ut the gurgling of a little water, and the
sighing--the most melancholy sighing you ever heard--of the wind in
our ragged elms. I am talking about the autumn and winter now, you must
remember."

"It doesn't sound attractive," Granet admitted. "By-the-bye, which side
of Norfolk are you? You are nowhere near Brancaster, I suppose?"

"We are within four miles of it," the girl replied quickly. "You don't
ever come there, do you?"

Granet looked at her with uplifted eyebrows.

"This is really rather a coincidence!" he exclaimed. "I've never been to
Brancaster in my life but I've promised one or two fellows to go down
to the Dormy House there, to-morrow or the next day, and have a week's
golf. Geoff Anselman is going, for one."

The girl was for a moment almost good-looking. Her eyes glowed, her tone
was eloquently appealing.

"You'll come by and see us, won't you?" she begged.

"If I may, I'd be delighted," Granet promised heartily. "When are you
going back?"

"To-morrow. You're quite sure that you'll come?"

"I shall come all right," Granet assured her. "I'm not so keen on golf
as some of the fellows, and my arm's still a little dicky, but I'm fed
up with London, and I'm not allowed even to come before the Board again
for a fortnight, so I rather welcome the chance of getting right away.
The links are good, I suppose?"

"Wonderful," Miss Worth agreed eagerly, "and I think the club-house is
very comfortable. There are often some quite nice men staying there.
If only father weren't so awfully peculiar, the place would be almost
tolerable in the season. That reminds me," she went on, with a little
sigh, "I must warn you about father. He's the most unsociable person
that ever lived."

"I'm not shy," Granet laughed. "By-the-bye, pardon me, but isn't your
father the Sir Meyville Worth who invents things? I'm not quite sure
what sort of things," he added. "Perhaps you'd better post me up before
I come?"

"I sha'n't tell you a thing." Isabel Worth declared. "Just now it's very
much better for you to know nothing whatever about him. He has what
I call the inventors' fidgets, for some reason or other. If a strange
person comes near the place he simply loses his head."

"Perhaps I sha'n't be welcome, then?" Granet remarked disconsolately.

There was a flash in the girl's eyes as she answered him.

"I can assure you that you will, Captain Granet," she said. "If father
chooses to behave like a bear, well, I'll try and