n his meditative
face, he went out into the sunshine. He was thinking of Rosalind in
Arden.

Lord Honeybourne and he had been schoolfellows; they were together at
Oxford, but not in the same set, for Dymchurch read, and the other
ostentatiously idled. What was the use of exerting oneself in any
way--asked the Hon. L. F. T. Medwin-Burton--when a man had only an
income of four or five thousand in prospect, fruit of a wretchedly
encumbered estate which every year depreciated? Having left the
University without a degree--his only notable performance a very
amusing speech at the Union, proposing the abolition of the House of
Lords--he allied himself with young Sir Evan Hungerford in a
journalistic enterprise, and for a year or two the bi-monthly _Skylark_
supplied matter for public mirth, not without occasional scandal. Then
came his succession to the title, and Viscount Honeybourne, as the
papers made known, presently set forth on travel which was to cover all
British territory. He came back with an American wife, an incalculable
fortune, and much knowledge of Greater Britain; moreover he had gained
a serious spirit, and henceforth devoted himself to Colonial affairs.
His young wife--she was seventeen at the time of her
marriage--straightway took a conspicuous place in English Society, her
note being intellectual and social earnestness.

The play was to begin at three o'clock. Arriving half an hour before,
Dymchurch found his hostess in the open-air theatre, beset with
managerial cares, whilst her company, already dressed for their parts,
sat together under the greenwood tree, and a few guests strayed about
the grass. He had met Lady Honeybourne only once, and that a couple of
years ago; with difficulty they recognised each other. Lord
Honeybourne, she told him, had hoped to be here, but the missing of a
steamer (he had run over, just for a day or two, to Jamaica) would make
him too late.

"You know Miss Tomalin?" the lady added with a bright smile. "She has
been lunching with me, and we are great friends. I wish I had known her
sooner; she would have had a part. There she is, talking with Miss
Dolbey.--Yes, of course we have had to cut the play down. It's
shocking, but there was no choice."

Dymchurch got away from this chatter, and stood aside. Then Miss
Tomalin's radiant glance discovered him; she broke from the lady with
whom she was conversing, and stepped in his direction with a look of
frank pleasure.

"How d