Manor, save that
its master looked more definitely middle-aged, and its mistress riveted
on our necks the power which Jenny's rise had threatened. Finally, Lady
Aspenick's growing girl had grown, had "come out," and was a personage
in our society. She was a rather pretty, tall, fair girl, great at all
outdoor pursuits. The gossips had already begun to say that she would
make a capital bride for Lacey--if only there were more money! The
little cloud which had arisen between the two households over Jenny had
naturally passed away, when absence and silence removed Jenny from the
arena of discussion. None the less Lady Aspenick still used our
road--and still Fillingford Manor did not.

Such was the petty chronicle. The Institute found no place in it. There
nothing was done; even Bindlecombe seemed no longer sanguine. Hatcham
Ford, with its windows shuttered and its gravel-path grass-grown,
witnessed to a project apparently still-born, no less than it recalled
the catastrophe of that last night. When I passed by, I could not help
expecting to see Octon's great figure come out and slouch across the
road--to smoke a pipe with Mr. Powers! He did not come, and a most
respectable insurance agent now dwelt where Mr. Powers had played his
unedifying game. Nor was the Flower Show any longer part of our
Breysgate programme. Cartmell had offered the grounds, but the Committee
preferred to accept a proposal from Fillingford. For the last two years
it had been held at the Manor, and was to be held there again this
year--this the third summer since Jenny left us.

Then she came back. Her return was as sudden and as unannounced as her
departure, but otherwise marked by considerably more decorum.

I was writing one morning after lunch, and had wandered to the window,
to seek from the empty air an improbable inspiration. Suddenly I saw the
unparalleled spectacle of Loft running. Loft running! I had never
associated him with running, and should about as soon have expected to
see St. Paul's Cathedral dancing a fling down Ludgate Hill. But there he
came, down the path from the Priory. As soon as he got near me, he
shouted excitedly, "She's come back, sir, she's come back!" Then he came
to a stand outside the window, and recovered his professional demeanor
at the cost of some confusion. "I beg your pardon, sir, but Miss Driver
orders me to tell you that she has just returned, and will be glad to
see you in half an hour."

"When did she come