in a garden, big enough for us all to go
down and stay with him? How soon will it be settled, so that I can tell
them at home?"

So determinedly confident did she appear as to the success of her
scheme, that it seemed an ungenerous act to pour cold water on such
generous enthusiasm, and each man registered a mental vow to satisfy
her, if it were within the bounds of possibility.

As his custom was, Gervase escorted the visitor on a tour of inspection
round the garden before she took her departure, and took advantage of
the _tete-a-tete_ to express a more ardent sympathy with the home
trouble than he had cared to show in his uncle's presence. The broken
engagement had been no surprise to him, for he had summed up the
character of Miss Lilias too accurately to have any trust in her
stability; but it had evidently come as a shock to Nan's unsuspecting
mind.

"She says now that she has been thinking of it for some time, and he
says he was dissatisfied; yet neither of them spoke a word, but went
drifting on and on, waiting upon chance. I suppose they would have
married each other if this crash had not come, and regretted it for the
rest of their lives. I can't understand such behaviour. If I feel a
thing, I can't bottle it up, I simply cannot; out it must come, whatever
is the consequence. And when it comes to pretending to love a person
when you don't, and to be happy when you are not, that is worse than
anything else. It's positively wicked!"

"I agree with you. I have always maintained that absolute honesty
should be practised in these affairs between a man and a woman, and that
far less trouble would arise if each side spoke out plainly as to what
was in their hearts. I go perhaps a little further in my views than
most people, but long ago I made myself a promise that when my own hour
came I would act up to my convictions, and I am not going to draw back
now. Months ago, Nan, you walked into my uncle's room to meet me, and I
knew--I think I knew almost as soon as I met your eyes--that here was a
new specimen of her kind, a woman who would play a great part in my
life. I had never known that feeling before, but it has grown in
strength ever since that day, until now it is difficult to imagine my
life without it. You have engrossed all my thoughts--all my hopes--"

Nan stood still and stared at him. The colour had left her cheeks, and
her eyes were wide and startled. She laid her hand on her throat and