g, the transformation
of the old place, though he knew it was necessary, was distasteful to
him.

"What is that?" and he nodded toward a cluster of small globes in the
center of the hall.

"Oh, that! That's the electric light," said the man. "There's going to
be electric lights all over the house. Wait a minute, and I'll turn some
of it on; though perhaps I'd better not, for the gentleman who manages
it is away to-day. He's gone to Southampton to see after some things
which ought to have come this morning."

"Don't trouble," said Drake absently.

"Well, perhaps I'd better not," said the man. "He mightn't like it. He's
the gent that lives in the lodge."

"In the lodge!" said Drake. "The south lodge?"

The man nodded.

"He plays the violin?" said Drake.

The man grinned.

"No, no! That's his friend. He's a musician--the gentleman his sister is
engaged to."

Drake got on his horse and rode away, leaving the park by the east
lodge.

The three weeks slipped away, and the day for the great gathering at
Anglemere was near at hand. By dint of working day and night, the
contractors had succeeded in getting the house finished in time; and
Lady Angleford, who had come down, with an army of servants, at the
week's end, expressed her approval and her astonishment that so much
should have been effected in so short a time.

The lord and master was not to arrive until the evening of the
twenty-first, the date of the ball, and most of the house party had
reached Anglemere before him. He had pleaded urgent business as an
excuse for not putting in an appearance earlier; but, beyond seeing his
lawyers and listening to their complaints at his absence, he had done
very little business, and had been cruising in the Solent to while away
the interval.

The villagers wanted to "receive" him at the station, and talked of a
"welcome" arch; but no one could find out at what hour to expect him;
and Lady Angleford, who, with native quickness, had learned a great
deal of his character in her short acquaintance with him, and was quite
aware that he disliked fuss of any kind, had discouraged the idea.

The dogcart was sent to the station to meet the six-o'clock train, on
chance, and he arrived by it, and was driven home, cheered by a few
groups of the villagers who had hung about in the hope of seeing him.

Lady Angleford met him in the hall, and they went at once to the
library.

"I can't tell you how glad I am that you have come