ellow
a splendid wife; of that there was no doubt whatever. It seemed a
mystery that she was still unmarried when she had been out in India for
a year or more! and Meredith wondered what men were about. It did not
strike him that Honor was not to be had for the asking.

It was well, however, for the Collector's peace of mind and the work
upon which he was engaged, that he did not know of the motor drives
which were to provide a surprise for him one day.

"People are beginning to talk about them," Honor ventured, with
reference to their frequency, shy of being misunderstood and afraid of
being considered interfering; but she had not forgotten Ray Meredith's
parting words spoken with wistful meaning--"Take care of my wife, she is
such a kid!"

She had accepted the responsibility and it was weighing heavily upon
her.

"Very impertinent of 'people,'" said Joyce in return.

"You have to live among them, and in your position they want to look up
to you as a sort of 'Caesar's wife,'" said Honor smiling. "But it is, of
course, a matter that lies between you and your husband entirely. If
_he_ doesn't object----"

"He knows nothing about my learning to drive, as it is to be a surprise.
What concern is it of any one else?"

"We generally stand or fall by what people think of us--don't we?
However much we would like to ignore the fact, it remains
unquestionable. If we do things liable to misconstruction, we are likely
to suffer in the eyes of the world--and you see it every day. You
yourself disapproved of and condemned Mrs. Fox, whose ways none of us
admire or can stand."

"Oh, Honey!" reproachfully--"would you compare me with Mrs. Fox? Why she
does scandalous things!"

"God forbid that I should! but Mrs. Fox did not begin by doing
scandalous things. When she grew used to doing unconventional things she
became consciously scandalous. Everything happens by degrees--even
deterioration."

"But you don't think there is any harm in my going for drives with
Captain Dalton, Honey? He is so different. He is not the kind of man who
gets women talked about, I should imagine. Why, half the time, he is
glum and absent-minded, and he treats me just like a child." Joyce never
resented Honor's plain-speaking.

"It is no business of mine," said Honor, "except that you are my friend
and I am jealous for your honourable standing here. I know nothing of
Captain Dalton, but that he is a man like most others--and you might,
some day, m