neither she nor Ted ever appeared a day older in them. As
Audrey's imagination borrowed nothing from the past, it had no sense of
the demands made by the future. Now, although in publicly announcing her
engagement to Ted she would give a fixity to this floating
phantasmagoria which would rob it of half its charm, on the other hand
she felt the need of some such definite and stable tie to secure her
against Vincent's claim, the solidity of which she now realised for the
first time. Unable to come to any conclusion, she continued to think.

The news from America had set old Miss Craven thinking too. She had at
first rejoiced at Audrey's intimacy with the Havilands, for various
reasons. She was glad to see her settling down--for the first time in
her volatile life--into a friendship with another girl; to hear of her
being interested in picture-galleries; to find a uniform gaiety taking
the place of the restless, captious moods which made others suffer
besides herself. As for the boy, he was a nice clever boy who would make
his way in the world; but he was only "the boy." Three months ago, if
anybody had told Miss Craven that there was a possibility of an
engagement between Audrey and Ted Haviland, she would have laughed them
to scorn. But when it gradually dawned on her that Katherine hardly ever
called at the house with her brother, that he and Audrey went everywhere
together, and Katherine never made a third in their expeditions, it
occurred to her that she really ought to speak a word in season. Her
only difficulty was to find the season. After much futile watching of
her opportunity, she resolved to trust to the inspiration of the moment.
Unfortunately, the moment of the inspiration happened to be that in
which Audrey came in dressed for a row up the river, and chafing with
anxiety because Ted was ten minutes behind time. This at once suggested
the subject in hand. But Miss Craven began cautiously--

"Audrey, my dear, do you think you've enough wraps with you? These
evenings on the river are treacherous."

Audrey gave an impatient twitch to a sort of Elizabethan ruff she wore
round her neck.

"How tiresome of Ted to be late, when I particularly told him to be
early!"

"Is Miss Haviland going with you? Poor girl, she looks as if a blow on
the river would do her good."

"N-no, she isn't."

"H'm--you'd better wait and have some tea first?"

"I've waited quite long enough already. We're going to drive to
Hammersm