the door and left me alone, for I was tired, and
longed to think over the wonderful events of the day. I slept very
sweetly in the old-fashioned brown bed that was sacred to the memory of
Miss Gunter, and woke happily to the fact that another blue day was
shining, and that in a few hours Eric and I would be at Heathfield. I
ate my frugal breakfast in a small back parlour overlooking the blank
wall of a brewery, and before I had finished there was a quick tap at the
door, and Eric entered. A boyish blush crossed his handsome face as I
looked at him in some surprise. He had laid aside his workman's dress,
and wore the ordinary garb of a gentleman. Perhaps his coat was a little
shabby and the hat he held in his hand had lost its gloss, but no one
would have noticed such trifles with that bright speaking face and air
of refinement; and, though he looked down at his uncovered hands and
muttered something about stopping to buy a pair of gloves, I hastened to
assure him that it was so early that it did not matter. 'I should hardly
have recognised you, Mr. Eric,' I ventured to observe, for I saw he was
a little sensitive about his appearance; and then he told me in his frank
way that the clothes he wore were the same in which he left Gladwyn
nearly four years ago.

'They have been lying by all this time,' he went on, 'and they are sadly
creased, I am afraid. I have grown a little broader, and they don't seem
to fit me, somehow, but I did not want Gladys to see me in anything
else.'

We had decided to take the ten o'clock train to Heathfield, so I did
not keep him long waiting for me. On our way to the station we met a
house-painter: he looked rather dubiously at Eric.

'All right, Phil,' he laughed, 'I am going home; but I shall turn up
again all right: this lady has brought me good news.' And he wrung Phil's
hand with a heartiness that spoke volumes.

He was very excited and talkative at first, but as soon as we left
Victoria behind us he became quieter, and soon afterwards perfectly
silent; and I did not disturb him. He grew more nervous as we approached
Heathfield, and when the train stopped he had not an atom of colour in
his face.

'I do not know what I shall say to Giles,' he said, as we walked up the
hill. 'It will be very awkward for both of us, Miss Garston. Of course
I know that--'

But I begged him not to anticipate the awkwardness. 'You will be welcomed
as we only welcome our dearest and best,' I assured him