r. I have a feeling that we
could put in some good times in that house!

"Financially, it would be an economy--we should save storage of
furniture, and have a convenient refuge in case of illness. The place
is cheap, and could be run with quite a small staff, and would be a
pleasant means of returning hospitalities. We could settle down for as
long as it suited us--three months, two months, a few weeks, as the case
might be--and then, when the impulse to roam came upon us, we should
simply rise up and depart. I should never ask where you were going. If
you asked me, I should not reply. Probably I should not know. On
certain months of the year the house might become the exclusive property
of one owner, when she might invite her own friends, and disport herself
as she pleased. Again, we might devote a certain period to charity, and
entertain lame dogs. There's no end to the good and the pleasure that
might be got out of that house. `Pastimes' is its name; isn't it quaint
and suggestive? And on the enclosed sheet you will behold elaborate
calculations of the sum which it would cost to run. The figures are
_over_ the mark, for I never delude myself by under-calculating in money
matters. For my own part, I can pay up, and have enough over to wander
at will. Can you do the same? If not, say no at once, and the project
is buried for evermore. You must not be tied. I refuse to be a party
to shutting you up in the depths of the country for the whole year
round. You have had enough of that. What you need now is movement, and
the jostle of other lives; but if, in addition, you can afford a
rest-house, a summer lodgment, a sanatorium for mind and body, and a
meeting-place with a friend, then pack your box, Evelyn, come and look
at Pastimes with me!

"Your friend, Charmion Fane."

I threw down the letter and seized the sheet of calculations in an agony
of eagerness. A glance at the final addition brought relief. Yes! I
could do it--pay my full share, and still have a handsome margin left
over. Once satisfied on that point, there could not be a moment's
hesitation, for it would be glorious to share a house with Charmion, and
to have her companionship for some months of each year. My whole life
was transfixed by the prospect, and yet she was right! I could not have
accepted the offer if it had meant a permanent settling down to a
luxurious country life. I was too restless, too eager for experience,
too anx