estly all the while Miss
Tibbutt had been talking to her, and she had come to one very definite
conclusion. She felt perfectly certain now, that it _would_ ease the
situation considerably if Pia knew who this Michael Field really was. It
had come to her in an illuminating flash, that the same reason which had
caused him to hide his identity, was responsible for his odd behaviour
towards Pia. Now, of course, if Pia could see some even possible reason
and excuse for the oddness of his behaviour, it must be a great comfort
to her. But the question was, could she--Trix--tell her? Would not the
telling probably involve her in the untruth her soul loathed? Or, if she
was firm not to tell lies, would it not somehow involve a breaking of her
promise to Nicholas? Again she saw, or thought she saw, all the questions
which must ensue if she said where she had met the man; and if she did
not say where she had met him, it would probably mean saying something
which, virtually speaking at least, would not be true. If only she had
not met him in the grounds of Chorley Old Hall.

It was the same old problem which had presented itself to her mind twice
already, and the same possible over-scrupulosity was perplexing her now.
However, she must stop thinking about it for to-night. She had come to an
end of these thoughts so far as she could muster them into shape, and it
was not the least particle of use going over them again. Her brain would
run round like a squirrel in a cage, if she did. And Tibby was not with
her to open the cage door, as she had opened it for Tibby. Besides, there
was the other trend now.

She settled herself back among the cushions, and gazed at the dancing
flames. It was all so wonderful, so gorgeously unexpected, and yet it was
one of those things which just had to be. She was so sure of that, it
made the happening doubly sweet. It was exactly as if she had been
walking all her life through a quiet wood, a wood where the sunshine
flickered through the trees overhead just sufficiently to make her feel
quite certain of the existence of the sunshine, and then suddenly she had
come out into its full warmth and beauty to behold a perfect landscape.
And she knew that no single other path could have led her to this place,
also that there could be no other prospect as beautiful for her.

"When did you first know?" she had asked him. The question millions of
women have asked in their time, and that will be asked by millions