nstant response, but Ralph was too cautious to be drawn
into rash promises.

"Er--what exactly do you mean by `we'?"

"Myself and my chum, of course--Hannah Vernon."

"Plain Hannah?"

"Plain Hannah!"

Ralph shook his handsome head.

"I make no promise as regards plain Hannah. I'm not particularly
partial to plain Hannahs, but I'll do my level best for Darsie Garnett.
Like to! You can count upon me to do my best to give you a rattling
good time."

Darsie regarded him doubtfully, reflected that it was wisdom to accept
what one could get, and smiled a gracious approval.

"Thanks--so much! Then it's a promise?"

"Certainly. A promise!"

They laughed again. The dogs leaped in the air and barked with delight.
Everything and every one seemed happy to-day. Darsie felt that if she
lived to be a hundred she could never, by any possibility, reach a
higher pinnacle of content.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

AFTER THREE YEARS.

"Is your trunk ready, Darsie? Are you ready to come down? Lunch is on
the table and we're all waiting. Have you fitted everything in? Oh
dear, oh dear, how bleak and bare the room does look! I shall never
have the heart to enter it after you're gone."

Clemence Garnett, aged twenty years, gave a pitiful glance round the
dismantled room, which a few hours before had been decorated with the
many and varied objects which were Darsie's treasures. She looked at
the wooden wardrobe, the doors of which swung wide, showing a row of
empty pegs, at the scattering of paper and rejected ends of ribbon and
lace which littered the floor, and finally back at the figure of Darsie
herself, kneeling before the great black trunk, with her golden hair
ruffling round a flushed, eager face.

"Sit on it, Clemence, like a lamb. It's _got_ to meet, but it's inches
apart still. Sit down with a flop, and be your heaviest, while I fight
with the lock."

"Better take something out. If you make it so full, it may burst half-
way. How would you like that?"

"Not much; but better than leaving anything behind. It wouldn't dare to
burst after costing so much money. There! It's done. You're a pretty
substantial weight, my dear. Now then for lunch and a rest; I've had a
terrific morning."

Darsie rose to her feet and stood for a moment before the mirror,
putting a tidying touch to hair and dress. She was a tall, slim girl,
nearly a head taller than the more substantial Clemence, and the easy
grace which c