answer it by and by."

Julia put it in her pocket after another glance, purring to herself in
English, "It is so well done, too," she said; "never a word of to-day,
only of yesterday--yesterday!" and she laughed softly.

There is no doubt about it, if Julia had got to receive a death
sentence she would have liked it to be well given; it is quite
possible, had she lived at the time, she would have been one of those
who objected to the indignity of riding in the tumbrils quite as much
as to the guillotine at the end of the ride.

She finished the preparations for dinner, got her pots and pans all
nicely simmering and her oven at the right heat; then, giving some
necessary directions, she left the servant to watch the cooking and
went up to her own room. There she at once proceeded to answer the
letter--

"DEAR MR. RAWSON-CLEW, (she wrote),

"I am as glad as anything that you have done it; I never for
a moment thought of it myself, though I ought, for it is
just like you; thank you ever so much.

"Please don't bother about me, I am all right and have
arranged capitally."

Here she turned over his letter to see how he had signed
himself and, seeing, signed in imitation--

"Yours very sincerely,

"JULIA POLKINGTON."

"I wonder what his name is?" she speculated; "H. F.--H.--Henry,
Horace--I shouldn't think he had a name people called him by."

She read her own letter through, and as she was folding it stopped; it
occurred to her that he might think courtesy demanded a formal refusal
of his proposal. It was, of course, quite unnecessary; the refusal
went without saying; she would no more have dreamed of accepting his
quixotic offer than he would have dreamed of avoiding the necessity of
making it; the one was as much a _sine qua non_ to her as the other
was to him. From which it would appear that in some ways at least
their notions of honour were not so many miles apart.

She flattened her letter again; perhaps he would think the definite
word more polite, so she added a postscript--

"Of course this means no. I am sorry we can't go on with the
excursion, but we can't, you know. The holiday is over; this
is 'to-morrow,' so good-bye."

After that she fastened the envelope, and a while later went out to
post it. As she went up the drive she caught sight of Joost some
d