ng it was if the grown-ups grew tired of waiting, and
walked on with the penny. Only I would rather have had none, than not
have the one on which I had fixed my heart. Wouldn't you?"

"I never bought air-balls at Brighton," replied Jane, without
enthusiasm. Garth was feeling seven again, and Jane was feeling bored.

For once he seemed conscious of this. He took his coat from the back of
the chair where he had hung it, and put it on.

"Come along, Miss Champion," he said; "I am so tired of doing nothing.
Let us go down to the river and find a boat or two. Dinner is not until
eight o'clock, and I am certain you can dress, even for the ROLE of
Velma, in half an hour. I have known you do it in ten minutes, at a
pinch. There is ample time for me to row you within sight of the
minster, and we can talk as we go. Ah, fancy! the grey old minster with
this sunset behind it, and a field of cowslips in the foreground!"

But Jane did not rise.

"My dear Dal," she said, "you would not feel much enthusiasm for the
minster or the sunset, after you had pulled my twelve stone odd up the
river. You would drop exhausted among the cowslips. Surely you might
know by now that I am not the sort of person to be told off to sit in
the stern of a tiny skiff and steer. If I am in a boat, I like to row;
and if I row, I prefer rowing stroke. But I do not want to row now,
because I have been playing golf the whole afternoon. And you know
perfectly well it would be no pleasure to you to have to gaze at me all
the way up and all the way down the river; knowing all the time, that I
was mentally criticising your stroke and marking the careless way you
feathered."

Garth sat down, lay back in his chair, with his arms behind his sleek
dark head, and looked at her with his soft shining eyes, just as he had
looked at the duchess.

"How cross you are, old chap," he said, gently. "What is the matter?"

Jane laughed and held out her hand. "Oh, you dear boy! I think you have
the sweetest temper in the world. I won't be cross any more. The truth
is, I hate the duchess's concerts, and I don't like being the duchess's
'surprise-packet.'"

"I see," said Garth, sympathetically. "But, that being so, why did you
offer?"

"Ah, I had to," said Jane. "Poor old dear! She so rarely asks me
anything, and her eyes besought. Don't you know how one longs to have
something to do for some one who belongs to one? I would black her
boots if she wished it. But it is