she declared she could not go into the ocean again, nor even
bear the sight of it, and that, therefore, they were all coming home on
the morrow.

"She will be here to-night," said Ralph, who knew the trains from
Barport.

As soon as he had read the letter Ralph went to look for Cicely. She had
come down late to breakfast, and he had been surprised at her soberness
of manner. On the other hand, Mrs. Drane had been surprised at Ralph's
soberness of manner, and she found herself in the unusual position of the
liveliest person at the breakfast table.

"People who have heard such good news ought to be very happy," she
thought, but she made no remark on the subject.

It was Cicely's custom to spend the brief time she allowed herself
between breakfast and work, upon the lawn, or somewhere out of doors,
but to-day Ralph searched in vain for her. He met La Fleur, however,
and that conscientious cook, in her most respectful manner, asked him,
if he happened to meet Miss Cicely, would he be so good as to give her
a message?

"But I don't know where she is," said Ralph. "I have a letter to
show her."

La Fleur wished very much to know what was in the letter, which, she
supposed, explained the mystery of the telegrams, but at a moment like
this she would not ask.

"She is in the garden, sir," she said. "I asked her to gather me some
lettuce for luncheon. She does it so much more nicely than I could do it,
or Mike. She selects the crispest and most tender leaves of that crimped
and curled lettuce you all like so much, and I thought I would ask you,
sir, if you met her, to be so very kind as to tell her that I would like
a few sprigs of parsley, just a very few. I would go myself, sir, but
there is something cooking which I cannot leave, and I beg your pardon
for troubling you and will thank you, sir, very much if you--"

It was not worth while for her to finish her sentence, for Ralph had
gone.

He found Cicely just as she stooped over the lettuce bed. She rose with a
face like a peach blossom.

"I have a letter from Miriam," he said, "I will give it to you presently,
and you may read the whole of it, but I must first tell you that she,
with Mrs. Bannister and Dora, are coming home to-day. They will reach
Thorbury late this afternoon. Isn't that glorious?"

All the delicate hues of the peach blossom went out of Cicely's face.
That everlasting person had come up again, and now he called her Dora,
and it was glorious to