to have found it a golden hour; but
something appeared still to stand between them, like a gaunt shadow
keeping them apart.

'I have been awfully miserable, Gladys. You see, I didn't know what to
do; you are so different from any girl I have ever met. I never know
exactly what will please you and what will aggravate you. Upon my word,
you have no idea what an amount of power you have in those frail little
hands.'

Gladys smiled and coloured a little. She was not quite insensible to
flattery; she was young enough to feel that it was rather pleasant, on
the whole, to have so much power over a big handsome fellow like George
Fordyce.

'I wish you would not talk so much nonsense,' she said quickly; but her
tone was more encouraging, and with a sudden inspiration George
followed up his advantage. He put his arm round the slender waist, to
the great amazement of Castor and Pollux, who, finding the firm hand
relax on the reins, had no sort of hesitation about coming to an
immediate stop.

'But, all the same, I'm going to keep hold of these little hands,' he
said passionately, 'because they hold my happiness in their grasp, and
I'm not going to allow them to torture me very much longer. How soon can
you be ready to marry me, Gladys?'

'To marry you! Oh, not for ages. Let me go. Just look at the ponies!
They are utterly scandalised,' she cried, her sweet face suffused with
red. But he did not release her until he had stolen a kiss from her
unwilling lips, a kiss which seemed to him to bridge entirely the slight
estrangement which had been between them.

She sat very far away from him, and, gathering up the reins again,
brought Castor and Pollux to their scattered senses; but her face was
not quite so grim and unreadable as before. After all, it was something
to be of so much importance to one man. The very idea of her power over
him had something intoxicating in it, thus proving her to be a very
woman.

'I am going to London very soon with your Aunt Isabel and the girls,'
she said, trying to lead the conversation into more commonplace grooves.

'And couldn't you see about your trousseau when you are there? Isn't
London the place to get such things?' he asked. But Gladys calmly
ignored this speech.

'I have engaged Christina Balfour to remain at least all summer at
Bourhill. She can be useful to Miss Peck in many ways, and she is
devoted to the place. Poor Lizzie has fearfully disappointed me. What
would you advise m