He had been unaware till
she came that he needed any aid in what, to him, was a great moment in
his life, but he knew it was restful and good to walk by her, a
strange relief to tell her how the last difficulties that had arisen
on the heels of each other had finally been met: how strong had been
his temptation to give his discovery to the world before the tedious
tests had gone to the uttermost limits experimental trials could
reach.

"It's so simple really," he said, "just a question of proportions once
the material is there. I felt anyone might hit on it any day, and yet
it would have been such a sickening thing to have someone else
planting an improvement on the top of it within a few months. It may
need it now, but at least it would mean the test of years, and not
immediate improvement. Do you happen to know if Caesar had a good night
or not?"

"You've got to have some breakfast yourself first. I don't believe you
remember you never came in to dinner last night at all."

"Didn't I? Breakfast must wait till I've seen Caesar anyhow. He must
know before anyone else, and you'll never be able to hold your tongue
through breakfast, you know."

"But I'm first, after all." She tilted her chin a little with a
complacent nod at him.

He stopped with a puzzled expression.

"So you are. It never struck me--but--but," he hesitated, unable to
read his own hazy idea, and concluded, "but, you are only a girl, so
it doesn't matter."

The look in his eyes atoned for the "only," and she bore no
resentment, for she had met his look and read there the thought he
could not decipher, and it sunk deep into her heart, with illuminating
power.

At the garden door, where the paths branched, she stood aside.

"Go and tell Aymer and get your breakfast."

"You are not going to stay out in this rain?"

"You know I love rain, and I've had breakfast."

Before he could stop her she had turned and disappeared up the winding
path that led out eventually on to the open down.

Christopher looked after her a moment doubtfully, but her strange
fondness for walking in the rain was well known and he had no reason
or right to stop her. So he went indoors to Caesar. But Patricia walked
on with rapid steps, never pausing till she was well outside the
confines of the park amongst the red ploughed fields and bare downs.
The rain swept in her face and the wind rushed by her as she walked
with lifted head and exultant heart, hearing the whole ch