announced almost at once that
although he regretted the fact, he must carry off his wife without
delay; and after a brief interchange of courtesies, the family escorted
Toni to the car, whose glories most of them now beheld for the first
time.

As Owen was still unable to drive, he took his seat by Toni in the body
of the car; and when they were safely away Toni turned to him with a
sigh of pleasure.

"Owen, I thought you were never coming."

"Was I very long?" Owen was struck by her tone. "What's the matter,
Toni? Are you tired, dear, or have the cousins been too much for you?"

"Oh, no, not exactly," Toni was always loyal, but to-day her loyalty had
been severely tried. "But I can't help comparing the house with
Greenriver, and I was longing all the time to get back to the garden and
the big rooms."

Owen did not smile at her naive confession.

"You like your home, Toni? Greenriver pleases you?"

"I think it's the loveliest house in the world," Toni said fervently.
"And sometimes I can hardly believe it is I who live there. You see, all
my life I have been used to little houses, and it seems almost
incredible that I should have the right to go about as I like--and even
pick the flowers in the garden."

"Poor little Toni." Her gratitude touched Owen. "Sometimes I have
fancied you found it rather dull. I have been obliged to leave you so
much alone lately; but now we can have a holiday until the book's fate
is decided."

"Will you be busy then?"

"Well, there will be the proofs to revise. And, to tell you the truth,
Toni, I'm dying to get to work on another story."

"Are you? But what about the _Bridge_?"

"Oh, I won't neglect that, of course. But everything is running smoothly
there and Barry is turning out trumps, too. He has grasped the whole
thing as I never expected him to do. He's going to get a bigger salary
almost at once, and then I suppose he will marry Miss Lynn."

He gave a sudden exclamation as the car swerved aside to avoid a
lumbering cart which took up more than its share of the road.

"What's Fletcher doing, confound him? I say, Toni, this wretched arm of
mine doesn't seem to me to be getting on very well. The bone's knit all
right, but I have a fearful lot of pain in it sometimes."

"Oh, have you, Owen?" Toni grew pale in an instant. "What does Dr. Mayne
say? You saw him a few days ago, didn't you?"

"Yes, but I don't think he knows very much about it. He's a nice old
chap, but a b