y started on their way to the village, evidently on the best of
terms with one another, a placid smile spreading beneficently over his
face as they vanished round the corner of the shrubbery.

"Anything in it, do you think?" he asked, seeing that Elisabeth's gaze
had pursued the same course.

"It's impossible to say," she answered quietly. "Tim imagines himself
to be falling in love, I don't doubt; but at twenty-two a boy imagines
himself in love with half the girls he meets."

"I didn't," declared Geoffrey promptly. "I fell in love with you at the
mature age of nineteen--and I never fell out again."

Elisabeth flashed him a charming smile.

"Perhaps Tim may follow in your footsteps, then," she suggested
serenely.

"Well, would you be pleased?" persisted her husband, jerking his head
explanatorily in the direction in which Sara and Tim had disappeared.

"I shall always be pleased with the woman who makes Tim happy," she
answered simply.

Durward was silent a moment; then he returned to the attack.

"She's a very pretty young woman, don't you think?"

"Sara? No, I shouldn't call her exactly pretty. Her face is too thin,
and strong, and eager. But she is a very uncommon type--like a black and
white etching, and immensely attractive."

It was several days before Sara was able to introduce the topic of Tim's
profession, but she contrived it one afternoon when she and Elisabeth
were sitting together awaiting the return of the two men for tea.

"It will be profession enough for Tim to look after the property,"
Elisabeth made answer. "He can act as agent for his father to some
extent, and relieve him of a great deal of necessary business that has
to be transacted."

She spoke with a certain finality which made it difficult to pursue
the subject, but Sara, remembering Tim's suddenly hard young eyes,
persisted.

"It's a pity he cannot go into the Army--he's so keen on it," she
suggested tentatively.

A curious change came over Elisabeth's face. It seemed to Sara as
though a veil had descended, from behind which the inscrutable eyes were
watching her warily. But the response was given lightly enough.

"Oh, one of the family in the Service is enough. I should see so little
of my Tim if he became a soldier--only an occasional 'leave.'"

"He would make a very good soldier," said Sara. "To my mind, it's the
finest profession in the world for any man."

"Do you think so?" Elisabeth spoke coldly. "There are many r