y, I want to have a place where I can be free to lead my
own life and see my own friends; there is no room for them here--your
busy life is too much crowded up with work to have leisure for society."

"I have never refused to entertain your friends, Malcolm;" and a dull
red flush crossed the mother's face, as though this reproach had gone
home.

"Possibly not," rather coldly, "I do not think I have ever asked you;
but, mother, let us make an end of this. The first break will be
painful to all of us, but we shall soon shake down, and then you and
Anna will own that it was for the best. When you want me I shall always
be at your service. I shall see you every few days--Cheyne Walk and
Queen's Gate are not very far apart. As soon as I am settled, you and
Anna must come and have tea with me, and I must introduce you to the
Kestons. Now, mother dear, say something comforting to a fellow;" and
then Mrs. Herrick smiled faintly. She loved her son far too well to
hurt him by her reproaches; in her secret heart she strongly
disapproved of the step he was taking, but she was a sensible woman,
and knew that it was no good crying over spilt milk.

At eight-and-twenty a man may refuse with some show of reason to be
attached to his mother's leading-strings, and may also be permitted to
strike out new paths for himself. Nevertheless, for many a long day
Mrs. Herrick carried a heavy heart, and only her adopted daughter
guessed how sorely Malcolm was missed by his mother.

CHAPTER IV

ANNA

Better to feel a love within
Than be lovely to the sight!
Better a homely tenderness
Than beauty's wild delight!
--MACDONALD.

Malcolm often spent a night at Queen's Gate; he made a point of never
refusing his mother's invitations, and would even put off an engagement
if she needed him. On this occasion he had promised to remain two
nights.

A meeting on behalf of a college in Japan, for training; native
candidates for holy orders, was to be held at 27 Queen's Gate that
evening, and some excellent speakers--women as well as men--had been
announced for that occasion. Mrs. Herrick thought the whole subject
would appeal to Malcolm, and in this she was not wrong. Hitherto he had
fought shy of zenana meetings, barmaid associations, working girls'
clubs, open-air spaces, and people's parks, and even cabmen's shelters
and drinking fountains.

"They were all good and worthy objects," he had ob