t a man might say
Whose whole life's love goes down in a day;
For this could never have been. And never
(Though the gods and the years relent) shall be.

Swinburne.

The peacocks had it all to themselves on the terrace walk at Kynaston.
They strutted up and down, craning and bridling their bright-hued necks
with a proud consciousness of absolute proprietorship in the place, and
their long tails trailed across the gravel behind them with the soft
rustle of a woman's garments. Now and then their sad, shrill cries echoed
weirdly through the deserted gardens.

There was no one to see them--the gardeners had all gone home--and no one
was moving from the house. Only one small boy, with a rough head and a
red face, stood below the stone balustrade, half-hidden among the
hollyhocks and the roses, looking wistfully up at the windows of the
house.

"What am I to do with it?" said Tommy Daintree, half-aloud to himself,
and looked sorely perplexed and bewildered.

Tommy had a commission to fulfil, a commission from Vera. He carried a
little note in his hands, and he had promised Vera faithfully that he
would wait near the house till he saw Captain Kynaston come in from his
day's shooting, and give him the note into his own hands.

"You quite understand, Tommy; no one else."

"Yes, auntie, I quite understand."

And Tommy had been waiting there an hour, but still there was no sign of
Captain Kynaston's return; he was getting very tired and very hungry by
this time, for he had had no tea. He had heard the dressing-bell ring
long ago in the house--it must be close upon their dinner hour. Tommy
could not guess that, by an unaccustomed chance, the master of the house
had gone in by the back-door to-day, and that he had been in some time.

Presently some one pushed aside the long muslin curtains, and came
stepping out of the long French window on to the terrace. It was Helen.

She was dressed for dinner; she wore a pale blue dress, cut open at the
neck, a string of pearls and a jewelled locket hung at her throat; she
turned round, half laughing, to some one who was following her.

"You will see all the county magnates at Shadonake to-morrow. You will
have quite enough of them, I promise you; they are neither lively nor
entertaining."

A young man, also in evening dress, had followed her out on to the
terrace; it was Denis Wilde; he had arrived from town by the afternoon
train. Why he should have thrown over severa