but she was simple and natural and unaffected; and Herrick
found himself hoping that Mr. Rose knew how to value the traits of
simplicity and straightforwardness at their true worth.

Then it was possible that the marriage might be a success in spite of
the evident disparity of tastes between the two; but remembering Barry's
gloomy forebodings, Herrick was bound to admit that the prospect of
happiness seemed rather doubtful.

At present, however, he could do nothing; and with a resolve to call at
Greenriver at the first available opportunity he went back into his
little bungalow, which seemed strangely lonely as the twilight fell over
the river-banks.

CHAPTER XII

As the summer glided by, in a succession of golden, cloudless days, Owen
began to ask himself, rather drearily, whether his marriage was going to
turn out a success or an irretrievable failure.

When once the novelty of Toni's companionship had worn off, when he had
grown used to her pretty, childish ways, accustomed to the sense of
youth and light-hearted joy which she diffused about the old house, he
began to find, to his dismay, that these were not all the attributes a
man looked for in the woman he had made his wife.

He had never expected to find Toni clever in an intellectual sense; but
neither had he deemed her quite so shallow as she was proving herself to
be. She seemed absolutely incapable of making any mental effort; the
world of art and literature was a closed book to her, and, what was
still more disappointing, she cared nothing for any of the social or
political questions of the day, and took absolutely no interest in the
contemporary life of the world about her.

Reading she disliked. Music appealed to her, for Toni was emotional,
with the quick, facile emotionalism of the South; but she was no
musician herself, and the grand piano in the drawing-room was silent
through these sunshiny days. She had rather a talent for housekeeping,
and in a smaller establishment would doubtless have been a success; but
at Greenriver there was little for her to do, and she knew quite well
that the housekeeper resented any interference with her particular
province. Toni's household duties, therefore, were confined to the
arrangement of the flowers and the care of her husband's desk--a labour
of love which she performed with so much good will that Owen felt it
would be churlish to find fault with any inconvenience arising
therefrom.

Owen often wo