give him my love."

Elizabeth could not have told why she was in such a hurry to be home,
or why the morning seemed so endless to her. Theo's tactless remarks
irritated her more than usual; she could hardly control her impatience
as she answered her.

"Theo is very wearisome at times," she thought, as she walked rapidly
through the woodlands.

But after all there had been no need for haste. She found Dinah alone;
the walking party had not returned.

"Oh, how tired you look, Betty dear!"--this had been Dinah's constant
remark of late. "You have been shut up with those noisy children and
Theo all the morning, instead of sitting on the hillside enjoying the
breeze from the moor. I am afraid"--here Dinah hesitated--"that Mr.
Herrick was a little hurt about it. Don't you think one ought to do
something to entertain one's guests?"

This was quite a severe reproof from her gentle sister; but Elizabeth
only laughed a little mirthless laugh.

"He is your guest, not mine, Dinah--you ought to have gone to the
valley yourself"--which was carrying the attack into the enemy's
country. "No one wanted my society--a disagreeable, cross old maid--eh,
Dinah?" Elizabeth's poor little joke nearly ended disastrously, for her
lip quivered and she was very near a sob; but in another minute she
recovered herself, and Dinah wisely said no more.

But the moment Elizabeth saw Malcolm's face at luncheon she knew her
sister was right: he was unusually silent, rather constrained in
manner, and hardly addressed her.

Then an evil spirit of contradiction entered into Elizabeth, and she
became suddenly extremely talkative. To listen to her, Rotherwood might
have been a rustic paradise, full of "village Hampdens and mute,
inglorious Miltons," and that in its idyllic streets peace and
simplicity reigned. Even the heavy, loutish Tommies and Jacks, who had
exasperated her by their dense stupidity that morning, were only
subjects for a humorous anecdote or two, with little effective and
sprightly touches which made Cedric throw back his head with a boyish
laugh. But Malcolm never raised his eyes from his plate. To him
Elizabeth's graphic descriptions were far from amusing. He was thankful
when the meal was over and they were ready to set out for Rotherwood.

Dinah had some calls to pay, so Elizabeth had the house to herself for
an hour or two; but she would not be idle for a moment. The sun was hot
on the terrace and flower-beds, but the vases wer