t I have seen growing larger and
larger, day by day. I think that, in his way, Dick will suffer just as
much as Henry. We shall all be utterly miserable."

"Why don't you try and persuade me not to go, then?" Philippa demanded.
"You sit there talking about it as though I were going on an ordinary
country-house visit."

Helen raised her head, and Philippa saw that her eyes were filled with
tears.

"Philippa dear," she said, "if I thought that all the tears that were
ever shed, all the words that were ever dragged from one's heart, could
have any real effect, I'd go on my knees to you now and implore you to
give up this idea. But I think--you won't be angry with me, dear?--I
think you would go just the same."

"You seem to think that I am obstinate," Philippa complained.

"You see, you are temperamental, dear," Helen reminded her. "You have a
complex nature. I know very well that you need the daily love that Henry
doesn't seem to have been willing to give you lately, and I couldn't
stop your turning towards the sun, you know. Only--all the time there's
that terrible anxiety--are you quite sure it is the sun?"

"You believe in Mr. Lessingham, don't you?" Philippa asked.

"I do indeed," Helen replied. "I am not quite sure, though, that I
believe in you."

Philippa was a little startled.

"Well, I never!" she exclaimed. "Exactly what do you mean by that,
Helen?"

"I am not quite sure," Helen continued, "that when the moment has really
come, and your head is upturned and your arms outstretched, and your
feet have left this world in which you are now, I am not quite sure that
you will find all that you seek."

"You think he doesn't love me?"

"I am not convinced," Helen replied calmly, "that you love him."

"Why, you idiot," Philippa declared feverishly, "of course I love him!
I think he is one of the sweetest, most lovable persons I ever knew,
and as to his being a Swede, I shouldn't care whether he were a Fiji
Islander or a Chinese."

Helen nodded sympathetically.

"I agree with you," she said, "but listen. You know that I haven't
uttered a single word to dissuade you. Well, then, grant me just one
thing. Before you start off this evening, tell Mr. Lessingham the truth,
whatever it may be, the truth which you haven't told me. It very likely
won't make any difference. Two people as nice as you and he, who are
going to join their lives, generally do, I believe, find the things they
seek. Still, tell him."