he should return on the morrow.

And Denry went down the obscure drive with a final vision of the poor
child, Nellie, as she stood at the door to speed them. It was
extraordinary how that child had remained a child. He knew that she must
be more than half-way through her twenties, and yet she persisted in
being the merest girl. A delightful little thing; but no _savoir
vivre_, no equality to a situation, no spectacular pride. Just a
nice, bright girl, strangely girlish.... The Cotterills had managed that
bad evening badly. They had shown no dignity, no reserve, no discretion;
and old Cotterill had been simply fatuous in his suggestion. As for Mrs
Cotterill, she was completely overcome, and it was due solely to Ruth's
calm, managing influence that Nellie, nervous and whimpering, had wound
herself up to come and shut the front door after the guests.

It was all very sad.

When he had successfully started the car, and they were sliding down the
Moorthorne hill together, side by side, their shoulders touching, Denry
threw off the nightmarish effect of the bankrupt household. After all,
there was no reason why he should be depressed. He was not a bankrupt.
He was steadily adding riches to riches. He acquired wealth mechanically
now. Owing to the habits of his mother, he never came within miles of
living up to his income. And Ruth--she, too, was wealthy. He felt that
she must be wealthy in the strict significance of the term. And she
completed wealth by experience of the world. She was his equal. She
understood things in general. She had lived, travelled, suffered,
reflected--in short, she was a completed article of manufacture. She was
no little, clinging, raw girl. Further, she was less hard than of yore.
Her voice and gestures had a different quality. The world had softened
her. And it occurred to him suddenly that her sole fault--extravagance--
had no importance now that she was wealthy.

He told her all that Mr Cotterill had said about Canada. And she told
him all that Mrs Cotterill had said about Canada. And they agreed that
Mr Cotterill had got his deserts, and that, in its own interest, Canada
was the only thing for the Cotterill family; and the sooner the better.
People must accept the consequences of bankruptcy. Nothing could be
done.

"I think it's a pity Nellie should have to go," said Denry.

"Oh! _Do_ you?" replied Ruth.

"Yes; going out to a strange country like that. She's not what you may
call the Can