cent moon to contradict him was already above the roofs. They
strolled over to the fountain and stood there captured by loveliness,
silent themselves and listening to the talk and laughter of shimmering
figures that reached them subdued and intermittent from the flagged
terraces in the distance.

"I suppose," said Stella suddenly, "you're very fond of Alan?"

"Rather, of course I am."

"So am I."

Then she blushed, and her cheeks were very crimson in the moonlight.
Michael had never seen her blush like this, had never been aware before
of her maidenhood that now flooded his consciousness like a bouquet of
roses. Hitherto she had always been for Michael a figure untouched by
human weakness. Even when last summer he had seen her break down
disconsolate, he had been less shocked by her grief than by its
incongruity in her. This blush gave to him his only sister as a woman.

"The trouble with Alan is that he thinks he can't marry me because I
have money, whereas he will be dependent on what he earns. That's
rubbish, isn't it?"

"Of course," he agreed warmly. "I'll tell him so, if you like."

"I don't think he'd pay much attention," she said. "But you know, poor
old Prescott left me a lot of land."

Michael nodded.

"Well, it's got to be managed, hasn't it?"

"Of course," said Michael. "You'll want a land agent."

"Why not Alan?" she asked. "I don't want to marry somebody in the Home
Civil Service. I want him to be with me all day. Wouldn't you?"

"You've not told mother?" Michael suggested cautiously.

"Not yet. I shall be twenty-one almost at once, you know."

"What's that got to do with it?"

He was determined that in Stella's behavior there should be no
reflection, however pale, of what long ago had come into the life of an
undergraduate going down from Christ Church. He wished for Stella and
Alan to have all the benisons of the world. "You've no right to assume
that mother will object," he told her.

But Stella did not begin to speak, as she was used, of her determination
to have her own way in spite of everybody. She was a softer Stella
to-night; and that alone showed to Michael how right he had been to wish
with all his heart that she would fall in love with Alan.

"There he is!" she cried, clapping her hands.

Michael looked up, and saw him coming across the great moonlit space,
tall and fair and flushed as he should be coming like this to claim
Stella. Michael punched Alan to express his pleasu