t that I should be taken back to Ascot House
to-morrow. I could imagine Augustus's triumphant snigger, and all the
humiliation of the return.

'I should not be surprised,' said Jacintha, later in the afternoon, 'if
Mr. Turton refused to take you back, and if he does,' she exclaimed,
'Father is going to see whether Mr. Windlesham will have you until he
hears from Major Ruston.'

'I should not mind that,' I answered. 'I shall not mind anything if I
don't go back to Mr. Turton's.'

I went to bed early that night, and slept perfectly until one of the
maids knocked at my door the next morning. But when--as soon as we had
finished breakfast--Mr. Westlake was driven away from the door in a
hansom, I felt that my own departure might be only a matter of a few
hours. During the morning Mrs. Westlake took me out for a drive with
Jacintha, but try as I might it was impossible to show them a cheerful
face, and while I understood that Mr. Westlake was doing what he
considered the best for me, it seemed difficult not to regard him as an
enemy. That afternoon I sat in the dining-room, unable to attempt to
make my escape because of the promise which I had given Mr. Westlake,
yet feeling that there were few things I would not endure rather than
eat humble pie and go back to Mr. Turton.

Four o'clock had struck, and Mr. Westlake might arrive at almost any
moment with the news of my fate.

'Do you think,' suggested Jacintha, 'that Father will bring Mr. Turton
with him?'

'I should not be a scrap surprised,' I answered, dismally. 'Then I shall
sleep at Ascot House to-night.'

'Mind you write,' she exclaimed, 'and tell me everything that horrid
Augustus says, and all about things.'

A little later, as the clock struck half-past four, Mrs. Westlake
entered the room.

'I think Mr. Westlake must have missed the train which he expected to
catch,' she said. 'The next will not bring him home until about
half-past six.'

'We were wondering whether Father would bring Mr. Turton with him!'
cried Jacintha.

Mrs. Westlake came to my side, resting a hand on my shoulder. 'You
know,' she said, gently, 'that at the very worst you will only stay at
Castlemore until we hear from Mrs. Ruston.'

But, for some reason, I placed very little confidence in Aunt Marion,
who, I felt certain, had entirely washed her hands of me before her
marriage. Presently Jacintha suggested that we should go to another room
where there was a chess-table, but it was