With something like a laugh, he thought of the people who implored Mary
Abbott to relieve them of their burdensome youngsters. And at that
moment Alma opened the door.

Her face, thinned a little by illness, had quite recovered its amiable
humour.

'Of course you are quite right, Harvey. We can't rush across Europe at
a moment's notice.'

He rose up, the lover's light in his eyes again, and drew her to him,
and held her in a laughing embrace.

'What has been wrong between us? It's a new thing for you and me to be
scowling and snarling.'

'I hope I neither scowled nor snarled, dear boy, though I'm not sure
that _you_ didn't. No doubt, Mrs. Abbott went away thinking we lead
rather a cat and dog life.'

'Hang it, no! How could she have any such thoughts?'

'Oh, the drive home that day.'

'Why, whose fault was that? I should have been all right, except that I
couldn't understand why you had run the chance of killing yourself.'

'I don't think I should have cared very much that morning,' said Alma
idly. 'I was more miserable than you can imagine.'

'Why?'

'Oh, I don't know--foolishness. But you never gave me a word of praise,
and I'm sure I deserved it. Why, she galloped with me like mad for
nearly two miles, and I never lost hold of the reins, and I pulled her
up by myself and got her round, and drove back to meet you as if
nothing had happened. I told Mrs. Abbott all about it, and she was
astonished at my pluck.'

'Must have been. So am I.'

'I doubt it. I doubt whether you ever think much of anything I do.'

'That's rather unkind, because you know it isn't true.'

'I always thought very much the same, you know.'

'Rubbish! But come, what are we going to do? Naples seems out of the
question; but there's no reason why we shouldn't go to meet them in
London.'

'You would much rather wait here, and let them come,' said Alma. 'I
don't care particularly about going away. So long as we keep on good
terms with each other--that's the chief thing.'

'There has never been a dream of anything else. We are on good terms as
a matter of course. It's part of the order of the universe.'

'I'm very sorry, dear, that I threatened the universe with catastrophe;
but I won't do it again--indeed I won't. I will watch your face, and be
on my guard. And really, you know, under ordinary circumstances, I am
good-tempered enough.'

'What's all this about?' cried Harvey. For she seemed to be in earnest,
and spoke with a so