ernoon, they could hear the band playing in the distance.
A group of village children were gathered in the road; empty carriages
passed them; a smart dog-cart, with four young men, rattled down the
drive; and through the openings in the trees the gleam of white dresses
looked silvery in the sunlight.

Miss Templeton was standing in the porch to receive her guests.
Elizabeth had only just left her, she said, to arrange the tennis
tournament. And then, as more guests were arriving, Malcolm left her.
The next moment he came upon Cedric; he was looking rather bored and
disconsolate. He lighted up, however, at the sight of his friend.

"Here you are at last," he grumbled. "I have been looking all over the
place for you. I came down with a lot of our fellows, but Betty has
paired them all off for tennis. There are the Kestons, I must go and
speak to them." But Malcolm had him by the arm.

"Wait a moment; '"no hurry!" said the Carpenter.' I suppose you brought
the Jacobis with you." Then Cedric's face clouded again.

"Oh, Jacobi came right enough--there he is, talking to David--but Miss
Jacobi had a bad sick headache, and he would not let her come."

"I am sorry to hear that," returned Malcolm; and he was sorry, for his
cleverly-devised plan had been frustrated.

"She was sorry too, poor girl," went on Cedric in a vexed voice. "She
had been so looking forward to the Bean-feast ever since Betty's
invitation arrived. It is my belief that Jacobi is to blame for the
whole thing, for he was rowing her in her room like anything last
night. I could hear them through the ceiling going it like hammer and
tongs."

"Do you mean to tell me that Miss Jacobi and her brother quarrel?"
asked Malcolm in a disgusted voice. Then Cedric looked as if he had
said more than he intended.

"No, not quarrel," rather hesitatingly. "It takes two to do that, you
know, and Leah--Miss Jacobi, I mean," biting his lip--"is much too fond
of her brother to quarrel with him; but Jacobi has a temper, you see."

"Oh, he has a temper, has he?"

"Well, lots of people have, if you come to that," returned Cedric, who
evidently repented his frankness. "Jacobi is a decent fellow, but he is
hot and peppery, and when things go crooked he lashes out a bit.
Something must have vexed him last night, for he came into the
drawing-room looking very much put out. Miss Jacobi had just gone
upstairs, and he went after her at once."

"And then they quarrelled?"

"Wel