at by no possibility could anyone discover it."

May had not a very high opinion of her companion's intelligence, but it
struck her this morning he was duller than usual. She humoured him,
replying with her philosophical air:

"No, indeed! Yet we try to find out how life began, and what the world
means."

Dymchurch was pleased. He liked to find her capable of such a
reflection. It encouraged the movements of vague tenderness which had
begun to justify a purpose formed rather in the mind than in the heart.

"Yes! Amusing, isn't it? But you, I think, don't trouble much about
such questions."

"It seems to me waste of time."

She was thinking of Dyce Lashmar, asking herself whether she would meet
him, or not, to-morrow morning. Certainly she wished to do so. Lashmar
at a distance left her coolly reasonable; she wanted to recover the
emotional state of mind which had come about during their stolen
interview. With Lord Dymchurch, though his attentions were flattering,
she could not for a moment imagine herself touched by romantic feeling.

"So it is," he was saying. "To waste time in that way has always been
one of my bad habits. But I am going to get rid of it."

He seemed on the point of adding more significant words. May heard the
sound fail in his throat; saw without looking at him--his sudden
embarrassment. When the words came, as surely they would, what was to
be her answer? She hoped for inspiration. Why should it be necessary
for her to make precise reply? No! She would not. Freedom and the
exercise of power were what she wanted. Enough to promise her answer a
month, or half a year, hence. If the old lady didn't like it, let her
learn patience.

Dymchurch sat bending forward. The dry leaf crackled between his
fingers; he was crushing it to powder.

"Who," he asked, "is the lady Miss Bride was speaking of, in connection
with the servant's training-school?"

"Mrs. Gallantry. A good, active sort of woman at Hollingford."

"That scheme doesn't interest you much?"

"Not very much, I confess. I quite approve of it. It's just the kind of
thing for people like Miss Bride, plodding and practical; no doubt
they'll make it very useful. But I have rather lost my keenness for
work of that sort. Perhaps I have grown out of it. Of course I wish as
much as ever for the good of the lower classes, but I feel that my own
work will lie in another direction."

"Tell me what you have in mind," said Dymchurch, meeting her