ir, Mrs.
Melrose goes with you?"

"Not at all! You cannot go dragging babies about Europe any more than is
absolutely necessary. Mrs. Melrose will make her home here, and will no
doubt become very much attached to this charming old house. By the way,
what neighbours are there?"

"Practically none, sir."

"But there is a church--and I suppose a parson?"

"Not resident. The clergyman from Gimmers Wick comes over alternate
Sundays."

"H'm. Then I don't see why I was asked to contribute to church repairs.
What's the good of keeping the place up at all?"

"The people here, sir, set great store both by their church and their
services. They have been hoping, now that you and Mrs. Melrose have come
to live here, that you might perhaps be willing to pay some suitable man
to take the full duty."

Melrose laughed aloud.

"I? Good Heavens! I pay a parson to read me the English Church services!
Well, I don't wish to inflict my religious opinions upon any one, Tyson;
but I may as well tell you that they don't run at all in the direction of
parsons. And Mrs. Melrose--why I told you she was a Catholic--a Roman
Catholic. What does she want with a church? But a parson's wife might
have been useful. By the way, I thought I saw a nice-looking girl when we
arrived, who has since disappeared."

"That was Thyrza Smart, sir--the daughter of Smart, the farmer."

"Excellent! Mrs. Melrose shall make friends with her."

"And of course, sir, both Pengarth and Keswick are within a drive."

"Oh, that's no good," said Melrose, easily. "We shall have no carriage."

The agent stared. "No carriage? I am afraid in that case you will find it
very difficult getting about. There are no flys anywhere near that you
can hire."

"What do we want with them?" Melrose lit another cigarette. "I may have a
horse--possibly. And of course there's the light cart I told you to get.
We can't trust these things"--he pointed to the packages in the
room--"to irresponsible people."

"The cart, sir, has been constantly at work. But--it won't exactly suit
Mrs. Melrose." Tyson smiled discreetly.

"Oh! leave that to me--leave that to me!" said Melrose with an answering
good humour. "Stable and carriage expenses are the deuce. There never was
a coachman yet that didn't rob his employer. Well, thank you; I'm glad to
have had this talk with you, and now, I go to bed. Beastly cold, I must
say, this climate of yours!"

And with a very evident shiver the speaker b