n't mind."

There are women as well as men who have learnt the art of a sociable
silence. Josephine and Sarah finished their cigarettes and their coffee
in a condition of reflective ease. Then Sarah stood up and straightened
her hair in front of the mirror.

"Josephine," she announced, "I am going to marry Jimmy."

"You have really made up your minds at last, then?" her hostess enquired,
with interest.

"My dear," Sarah declared, "we've come to the conclusion that we
can't afford to remain single any longer. We are both spending far
too much money."

"I am sure I wish you luck," Josephine said earnestly. "I am very fond
of Jimmy."

"He is rather a dear."

"I wonder how you'll like settling down. It will be a very different
life for you."

"Of course," Sarah admitted with a sigh, "I hate giving up my
profession, but there is a sort of monotony about it when Jimmy insists
upon being my only fare."

"Is this the reason why Jimmy is making his great debut as a man of
affairs?" Josephine asked.

"Not exactly," Sarah replied. "As a matter of fact, that was rather a
bluff. His mother is so afraid of his starting in some business where
they'll get him to put some money in, that she has agreed to allow him a
couple of thousand a year until he comes in for his property, on
condition that he clears out of the City altogether."

"That seems quite decent of her. Where are you going to live?"

"In the bailiff's cottage on the Longmere estate, which will come to
Jimmy some day. Jimmy is going to take an interest in farming. So long as
it isn't his own farm, his mother thinks that won't hurt."

Josephine laughed softly.

"A bright old lady, his mother, I should think."

"Well, she has had the good sense to realise at last that I am the only
person likely to keep Jimmy out of mischief. He is such a booby
sometimes, and yet, somehow or other, you know, Josephine, I've never
wanted to marry anybody else. I don't understand why, but there it is."

"That's the right feeling, dear, so long as you're sure," Josephine
declared cheerfully.

Sarah rose suddenly to her feet, crossed the little space between them,
and crouched on the floor by her friend's chair.

"You've been such a brick to me, dear," she declared, looking up at her
fondly, "and I feel a perfect beast being so happy all the time."

Josephine let her fingers rest on the strands of soft, wavy hair.

"Don't be absurd, Sarah," she remonstrated. "Besides, thi