f
her--her happiness."

"His own is out of the question, poor devil!"

Kitty nodded.

"And the worst of it is," she went on, "I can't feel quite sure that Nan
will be really happy with Roger. They're the last two people in the
world to get on well together."

Lord St. John looked out across the sea, his shoulders a little stooped,
his hands clasped behind his back. No one regretted Nan's precipitate
engagement more than he, but he recognised that little good could be
accomplished by interference. Moreover, to his scrupulous, old-world
sense of honour, a promise, once given, was not to be broken at will.

"I'm afraid, my dear," he said at last, turning back to Kitty, "I'm
afraid we've reached a _cul-de-sac_."

His tones were despondent, and Kitty's spirits sank a degree lower. She
looked at him bleakly, and he returned her glance with one equally bleak.
Then, into this dejected council of two--cheerful, decided, and
aboundingly energetic swept Aunt Eliza.

"Good afternoon, my dear," she said, making a peck at Kitty's cheek.
"That flunkey, idling his life away on the hall mat, said I should find
you here, so I saved him from overwork by showing myself in. How are
you, St. John? You're looking a bit peaky this afternoon, aren't you?"

"It's old age beginning to tell," laughed Lord St. John, shaking hands.

"Old age?--Fiddlesticks!" Eliza fumed contemptuously. "I suppose the
truth is you're fashin' yourself because Nan's engaged to be married.
I've always said you were just like an old hen with one chick."

"I'd like to see the child with a nest of her own, all the same, Eliza."

"Hark to the man! And when 'tis settled she shall have the nest, he
looks for all the world as though she had just fallen out of it!"

St. John wheeled round suddenly.

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of--that some day she may . . . fall out
of this particular nest that's building."

"And why should she do that?" demanded Eliza truculently. "Roger's as
bonnie and brave a mate as any woman need look for, and Trenby Hall's a
fine home to bring his bride to."

"Yes. But don't you see," explained Kitty, "it's all happened so
suddenly. A little while ago we thought Nan cared for someone else and
now we don't want her to rush off and tie herself up with anyone in a
hurry--and be miserable ever after."

"I'm no' in favour of long engagements."

"In this case a little delay might have been wiser before any engagement
was en