ion. He'll keep her
busy, if it's only opening bazars and presenting prizes at Bisley. The
American men who've tried to marry her have wanted to be her servants,
when all the while she's been waiting for a master."

Davenant understood that, now that it was pointed out to him, though the
thought would not have come to him spontaneously. She was the strong
woman who would yield only to a stronger man. Colonel Ashley might not
be stronger than she in intellect or character, but he had done some
large things on a large field, and was counted an active force in a
country of forceful activities. There might be a question as to whether
he would prove to be her master, but he would certainly never think of
being her slave.

"What are _you_ going to do, Henry, when the gallant stranger carries
off Olivia, a fortnight hence?"

Though she asked the question with the good intention of drawing her
host into the conversation, Mrs. Temple made it a point to notice the
effort with which he rallied himself to meet her words.

"What am I going to do?" he repeated, absently. "Oh, my future will
depend very much on--Hobson's choice."

"That's true," Miss Guion agreed, hurriedly, as though to emphasize a
point. "It's all the choice I've left to him. I've arranged everything
for papa--beautifully. He's to take in a partner perhaps two partners.
You know," she continued in explanation to Mrs. Fane--"you know that poor
papa has been the whole of Guion, Maxwell & Guion since Mr. Maxwell
died. Well, then, he's to take in a partner or two, and gradually shift
his business into their hands. That wouldn't take more than a couple of
years at longest. Then he's going to retire, and come to live near me in
England. Rupert says there's a small place close to Heneage that would
just suit him. Papa has always liked the English hunting country, and
so--"

"And so everything will be for the best," Rodney Temple finished.
"There's nothing like a fresh young mind, like a young lady's, for
settling business affairs. It would have taken you or me a long time to
work that plan out, wouldn't it, Henry? We should be worried over the
effect on our trusteeships and the big estates we've had the care of--"

"What about the big estates?"

Davenant noticed the tone in which Guion brought out this question,
though it was an hour later before he understood its significance. It
was a sharp tone, the tone of a man who catches an irritating word or
two among rem