l, we must make up time, or
they'll be sending out a search party for us from Mallow."

It was late in the evening before Nan and Peter found themselves alone
together again. Everyone was standing about in the big hall exchanging
good nights and last snippets of talk before taking their several ways
to bed. Peter drew Nan a little to one side.

"Nan, is it true that you're engaged to Trenby?" he asked.

"Quite true." She had to force the answer to her lips. Mallory's face
was rather stern.

"Why didn't you tell me this afternoon?"

"I--I couldn't, Peter," she said, under her breath. "I couldn't."

His face still wore that white, unsmiling look. But he drew Nan's
shaking hands between his own and held them very gently as he put his
next question.

"You don't care for him." It was more an assertion, than a question,
though it demanded a reply.

"No."

His grasp of her hands tightened.

"Then, for God's sake, don't make the same hash of your life as I made
of mine. Believe me, Nan"--his voice roughened--"it's far worse to be
married to someone you don't love than to remain unmarried all your
days."

CHAPTER XIV

RELATIONS-IN-LAW

"I am very glad to meet you, my dear."

The frosty voice entirely failed to confirm the sense of the words as
Lady Gertrude Trenby bent forward and imprinted a somewhat chilly kiss
on Nan's cheek.

She was a tall woman, thin and aristocratic-looking, with a repressive
manner that inspired her domestic staff with awe and her acquaintances
with a nervous anxiety to placate her.

Nan shrank sensitively, and glanced upward to see if there were
anything in her future mother-in-law's face which might serve to
contradict the coldness of her greeting. But there was nothing. It
was a stern, aquiline type of face, with a thin-lipped mouth and hard,
obstinate chin, and the iron-grey hair, dressed in a high, stiff
fashion, which suggested that no single hair would ever be allowed to
stray from its lawful place, seemed to emphasise its severity.

The chilly welcome, then, was intentional--not the result of shyness or
a natural awkwardness with strangers. Lady Gertrude was perfectly
composed, and Nan felt an inward conviction that the news of Roger's
engagement had not met with her approval. Perhaps she resented the
idea of relinquishing the reins of government at Trenby Hall in favour
of a daughter-in-law. It was quite possible, few mothers of sons who
have retained