g ineffectiveness, 'I suppose I
should know my own mind.'

And then seizing the muffins, he stood presenting them to Rose as though
in deprecation of any further personalities. Inside him there was a hot
protest against an unreasonable young beauty whom he had done his
miserable best to entertain for two long hours, and who in return had
made him feel himself more of a fool than he had done for years. Since
when had young women put on all these airs? In his young days they knew
their place.

Catherine meanwhile sat watching her sister. The child was more
beautiful than ever, but in other outer respects the Rose of Long
Whindale had undergone much transformation. The puffed sleeves, the
aesthetic skirts, the naive adornments of bead and shell, the formless
hat, which it pleased her to imagine 'after Gainsborough,' had all
disappeared. She was clad in some soft fawn-coloured garment, cut very
much in the fashion; her hair was closely rolled and twisted about her
lightly-balanced head; everything about her was neat and fresh and
tight-fitting. A year ago she had been a damsel from the 'Earthly
Paradise'; now, so far as an English girl can achieve it, she might have
been a model for Tissot. In this phase, as in the other, there was a
touch of extravagance. The girl was developing fast, but had clearly not
yet developed. The restlessness, the self-consciousness of Long Whindale
were still there; out they spoke to the spectator in different ways.

But in her anxious study of her sister Catherine did not forget her
place of hostess. 'Did our man bring you through the park, Mr. Langham?'
she asked him timidly.

'Yes. What an exquisite old house!' he said, turning to her, and feeling
through all his critical sense the difference between the gentle
matronly dignity of the one sister and the young self-assertion of the
other.

'Ah,' said Robert, 'I kept that as a surprise! Did you ever see a more
perfect place?'

'What date?'

'Early Tudor--as to the oldest part. It was built by a relation of
Bishop Fisher's; then largely rebuilt under James I. Elizabeth stayed
there twice. There is a trace of a visit of Sidney's. Waller was there,
and left a copy of verses in the library. Evelyn laid out a great deal
of the garden. Lord Clarendon wrote part of his History in the garden,
et cetera, et cetera. The place is steeped in associations, and as
beautiful as a dream to begin with.'

'And the owner of all this is the author of _T