aler and thinner than before--and
quite, quite incomprehensible!

As for "saving" her, Mrs. Gaddesden had not been allowed to attempt it.
In the first place, Elizabeth had stoutly denied that there was anything
to save her from. "Don't believe anything at all, dear Mummy, that
Arthur Delaine may have said to you! I have made a great friend--of a
very interesting man; and I am going to correspond with him. He is
coming to London in November, and I have asked him to stay here. And you
must be _very_ kind to him, darling--just as kind as you can be--for he
has had a hard time--he saved Philip's life--and he is an uncommonly
fine fellow!"

And with that--great readiness to talk about everything except just
what Mrs. Gaddesden most wanted to know. Elizabeth sitting on her
mother's bed at night, crooning about Canada--her soft brown hair over
her shoulders, and her eyes sparkling with patriotic enthusiasm, was a
charming figure. But let Mrs. Gaddesden attempt to probe and penetrate
beyond a certain point, and the way was resolutely barred. Elizabeth
would kiss her mother tenderly--it was as though her own reticence hurt
her--but would say nothing. Mrs. Gaddesden could only feel sorely that a
great change had come over the being she loved best in the world, and
that she was not to know the whys and wherefores of it.

And Philip--alack! had been of very little use to her in the matter!

"Don't you bother your head, Mother! Anderson's an awfully good
chap--but he's not going to marry Elizabeth. Told me he knew he wasn't
the kind. And of course he isn't--must draw the line somewhere--hang it!
But he's an awfully decent fellow. He's not going to push himself in
where he isn't wanted. You let Elizabeth alone, Mummy--it'll work off.
And of course we must be civil to him when he comes over--I should jolly
well think we must--considering he saved my life!"

Certainly they must be civil! News of Anderson's sailing and arrival
had been anxiously looked for. He had reached London three days before
this date, had presented his credentials at the Board of Trade and the
Colonial Office, and after various preliminary interviews with
ministers, was now coming down to Martindale for a week-end before the
assembling of the small conference of English and colonial
representatives to which he had been sent.

Mrs. Gaddesden saw from the various notices of his arrival in the
English papers that even in England, among the initiated he was
und