asked Vera.

Juliet shook her head quizzically. "No. Husbands don't as a rule."

"Something of a poacher?" questioned Vera.

"Oh, not really. Not since he grew up. I believe he was very giddy in
his youth, and then a girl he really cared for disappointed him. So
the story runs. I can't vouch for the truth of it, or even whether he
ever seriously cared for her. But he has certainly never been in
earnest since."

"What about Lady Joanna Farringmore?" said Vera suddenly.

Juliet was standing before the fire. She bent slightly, the warm glow
softly tinging her white neck. "I should have thought that old fable
might have died a natural death by this time," she said.

Vera gave her a sharp look. There was not actual distaste in Juliet's
tone, yet in some fashion it conveyed the impression that the subject was
one which she had no desire to discuss.

Vera abandoned it forthwith. "Suppose we go downstairs," she said.

They went down to find Dick and Columbus patiently waiting in the hall.
Vera's greeting was brief but not lacking in warmth. The thought of
Juliet married to the schoolmaster had ceased to provoke her indignation.
She even admitted to herself that in different surroundings Dick might
have proved himself to possess a certain attraction. She believed he was
clever in an intellectual sense, and she believed it was by this quality
that he had captivated Juliet. The fiery force of the man, his almost
fierce enthusiasms, she had never even seen.

But she was immediately aware of a subtle and secret link between the two
as they all met together in the genial glow of the fire. Dick's eyes that
flashed for a second to Juliet and instantly left her, told her very
clearly that no words were needed to establish communion between them.
They were in close sympathy.

She gave Dick a warmer welcome than she had ever extended to him before,
and found in the instant response of his smile some reason for wonder at
her previous dislike. Perhaps contact with Juliet had helped to banish
the satire to which in the old days she had so strongly objected. Or
perhaps--but this possibility did not occur to her--he sensed a
cordiality in the atmosphere which had never been present before.

When the squire came down they were all chatting amicably round the
fire, and he smiled swift approval upon his wife ere he turned to greet
his guests.

"Hullo, Dick!" he said, as their hands met. "Still running the same
old show?"

"For the