sturb your friends on my account," she said quietly. She
did not look up, but Trent felt keenly the alteration in her manner.

"They're not my friends," he exclaimed passionately "I'll clear them out
neck and crop."

She looked up for a moment, surprised at his sudden vehemence. There
was no doubt about his being in earnest. She continued her work without
looking at him, but her tone when she spoke was more friendly.

"This will take me a little longer than I thought to finish properly,"
she said. "I wonder might I come down early to-morrow morning? What time
do you leave for the City?"

"Not until afternoon, at any rate," he said. "Come to-morrow,
certainly--whenever you like. You needn't be afraid of that rabble. I'll
see you don't have to go near them."

"You must please not make any difference or alter your arrangements on
my account," she said. "I am quite used to meeting all sorts of people
in my profession, and I don't object to it in the least. Won't you go
now? I think that that was your dinner-bell."

He hesitated, obviously embarrassed but determined. "There is one
question," he said, "which I should very much like to ask you. It will
sound impertinent. I don't mean it so. I can't explain exactly why I
want to know, but I have a reason."

"Ask it by all means," she said. "I'll promise that I'll answer it if I
can."

"You say that you are--a journalist. Have you taken it up for a pastime,
or--to earn money?"

"To earn money by all means," she answered, laughing. "I like the work,
but I shouldn't care for it half so much if I didn't make my living at
it. Did you think that I was an amateur?"

"I didn't know," he answered slowly. "Thank you. You will come
to-morrow?"

"Of course! Good evening."

"Good evening."

Trent lifted his hat, and turned away unwillingly towards the house,
full of a sense that something wonderful had happened to him. He was
absent-minded, but he stopped to pat a little dog whose attentions he
usually ignored, and he picked a creamy-white rose as he crossed the
lawn and wondered why it should remind him of her.

CHAPTER X

Trent's appearance upon the lawn was greeted with a shout of enthusiasm.
The young lady in blue executed a pas seut, and came across to him on
her toes, and the girl with the yellow hair, although sulky, gave him
to understand by a sidelong glance that her favour was not permanently
withdrawn. They neither of the noticed the somewhat ominous air