g," she
said. "At least three Colonials are waiting for my ministrations."
She stood looking down at him. . . . "Are you going to walk back with
me, or to resume your study of rodents?"

Vane slipped the book in his pocket. "I'm afraid," he remarked, "that
I should not be able to bring that undivided attention to bear on the
subject which is so essential for my education. Besides--perhaps
you'll have a few minutes to spare after you have dealt with the
Colonials. . . ." He parted the branches for her.

"My dear man," she retorted, "You've had far more than your fair
official share already. . . ." She scrambled on to the path and Vane
fell into step beside her. "And don't forget that you've only just
been forgiven. . . ."

"Which makes it all the more essential for me to have continual
evidence of the fact," retorted Vane.

"It strikes me," she looked at him suddenly, "that you're not quite as
serious as you make out. You've got all the makings of a very pretty
frivoller in you anyway."

"I bow to your superior judgment," said Vane gravely. "But I've been
commissioned to--er--go and find myself, so to speak, by one who must
be obeyed. And in the intervals between periods of cold asceticism
when I deal with the highbrows, and other periods when I tackle
subjects of national importance first hand, I feel that I shall want
relaxation. . . ."

"And so you think you'd like me to fill the role of comic relief," she
said sweetly. "Thanks a thousand times for the charming compliment."

"It doesn't sound very flattering put that way, I must admit," conceded
Vane with a grin. "And yet the pleasures of life fill a very important
part. I want to find myself in them too. . . ."

"I'm glad to see traces of comparative sanity returning," she said, as
they turned into the Lodge Gates. "Do you think it's safe to trust
yourself to such an abandoned character as I am? What would She who
must be obeyed say?"

She looked at him mockingly, and involuntarily Vane frowned slightly.
At the moment he felt singularly unwilling to be reminded of Margaret.
And he was far too old a stager not to realise that he was heading
directly for waters which, though they ran amongst charming scenery,
contained quite a number of hidden rocks.

She saw the sudden frown, and laughed very gently. "Poor young man,"
she murmured; "poor serious young man. Dare you risk it?"

Then Vane laughed too. They had come to the lawn, and her thr