urs she wouldn't
be bribed to do without me! You can leave Mrs McNab to me, Ron. I'll
manage her. Very well then, there we shall be, away from the madding
crowd, shut up in that lonely Highland glen, in the quaint little inn;
two nice, amiable, attractive young people with nothing to do but make
ourselves amiable and useful to our companions. Mr Elgood can't be
young; he is certainly middle-aged, perhaps quite old; he will be very
tired after his year's work, and perhaps even ill. Very well then, we
will wait upon him and save him trouble! You shall bicycle to the
village for his tobacco and papers, and I'll read aloud and bring him
cups of tea. We won't worry him, but we'll be there all the time,
waiting and watching for an opportunity. One never knows what may
happen in the country. He might slip into the river some day, and you
could drag him out. Ronald, wouldn't it be perfectly lovely if you
could save his life!"

The two youthful faces confronted each other breathlessly for a moment,
and then simultaneously boy and girl burst into a peal of laughter.
They laughed and laughed again, till the tear-drops shone on Margot's
lashes, and Ronald's pale face was flushed with colour.

"You silly girl! What nonsense you talk! I'm afraid Mr Elgood won't
give me a chance of rescuing him. He won't want to be bothered with
literary aspirants on his summer holiday, and he will guess that I want
his help--"

"He mustn't guess anything of the kind until the end of the time. You
must even never mention the word poetry. It would neither be fair to
him, nor wise for ourselves. What we have to do is to make ourselves so
charming and interesting that at the end of the three weeks he will want
to help us as much as we want to be helped. I understand how to manage
old gentlemen I've had experience, you see, in rather a difficult
school. Poor father! I must run down to comfort him before I go to
bed. I feel sure he is sitting in the library, puffing away at his
pipe, and feeling absolutely retched. He always does after he has been
cross."

Ronald's face hardened with youthful disapproval. "Why should you pity
him? It's his own fault."

"That makes it all the harder, for he has remorse to trouble him, as
well as disappointment. You must not be hard on the pater, Ron.
Remember he has looked forward to having you with him in business ever
since you were born, and it is awfully hard on him to be disappointed
just