best. Ingred, listening in the choir, was sure her friend had never
played so well, or put such depth of feeling into her music before. It
was over at last, and in the hush of the church, Bess stole back to her
seat, while Dr. Linton plunged into the fantasies of a "Triumphal
March."

"I'm proud of you!" whispered Ingred, as they walked down the aisle
together afterwards.

"Oh, don't! I felt as if it wasn't half good enough," answered Bess,
giving a nervous little shiver now that the ordeal was over.

When Ingred returned to Wynch-on-the-Wold next Friday afternoon she
found the family had some news for her. Old Mr. Haselford had been to
Mr. Saxon's office, and had confided to him a scheme that lay very near
to his heart. He had prospered exceedingly in his business affairs at
Birkshaw, and he was anxious to do something for his native town of
Grovebury, where he had been born and had spent his boyhood. He asked
Mr. Saxon to prepare designs for a combined museum and art gallery,
which he proposed to build and present to the public.

"I can trust the architect of 'Rotherwood' to give us something in the
best possible taste," he had remarked. "I want the place to be an object
of beauty, not the blot on the landscape that such buildings often
prove. Fortunately I have the offer of a splendid site, so the plans
need not be hampered by lack of space. I think we shall be able to show
that the twentieth century can produce work of merit on its own lines,
without slavishly copying either the classical or the mediaeval style of
architecture."

Old Mr. Haselford had even gone further.

"My son's part of the business is now entirely at Grovebury," he
continued. "And I feel I should like him to have a house of his own. I
have bought five acres of land above the river at Trenton, on the hill,
where there is a glorious view of the valley. I don't ask you to copy
'Rotherwood,' for I know no architect cares to repeat himself, but a
place in the same style and with equal conveniences would suit us very
well. My daughter-in-law could talk over the details. It would make a
fresh interest for her. We are all tremendously keen about it."

The new schemes which occupied the minds of the Haselfords brought great
rejoicings to the Bungalow.

"Why, it will almost make Father's fortune!" triumphed Ingred, still in
a state of delighted bewilderment.

"It will certainly be an immense pull to him professionally to have the
designing of