one
morning, and found Deb seated on the floor shaping a refractory carpet
that would not fit, 'my sister is the stay-at-home, and I bring her the
news of the world as I pick it up when I'm out visitin'. It's
surprisin' the stories of high and low life that I hear. I take it all
in, and think it over while I'm stitchin', and come to many a wise
conclusion before I take it back with me and talk it over with Patty.'

'And what conclusion will you come to about us?' asked Gwen.

The old woman nodded her head with a meaning smile.

'Ay, well, ye're a house full of women, and there's an astonishin'
little scoldin' and quarrellin'. I should say, taking the cluster of
you together, that the one at either end keeps the peace in the middle.'

Gwen laughed delightedly. 'You are right: Agatha and Elfie are the
peace-makers, Clare and I the disturbing elements! What else?'

But Deb shook her head, and would say no more.

Clare and Gwen shared the study very amicably together, but both were
out of doors a great deal--Gwen tackling the untidy garden with a great
deal of energy, but little experience; and Clare wandering about the
lanes and fields, doing little, and dreaming much. Then came Captain
Knox's farewell visit, and it was a very short one. He appeared at
seven o'clock one evening, just as the sisters were sitting down to
their high tea, which meal they had substituted for the orthodox dinner
to which they had been accustomed in London.

Clare's cheeks grew pale as she greeted him. 'How long have you?' she
asked, a little breathlessly.

'Till eight o'clock to-morrow morning. I must catch the 8.30 train
from Brambleton. We sail to-morrow afternoon.'

It was rather a silent meal, and being a rough, stormy night Clare took
him off to the study directly afterwards. She was in the mood that
pleased her lover best: sweet and gentle, and showing more affection
than she was wont to do, for she was not demonstrative usually.

'Hugh,' she said later in the evening, after sitting still and letting
him do most of the talking, 'I wish I were going with you. I feel as
if this parting is going to be a long one. I can't bear this wind and
rain to-night--it makes me feel as if something awful is coming; it was
just the same the first night we were here. I have a kind of
presentiment about your going, as if something evil is coming upon us.
Couldn't you give it up?'

Captain Knox smiled a little, though his face look