education?"

Mr. Darlington began to pull his beard.

"You mean, my dear Wilton----?"

"Do you think the education of happiness is the education most likely to
bring out the greatest possibilities of the soul?"

This was the sort of very definite question that Mr. Darlington
preferred to get away from if possible, and he was just preparing to
"hedge," when, fortunately, they ran into the Dean, and the conversation
deviated to a discussion concerning the effect the pursuit of scientific
research was likely to have upon religious belief.

After supper that evening--supper instead of dinner on Sundays was the
general rule in Welsley--Dion lit his pipe. It had been a very happy
day. He wished the happiness to last till sleep came to Rosamund and
to him; nevertheless he was resolved to take a risk, and to take it now
before they went to bed, while they still had two quiet hours before
them. He looked at Rosamund and reluctance surged up in him, but he beat
it back. Something told him that he had been allowed to come back from
South Africa in order that he might build firm foundations. The perfect
family life must be set upon rock. He meant to get through to the rock
if possible. Rosamund and he were beginning again. Now surely was the
day of salvation if he played the man, the man instead of merely the
lover.

"This has been one of the happiest days of my life," he said.

He was standing by the fire. Rosamund was sitting on a low chair doing
some embroidery. Gold thread gleamed against a rough cream-colored
ground in her capable hands.

"I'm so thankful you like Welsley," she said.

"Won't you hate leaving Welsley?" he asked.

Rosamund went on quietly working for a moment. Perhaps she bent a little
lower over the embroidery.

"I've made a great many friends here," she said at length, "and----"

She paused.

"Yes--do tell me, Rose."

"There's something here that I care for very much."

"Is it the atmosphere of religion? There's a great deal here that
suggests the religious life."

"Yes; it's what I care for."

"I was almost afraid of meeting you here when I came back, Rose. I
remembered what you had once told me, that you had had a great longing
to enter the religious life. I was half afraid that, living here all
alone with Robin, you might have become--I don't know exactly how to
put it--become cloistral. I didn't want to find you a sort of nun when I
came back."

He spoke with a gentle lightness.