hile they are
open. I know such cases where one can only look on and marvel--where
there is no blame to be cast, where the parents have broken no law--are
healthy, no relation--"

Vanna winced. A shadow passed across her face, as if cast by a
flickering bough.

"_Don't_ talk of it," she cried urgently. "Don't! It is too pitiful,
here in this glen. I can't discuss such things here. Another time,
perhaps, but let me be happy here. Talk of happy things. There is so
much sorrow..."

Piers looked at her, and as he did so there arose in his mind the swift
remembrance of her face as she had sat upon the pebbly beach a few days
before--the face on which he had read tragedy. Remorse seized him. He
hastened to retrieve his mistake.

"Forgive me. You are quite right--the scene is not appropriate. Miss
Strangeways, by the laws of appreciation, this glen is yours. I have a
conviction that these trees recognise you as their queen. Lay down a
law, and we will keep it. Come what may, when you and I enter this
glen, we will leave our troubles behind. It shall be a space apart, in
which to be busy over nothing but being happy. We will talk of happy
things, happy memories, happy prospects; best of all, the happy present.
It shall be a sin against the realm and its sovereign to mention one
painful fact. Is it agreed?"

Vanna looked around with wistful glance.

"The Happy Land! That is a charming idea--to keep one spot on earth
sacred to happiness! Why has not one thought of that before? Yes,
indeed, Mr Rendall, I'll agree. The only pity is that I shall be here
so seldom. One ought to keep one's happy land within reach."

"I hope you may come more often than you think. Mr Goring is talking
of buying the Cottage, and if that comes off you will be constantly with
them. My visits also are only occasional. For nine months of the year
I am in town. It will be an extra attraction to come down to a place
where I am bound to be happy. Where is your settled home?"

"I have no home at present."

Vanna vouchsafed no further explanation, and Piers did not ask for one,
for which she was grateful. More than once this tactful reservation of
the obvious had arrested her attention, and been mentally noted as the
man's best point. Vanna felt sorry for him, tender over him, as a woman
will do over something that is suffering or weak. The nervous, restless
face looked far indeed from content, yet he had declared that i