e accustomed to it, the
prospect of her friends' felicitations would appear less repugnant. She
had to face the ultimate fact that marriage, for her, did not mean the
crowning fulfillment of life; marriage with Tim would never be anything
more than a substitute, a next best thing.

With these thoughts in her mind, she finally decided to say nothing
about her engagement for the present, but to pick up the threads of life
at Sunnyside as though that crowded month in London, with its unexpected
culmination, had never been.

Once taken, the decision afforded her a curious sense of respite
and relief. It was very pleasant to drop back into the old habits of
managing the Sunnyside _menage_--making herself indispensable to Selwyn,
humouring his wife, and keeping a watchful eye on Molly.

The latter, Sara found, was by far the most difficult part of her task,
and the vague apprehensions she had formed, and to some extent shared
with Selwyn before her visit to London, increased.

From an essentially lovable, inconsequent creature, with a temper of an
angel and the frankness of a child, Molly had become oddly nervous
and irritable, flushing and paling suddenly for no apparent cause, and
guardedly uncommunicative as to her comings and goings. She was oddly
resentful of any manifestation of interest in her affairs, and snubbed
Sara roundly when the latter ventured an injudicious inquiry as to
whether Lester Kent were still in the neighbourhood.

"How on earth should I know?" The golden-brown eyes met Sara's with a
look of nervous defiance. "I'm not his keeper." Then, as though slightly
ashamed of her outburst, she added more amiably: "I haven't been down to
the Club for weeks. It's been so hot--and I suppose I've been lazy.
But I'm going to-morrow. I shall be able to gratify your curiosity
concerning Lester Kent when I come home."

"To-morrow?" Sara looks surprised. "But we promised to go to tea with
Audrey to-morrow."

Molly flushed and looked away.

"Did we?" she said vaguely. "I'd forgotten."

"Can't you arrange to go to Oldhampton the next day instead?" continued
Sara.

Molly frowned a little. At last--

"I tell you what I'll do," she said agreeably. "I'll come back by the
afternoon train and meet you at Greenacres." And with this concession
Sara had to be content.

Tea at Greenacres resolved itself into a kind of rarefied picnic, and,
as Sara crossed the cool green lawns in the wake of a smart parlourmaid,
she