ight the candles on the
supper-table, where bowls of great crimson roses made pools of colour on
the white cloth; and very attractive the table looked to the four hungry
people who presently sat down to eat and chatter.

There was plenty of gay laughter over the meal. Jokes were bandied
hither and thither, shocking puns were made and greeted with shrieks of
mirth, and if the conversation was eminently frivolous, at least it was
good-humoured, hearty, wholesome frivolity.

Yet when Owen reached home in his car and entered the hall with rather a
weary step, the somewhat noisy merriment which greeted him brought a
frown to his forehead.

He questioned Andrews as to what was going on, and the young butler
informed him, with a complacency which Owen in his present mood found
irritating, that Mrs. Rose was entertaining the two Misses Peach and a
gentleman to supper.

"Oh!" Owen paused in his walk towards the dining-room door. "In that
case, I think I will just have a whisky and soda in the library--and a
few sandwiches."

"Very good, sir," the man was beginning, when there was a peal of
laughter from behind the closed door; and the next moment, Toni came
flying out of the room, holding aloft a large bunch of grapes, while Mr.
Cooper pursued her hotly, making grabs at the fruit as he did so.

Unable to stop herself, Toni cannoned violently into her husband, and
the unfortunate youth from Sandhurst, brought to an unexpected halt,
found himself face to face with an unknown man whose expression was not
exactly inviting.

"Owen, is it you? How you startled me!" Toni lifted two sparkling eyes
to her husband's face. "When did you come? You said you wouldn't be home
till after ten!"

"I've just arrived," he said, striving hard to keep any hint of
annoyance out of his tone. "You were making such a noise you didn't hear
the car! Well, Toni, won't you introduce me to your friend?"

On being presented, Mr. Cooper, held out his hand rather awkwardly.

"I'm afraid we were making an awful din," he said, apologetically. "We
got ragging over the dessert and Mrs. Rose stole my grapes----?"

"Oh, you fibber!" Toni was not going to stand that. "They were mine, and
you took them off my plate when I wasn't looking!"

"I'm afraid they aren't much good to anyone now," said Owen with a
smile. "They are pretty well squashed, Toni, and I fancy your frock's
got the worst of the encounter!"

"Well, it's only my tennis-frock," said Toni, h