he "sweet things" of the earth knows
so well.

A field of yellow corn ablaze with scarlet poppies, a group of trees
among which the copper beech blazed with a glory as of the sunset, a
glimpse of a wide common all aflame with sweet-scented gorse ... now and
again a hint of the river flashing and sparkling beneath the shining
sky--Toni, the ignorant, despised Toni, knew how to appreciate the
glories of the earth as the brilliant Millicent Loder could never do.

On and on they rushed. Fletcher, who in common with the other servants
respected Owen and adored Toni, was only too glad to please his young
mistress by taking her far afield; and he utilized his wide knowledge of
the countryside in her service, treating Toni indeed to such a panorama
of the fertile country as she had never yet been privileged to behold.

They were running through a little village on their homeward way when a
tyre burst with a loud report; and Fletcher pulled up with an expression
of dismay.

"I'm sorry, ma'am--I shall have to delay you a bit while I put on a new
tyre." He looked round him rather doubtfully. "I suppose you wouldn't
care to take a cup of tea while I put it right?"

"Mrs. Rose!" A cyclist had halted by the car, and looking up Toni saw
Herrick standing beside her. "Had an accident? Nothing serious, I hope."

"Tyre burst, sir," announced the chauffeur, who with the rest of the
village looked upon the shabby inhabitant of the Hope House as a
harmless eccentric. "I was just asking my mistress if she would care to
have some tea while I repair it."

"A capital idea," said Herrick, whose amused eyes saw quite well the
chauffeur's estimate of him. "Mrs. Rose, may I take you to get some tea?
One of these cottages will supply it, I daresay--or there is quite a
decent little inn over yonder."

"Thanks very much." Toni was thirsty, and she liked Herrick. "I'd love
some tea--if you'll have some too."

"To be sure I will." He propped his bicycle carelessly against a fence
and opened the door of the car. "Which shall we try? A cottage or the
inn?"

In the end they decided for the inn; and leaving Fletcher to set to
work, Herrick escorted Toni down the village street to the door of the
old-fashioned inn which called itself, rather ambiguously, the "Cock and
Bottle."

The landlady, who spoke with a Northern burr which made, Herrick glance
curiously at her, came bustling into the flagged passage to greet them,
and when she had taken the