rt. It had been Paul who had
gradually withdrawn into himself. He had been kind and thoughtful but
reserved, shy, embarrassed. She understood his trouble, but at her
first attempt to force him to speak he escaped and placed Grace between
them. Well, this summer should see the end of that. They must know
where they stood, and for that they must be alone ...

One day, early in June, Paul announced that he thought of exchanging
duties, for the month of August, with a Wiltshire clergyman. This was
Maggie's opportunity. Finding him alone in his study, she attacked.

"Paul, did you mean Grace to come with us to Little Harben in August?"

"Of course, dear. She has nowhere else to go."

"Well, she mustn't come. I've given way about everything since we were
married. I'm not going to give way about this. That month we are to be
alone."

"Alone!" said Paul. "But we're always alone."

"We're never alone," said Maggie, standing with her legs apart and her
hands behind her back. "I don't mean to complain about Grace. She's
been very good to me, I know, and I've got much to be grateful for. All
the same she's not coming to Little Harben. She's got you all the rest
of the year. She can give you up for a month."

"But Maggie--" said Paul.

"No, I'm quite determined about this. I may be a child and a fool, but
I know what I'm talking about this time. You're not happy. You never
talk to me as you used to. There are many things we ought to have out,
but Grace is always there in the daytime and at night you're too tired.
If we go on like this we'll be strangers in another six months."

He turned round to stare at her, and she saw in his eyes an odd excited
light.

"Maggie," he said in a low voice. "If we go alone to Little Harben does
it mean that you think--you can begin to love me?"

She turned her eyes away. "I don't know. I don't know about myself, I
only know that I want us to be happy and I want us to be close
together--as we were before we were married. It's all gone wrong
somehow; I'm sure it's my fault. It was just the same with my father
and my aunts. I couldn't say the things to them I wanted to, the things
I really felt, and so I lost them. I'm going to lose you in the same
way if I'm not careful."

He still looked at her strangely. At last, with a sigh, he turned back
to his desk.

"I'll speak to Grace," he said. That night the storm broke.

During supper Grace was very quiet. Maggie, watching her, knew that
P