ht then. I'm glad to hear it. Next comes the question
of time. We should have to take a lease of three years. I don't know
if you'd care to bind yourself for so long."

That reminded me of the aunts' "until", and I said solemnly, "Charmion,
tell me the worst. _Is_ there an eligible bachelor who owns the next
`place' ready to discover me picking his roses, or trespassing on his
side of the stream, and to make love to me forthwith? They always _do_
in books, you know, when girls go to live in country houses."

Charmion smiled her slow, languorous smile.

"I have amused myself with looking up the names of the people living in
all the big houses around: They seem uniformly made up of couples. To
the best of my belief, there is not a single man, bachelor or widower,
within many miles."

I said, "Oh!" and felt the faint, natural dismay which any human girl
would feel in the circumstances. Charmion herself was enough romance
for the present, and a precipitate "lover next door" would for the
moment have been _de trop_, but still--

My expression (unvarnished!) evidently betrayed my feelings, for
Charmion smiled, sighed, and stretched out a caressing hand.

"Let's be honest. It is foolish to set up a partnership in the dark.
Is there _anyone_, Evelyn, who may swoop down upon us at a moment's
notice, and carry you off to share _his_ house?"

"To the best of my knowledge there is not a solitary one. I'm quite
sure of one thing, and that is, that however wildly he swooped, I
wouldn't go!"

"But there must be--you are so pretty, Evelyn, and so attractive--there
must _have_ been."

"Oh yes; two. But not real lovers, Charmion, only--_pretendus_. One
was young and needy and ambitious, and thought that I should look very
well sitting at the head of his table. Incidentally, that my money
would be useful to provide the table and the things upon it. The
other--he was rather a dear, and he cared enough to give me a pang. But
he was happily married last year to a girl who is as _un_-like me in
every respect as you can possibly imagine. They are both ancient
history now."

"And you? You yourself? You have never been in love?"

If any other woman had asked me such a question there would have been
short shrift with her. Charmion herself had never before attempted such
personalities; but now, when she deemed it necessary, she spoke without
a flicker of hesitation, her grey eyes staring full into mine. It would
h