and
interview the irate papa. But whatever did young hopeful want to go and
tell him all about it for, and even give him your address!"

"If you'll excuse me, Miss," said the housekeeper, "I don't think that's
it. The gentleman isn't at all angry. He was as polite and nice to me as
ever could be. Such a _nice_ gentleman."

"Dear me, Mrs. Ford, you seem quite impressed," said Miss Carol,
gathering up her correspondence. "Well, I'd better go and have it over,
whatever it is. I don't suppose I shall be very long. Meanwhile, Dora,
you may as well make yourself useful and dust the bikes. The old
gentleman won't eat me, I suppose. In fact, if Master Vane told him
everything, he ought to be very much obliged to me for my virtuous
reserve."

And then, with a saucy smile at her own reflection in the glass as she
passed the mantelpiece, she walked towards the door.

Carol, being a young lady of many and various experiences, did not often
find herself in a situation, however awkward it might be, which gave her
much cause for embarrassment. There were not many circumstances under
which she did not feel capable of taking perfect care of herself. Still,
she confessed to Dora afterwards that when she went into the little
sitting-room and faced the stately old gentleman who was waiting for her
she felt distinctly nervous--in short, "in something very like a
tremble," as she put it later on.

The moment she looked at his face she could see his likeness to Vane,
and therefore in a measure to herself. She had, of course, nothing to be
afraid of, and therefore there was no cause for fear, but for some
reason or other she felt less at ease than she had done in many more
difficult situations.

The same was almost equally true of Sir Arthur. In fact, when the door
opened and Miss Carol, looking exquisitely neat and pretty in a dainty,
grey, tailor-made cycling costume, walked into the room, he was unable
to restrain a very visible start. It was, indeed, as much as he could do
to keep himself from uttering an exclamation of astonishment.

As he looked at her, more than thirty years vanished in a second, and he
saw himself a lad of twenty-four with his brand new Oxford degree, and
his first place on the Indian Civil Service list only just published,
walking down a country lane by the side of a girl, who, but for the
difference in costume, might have been this very girl standing before
him.

"Good morning! Our housekeeper tells me that