mmerhouse
stood, protected on the steeper side by a low stone wall. Below them lay
the moat, green-scummed and starred with water-lilies; throbbing in the
midday haze, the emerald sward of the parkland seemed to float. Against
the wall she halted. "What makes you say that I'm generous?"

For all his thirty-six years, he blushed like a boy. "Because you take
me seriously. After last night you might have been either amused or
annoyed. The position in which I placed you was false. You thought that
I'd come from London to urge Terry to marry me. When I told you that
there was no one else in the world, you believed that I knew she was
staying with you--that I was trying to persuade you to plead my cause.
The anti-climax, after she'd surprised us, was the height of tragical
absurdity. It reduced all my high-flown sentiments to farce. I wonder
you were able to prevent yourself from laughing. Terry could afford such
a scene; she's little more than a child. I can't. With four more years
to my age I could pass for her father. No, please. I want to be hard on
myself. Let me finish what I'm saying. I've only met you twice; on each
occasion I've suffered a loss of dignity. The other time was when I
tried to turn you away from Maisie's door. You're probably aware that
since then, until Pollock's return, I've seen far more of your sister
than was wise. In fact I've offered myself like a job lot. And yet there
was a time when I was content to wait. I believed that one had only to
be faithful and he'd find what he hoped for round some future corner.
You're a proud woman, Lady Dawn. You admire strength almost cruelly.
You're inhumanly infallible----"

Her eyes filled. She slipped her hand through his arm and patted it
comfortingly. By the contact she was comforting herself as well. "I'm
not. I wasn't infallible when I married. My pride came later to cover up
my fault. I don't say it to flatter you--any woman would want you."

He gazed down at her. "How gentle you are!"

"I understand."

They strolled along in contented silence. They had trespassed far beyond
the bounds of discretion. A diversion was caused when they reached the
kennels. He watched her among the leaping hounds. She employed the same
tactics to quiet them that she had used with himself. With a coaxing
word and a caress she had them crouching at her feet. He listened to
the precision of her orders and the definiteness of her enquiries.

"You'd have made a business wom