appropriate place for them."

"I believe," said the canon, nervously, "that stuffing is no longer
considered decorative. After all, _why_ should we place dead animals
in our sitting-rooms?"

He looked round with the anxious smile of the would-be peacemaker.

"They were very much worm-eaten, Peter," said Lady Mary. "But if you
would like them brought back--"

Perhaps the pain in her voice penetrated even Peter's perception, for
he glanced hastily towards her.

"It doesn't matter," he said magnanimously. "If you and my guardian
decided they were rotten, there's an end of it. Of course I'd rather
have things as they used to be; but after all this time, I expect
there's bound to be a few changes." He turned from the contemplation
of the hall to face his relatives squarely, with the air of an
autocrat who had decreed that the subject was at an end.

"By-the-by," said Peter, "where _is_ John Crewys? They told me he was
stopping here."

"He will be in directly," said Lady Mary, "and Sarah Hewel ought to be
here presently too. She is coming to luncheon."

"Sarah!" said Peter. "I should like to see her again. Is she still
such a rum little toad? Always getting into scrapes, and coming to you
for comfort?"

"I think," said Lady Mary, and her blue eyes twinkled--"I think you
may be surprised to see little Sarah. She is grown up now."

"Of course," said Peter. "She's only a year younger than I am."

Lady Mary wondered why Peter's way of saying _of course_ jarred upon
her so much. He had always been brusque and abrupt; it was the family
fashion. Was it because she had grown accustomed to the tactful and
gentle methods of John Crewys that it seemed to have become suddenly
such an intolerable fashion? Sir Timothy had quite honestly believed
tactfulness to be a form of insincerity. He did not recognize it as
the highest outward expression of self-control. But Lady Mary, since
she had known John Crewys, knew also that it is consideration for
the feelings of others which causes the wise man to order his speech
carefully.

The canon shook his head when Peter stated that Miss Hewel was his
junior by a twelvemonth.

"She might be ten years older," he said, in awe-struck tones. "I have
always heard that women were extraordinarily adaptable, but I never
realized it before. However, to be sure, she has seen a good deal more
of the world than you have. More than most of us, though in such a
comparatively short space of time. B