terly--and he had been idle of late!

And so it came about that Richard Calmady held out his hand, to help
his cousin into her place at his side, with more of meaning and welcome
in the gesture than he was quite aware. He forgot the humiliation of
the broad strap about his waist, of the high, ingeniously contrived
driving-iron against which his feet rested, steadying him upon the
sharply sloping seat. These were details, objectionable ones it was
true, but, to-day, of very secondary importance. In the main he was
master of the situation. For once it was his to render, rather than
receive, assistance. Helen was under his care, in a measure dependent
on him, and this gratified his young, masculine pride, doomed too often
to suffer sharp mortification. A fierce pleasure possessed him. It was
fine to bear her thus away, behind the fast trotting horses, through
the pensive, autumn brightness. Boyish self-consciousness and
self-distrust died down in Richard, and the man's self-reliance,
instinct of possession and of authority, grew in him. His tone was that
of command, for all its solicitude, as he said:--

"Look here, are you sure you've got enough on? Don't go and catch cold,
under the impression that there's any meaning in this sunshine. It is
sure to be chilly driving home, and it's easy to take more wraps."

Helen shook her head, unsmiling, serious.

"I could face polar snows."

Richard let the horses spring forward, while little pebbles rattled
against the body of the phaeton, and the groom, running a few steps,
swung himself up on to the back seat, immediately becoming immovable as
a wooden image, with rigidly folded arms.

"Oh! the cold won't quite amount to that," Richard said. "But I observe
women rarely reckon with the probabilities of the return journey."

"The return journey is invariably too hot, or too cold, too soon, or
too late--for a woman. So it is better not to remember its existence
until you are compelled to do so. For myself, I confess to the
strongest prejudice against the return journey."

Madame de Vallorbes' speech was calm and measured, yet there was a
conviction in it suggestive of considerable emotion. She sat well back
in the carriage, her head turned slightly to the left, so that Richard,
looking down at her, saw little but the pure firm line of her jaw, the
contour of her cheek, and her ear--small, lovely, the soft hair curling
away from above and behind it in the most enticing fashion