parapet near her, crossed his legs, and fell to
nursing his left knee. The woman of the black bodice went up across the
pale stubble to her companions. She talked to them, nodding her head in
the direction of the bridge.

"I have promised to do a certain thing, and having promised, of course
I must do it."

Honoria looked away towards the harvesters up there among the gold of
the corn.

"And yet, now I have committed myself, thinking it over I find I
dislike doing it warmly."

"The statement of the case is just a trifle vague," Mr. Quayle
remarked. "But--if one may brave a suggestion--supersede a first duty
by a second and, of course, a greater. With a little exercise of
imagination, a little good-will, a little assistance from a true friend
thrown in perhaps, it is generally quite possible to manage that, I
think."

"And you are prepared to play the part of the true friend?"

"Undoubtedly."

"Then go to Cairo for the winter with Evelyn Tobermory. You must take
no low gowns--ah! poor little soul, it is pathetic, though--she's
forbidden to wear them. And--let me stay here!" Honoria said.

Ludovic gazed at his hands as they clasped his knee, then he looked
sideways at his companion.

"Here, meaning--meaning Brockhurst, dear Miss St. Quentin?" he asked
very sweetly.

"Meaning England," she declared.

"England?--ah! really. That pleases me better. Patriotism is an
excellent virtue. The remark is not a wholly original one, but it comes
in handy just now, all the same."

The young lady's head went up. Her face straightened. She was
displeased. Turning sideways, she leaned both hands on the stonework
and stared down into the water. But speedily she repented.

"See how the fish rise," she said. "It really is a pity one hasn't a
fly-rod."

"I was under the impression you once told me that you objected to
taking life, except in self-defense or for purposes of commissariat.
The trout would almost certainly be muddy. And I am quite unconscious
of being exposed to any danger--at least from the trout."

Miss St. Quentin kept her eyes fixed upon the water.

"I told you my temper was out of sorts," she said.

"Is that a warning?" Ludovic inquired, with the utmost mildness.

Honoria was busy feeling in her jacket pockets. At the bottom of them a
few crumbs remained. She emptied these on to the surface of the water,
by the simple expedient of turning the pockets inside out.

"I know nothing about warnings," she