chanted Cedric. But Elizabeth would stand no more nonsense. She called
to the dogs, and warned their guest that the gong would sound in five
minutes, and then marched off with her sailor hat slung on her arm,
which she filled on her way to the house with Canterbury bells and blue
larkspur.

The game of tennis was a great success. Dinah sat in the shade and
watched them.

There was some little difficulty in choosing partners, so Cedric said
they must toss up for it, and Elizabeth fell to Mr. Carlyon.

If Malcolm felt secretly disappointed, no one guessed it. To his
surprise he and Cedric were ruthlessly beaten.

Mr. Carlyon played a masterly game, and Elizabeth ably seconded him.
Malcolm, who had always held his own on the tennis green, and was an
excellent golf player, was much chagrined at his defeat. They had lost
three successive games, when Cedric flung up his racket and declared he
could play no more.

"They have given us a regular beating, mate," he said cheerfully. "You
were in capital form, Herrick, and I did not do so badly myself, though
I say it as shouldn't; but David has taken the shine out of us. I say,
old fellow, you ought to be champion player."

"I think Miss Templeton played a good game," returned David modestly,
and then he and Cedric went off to hunt for missing balls, and
Elizabeth sauntered to the house. Half an hour later she was just
putting the finishing touches to her dress when Dinah tapped at the
door, and, as Elizabeth gave her a welcoming smile, sat down by the
toilet table. It was one of Dinah's homely, pleasant little ways, but
these few minutes of sisterly chat would have been sorely missed by
both of them.

"How nice you look, dear!" in an admiring voice. Then Elizabeth glanced
at herself with her head a little on one side.

"Do I?" she said simply. "I was afraid I should never regain my normal
colour. Are you sure I don't look rather blowsy, and like a milkmaid?"
But Dinah indignantly repudiated this; it was Dinah's private belief
that Elizabeth was a very beautiful woman. "She has such lovely eyes,
and then her face has so much expression," she would say; but Dinah had
the good sense to keep this opinion to herself.

Elizabeth, who was not at all vain, and was quite conscious of her own
defects, continued to gaze at her own reflection rather critically.

"I suppose on the whole I am passable, Die," she said rather
philosophically. "When people like me they seem to like m