came
back to his cheeks.

"Aren't you sorry," she asked him once, as they paused to look across a
vista of green meadows toward a distant range of hills, "for the people
who see nothing in the country except in summer? Look at those lines of
bare, sad trees, the stillness of it all, and yet the softness; and
think what it will soon be, think what there is underneath, ready to
burst into life as the weeks go on! I always come down here early, just
to watch the coming of springtime. That wood to our left, with its bare,
brown undergrowth, will soon show little flushes of pinky-yellow, and
then a few days more sunshine and the primroses will be there. And you
see, higher up, that wood where the trees stand so far apart? A little
later still, the wild hyacinths will be like a blue carpet there. In the
garden we begin with little rings of white snowdrops; then the crocuses
come up in lines, yellow and purple; and the daffodils; and then, on
those beds behind, the hyacinths. When the wind blows from the south,
the perfume of them, as you pass down the river, is simply wonderful. Be
careful, if you are turning round. There's a strong current here."

John nodded. He was watching his hostess a little curiously.

"I had no idea," he said simply, "that you cared about flowers and that
sort of thing."

She threw her cigarette away and looked at him for a moment without
speaking.

"You see, you don't really understand me very well," she remarked.

The twilight was coming on as they turned into their own little stream,
and gleams of light shot from the windows of the few houses that were
open. As they strolled up the lawn, they could see a rose-shaded lamp
and a silver tea-equipage set out in Lady Hilda's sitting room.

"No one arrived yet, I see," she remarked carelessly, as they entered
the cottage. "I'll play you a game of billiards as soon as we have had
tea."

John, who had thoroughly enjoyed his exercise, sat in a low chair by her
side, drank innumerable small cups of tea, and ate buttered toast in
thin strips. When they had finished, Lady Hilda rose.

"Go and knock the balls about for a few minutes," she begged. "I am
going to put on a more comfortable gown. If the Daunceys come, you can
entertain them. I played a round of golf this morning before you came."

John made his way into the comfortable billiard room, at one end of
which a wood fire was burning, lit a cigarette, and took out a cue.
Presently Lady Hilda r