nd we're going to lunch at Richmond."

"You've never met Mr. and Mrs. Merivale?"

Stella shook her head.

"Old Merivale's a ripping old boy. Always making bad puns. And Mrs.
Merivale's a dear."

"They must both be perfect to have been the father and mother of Alan,"
said Stella.

"I shouldn't get too excited over him," Michael advised. "Or over
yourself, either. You might give me the credit of knowing all about it
long before either of you."

"Darling Michael," she cried, bounding at him like a puppy.

"When you've done making an ass of yourself you might chuck me a roll."

Alan arrived soon after breakfast, and he and Michael had a few minutes
together, while Stella was getting ready to go out.

"Were your people pleased?" Michael asked.

"Oh, of course. Naturally the mater was a little nervous. She thought I
seemed young. Talked a good deal about being a little boy only yesterday
and that sort of rot."

"And your governor?"

"He supposed I was determined to steal her," said Alan, with a whimsical
look of apology for the pun. "And having worked that off he spent the
rest of the evening relishing his own joke."

Stella came down ready to start for Richmond. Both she and Alan were in
white, and Michael said they looked like a couple of cricketers. But he
envied them as he waved them farewell from the front door through which
the warm day was deliciously invading the house. Their happiness
sparkled on the air as visibly almost as the sunshine winking on the
river. Those Richmond days belonged imperishably to him and Alan, yet
for Alan this Saturday would triumph over all the others before. Michael
turned back into the house rather sadly. The radiance of the morning had
been dislustered by their departure, and Michael against his will had
to be aware of the sense of exclusion which lovers leave in their wake.
He waited indoors until his mother came down. She was solicitous for the
headache of last night, and while he was with her he was not troubled by
regrets for the break-up of established intercourse. He asked himself
whether he should take her into his confidence by announcing the tale of
Lily. Yet he did not wish to give her an impression of being more
straightly bound to follow his quest than by the broadest rules of
conduct. He felt it would be easier to explain when the marriage had
taken place. How lucky for him that he was not financially dependent!
That he was not, however, laid upon him the grea