announcing that the
sleigh was waiting to take Mr. Riatt to the train, and Riatt explained
that he had decided not to take the train that day. Then Christine, on
inquiring, found that Hickson was writing letters in the library, and
went away to talk to him. She had no fear of leaving Max; she knew he was
in safe hands; Laura would not allow Nancy an instant alone with him.
Nor, as a matter of fact, was Riatt himself eager to subject himself to
the cross-examination of that keen and contemptuous intelligence. Indeed
Nancy soon drifted out of the room, and Riatt found himself committed to
a long tete-a-tete with Laura on the subject of Christine's perfections,
and his supposed deceitfulness in pretending indifference. "Oh, you
protested too much, my dear Max," Laura insisted with the most irritating
exuberance. "I knew when you began to say that she was the last woman in
the world you would fall in love with, that your hour had come. No man
ever lived who could resist Christine when she chooses to make herself
agreeable."

Riatt felt he was looking rather grim for an accepted lover, as he
answered that it was a great comfort to feel one had succumbed only to
the irresistible. Before very long Christine came back, and taking in
what had been going on, managed to get rid of her friend. Laura made it
plain that she was only too glad to accord the lovers a few blissful
moments alone.

"I can't describe to you," he said crossly, "how intensely disagreeable I
find the situation."

Christine laughed. "And did you look like that while Laura was detailing
my perfections? A judge about to pronounce the death sentence is gay in
comparison. Cheer up. I haven't had a pleasant fifteen minutes myself. I
never thought myself kind-hearted, but I assure you I really longed to
tell Ned the truth. He is the nicest person."

"I believe he will make you an excellent husband."

"Oh, dear, I'm afraid he will." She sighed. "Safety first will be a dull
motto to go through life with. Do you want to know what I told him? No?
Well, I'm going to tell you anyhow. I said that you had made me this
magnificent offer, prompted, I felt sure, by the purest chivalry; and
that I felt I owed it to my family, my friends and my reputation to
accept it, but that you had left my heart untouched, and that if he and
you were both penniless, I should prefer him to you. That wasn't all
perfectly true."

Suddenly Riatt found himself smiling. "My innocent child,"