ammed behind them, they descended the steps and got into the
car without speaking. Esther could not see why her companion appeared
to be so much annoyed. She stole a glance at him, and saw that his
mouth had taken on a grim line that made him more than ever like his
father, while his eyes were bleak and steely. An Englishman might have
said that this was the Lancashire coming out in him.

"Think of anyone being able to sleep like that!" she ventured, laughing
a little. "Why, it's nearly five o'clock. He must have been up all
night."

She had not meant to say exactly that, on account of what was in her
secret thoughts, but she was glad to see her friend's severe expression
relax a little.

"Ah, that's the advantage of a care-free life," he remarked lightly.

"But doesn't he ever do anything?--any work, I mean?"

"Not that I know of, but I lost track of him after the war and only ran
into him again about a year ago."

"He was in the air service, wasn't he?"

"Yes; he was at Marlborough with my brother, and the two of them went
into the Flying Corps together as boys of eighteen. Malcolm was
killed, and Arthur nearly so--he was in five or six bad smashes. He
always had plenty of courage, a fine record for bravery. The old man
has never forgotten that, nor the fact that he was Malcolm's friend."

"So that's how you came to know him?" mused Esther reflectively. "I'm
glad to find out. He interests me rather."

"Does he, indeed!"

She was gazing thoughtfully at the road ahead, oblivious of the quick,
faintly suspicious glance he bent upon her.

"Yes," she said slowly. "Merely, I suppose, because he is a new type
for me. He's not in the least what I should ever have considered a
lady's man, much too hard and indifferent, and yet I can see that he is
extremely attractive."

"So you can see that, can you?"

"Oh, certainly! I can feel his charm myself, in a sort of way."

She failed to add that Holliday was not the style of man she
particularly admired, partly because she was too busy thinking of Lady
Clifford and the very evident fascination he possessed for her. She
did not realise how long she sat absorbed in her speculations, and
still less had she any idea that the man beside her was for the second
time wondering if she, too, had fallen under the casual Arthur's spell,
and reflecting regretfully that he could not well disillusion her
without appearing caddish.

"It seems a bit of a come-down fo