumb, dog-like
affectionateness, she must, she will suffer horribly if there comes a
cloud between her husband and herself. Quentyns is the best of fellows,
but he can be dogged and obstinate--I hope to goodness there's nothing
up in that pretty little home of theirs."

Aloud Rivers said abruptly, "I had thought