y her. Only Alice thinks that Miss Bremerton has been
intriguing for it since the first week she set foot in the
house; while Margaret is certain that she wouldn't marry father
if he asked her. She thinks that Miss B. is just the new woman,
who wants to _do_ things, and isn't always thinking about
getting married. Well, Dezzy, old boy--_I_ don't know what to
think. I'll keep my eyes open, and report to you. I
_don't--altogether--like her_. No, I don't--that's flat. I
wish, on the whole, she'd taken her departure! And yet I feel
rather a toad for saying so. She is splendid in some
things--yes, she is! And the Rectory people take the most
rose-coloured view of her--it's too late to tell you why, for
the postman is just coming.

'Good-bye, Dezzy--dear Dezzy! I know how glad you'll be about
the gates. Write to me as often as you can. By the way, Miss
Bremerton has got a brother in the war--with General Maude.
That ought to make me like her. But why did she leave us to
find it out through the Rectory? She never says anything about
herself that she can help. Do you think you'll really get to
France in January? Ever your loving

'PAM.'

CHAPTER X

It was a bright January day. Lunch was just over at Mannering, and
the luncheon-party had dispersed--attracted to the garden and the
park by the lure of the sunshine after dark days of storm and wind.
Mrs. Gaddesden alone was left sitting by the fire in the hall. There
was a cold wind, and she did not feel equal to facing it. She was
one of those women, rare in these days, who, though still young,
prefer to be prematurely old; in whom their great-grandmothers, and
the 'elegant' lackadaisical ways of a generation that knew nothing
of exercise, thick boots and short skirts, seem to become once more
incarnate. Though Mannering was not ill-warmed, Alice moved about it
in winter wrapped in a picturesque coat of black velvet trimmed with
chinchilla, her head wreathed in white lace. From this rather
pompous setting her fair hair, small person, and pinched pale face
looked out perhaps with greater dignity than they could have
achieved unadorned. Her chilliness, her small self-indulgences,
including an inordinate love of cakes and all sweet things, were the
standing joke of the twins when they discussed the family freely
behind the closed doors of the 'Den.' But no one disliked Al