dn't be disturbed. We are going to the play to-night. You'll
walk with me for a little way, though, won't you?"

There was nothing ambiguous in her words or manner. They were certainly
in keeping with the situation, and poor Dick Quentyn, although he looked
almost haggard, turned obediently and walked beside her. He walked
silently for a little way, while Christina talked, then, as they came
out into Knightsbridge, he said, suddenly;--"Mrs. Drent,--may I ask you
about something?--Do you mind? Shall we go into the park for a little
while?"

"Of course; of course," said Christina, kindly and mildly.

They went into the park and sat down on two chairs that faced the stream
of carriages and had rhododendrons behind them. When they sat down,
Christina's head swam so giddily that she feared she might be going to
faint. She closed her eyes for a moment, mastering her weakness with a
desperate effort. Dick did not notice her pallor. "You see," he said,
leaning forward and boring small holes in the gravel with the point of
his stick--"You see,--I think I must tell you--ask you for your
advice--because you know Milly so much better than any one else in the
world. You can tell me if I'm mistaken--or advise me what to do, you
know. It's just this: I thought, when I first came home, that Milly had
begun to care for me again--or, at all events, that she'd got over
disliking me."

"Care for you? Dislike you?" Christina murmured vaguely. "Oh--I don't
think it was ever that--of late years--since you'd so tactfully and
charmingly understood and made everything so easy for her."

"No. Yes; it seemed she'd particularly got over it," Dick, rather
puzzled, assented. "And I mean, by caring, that she seemed so happy when
I was there--at first, happier than I'd ever known her."

"She can dare to be happy with you now, you see; just because you have
made her so secure."

"So secure?"

"Yes," Christina met his eyes. "So sure that you'll never ask anything
of her, make anything difficult for her again."

Dick Quentyn grew red. "I never did do that, as far as I remember, after
I understood."

"That is what Milly so deeply appreciates," Christina returned.

There was a little silence after this and Christina, in it, controlled
her breaths from trembling. Then Dick, groping painfully among his
impressions, put forward another. "She did mind, very much, my being in
danger last winter; you told me that. She was worried, really worried
abo