quiet, and in
the afternoon they walked in the garden sheltered behind its high brick
wall.

He told her of what had been done at the works. Arthur's plan had
succeeded. It might not be the last word, but at least it was on the
road to the right end. The men had been brought into it and shared the
management. And the disasters predicted had proved groundless.

"You won't be able to indulge in all your mad schemes," he laughed, "but
there'll be enough to help on a few. And you will be among friends.
Arthur told me he had explained it to you and that you had agreed."

"Yes," she answered. "It was the last time he came to see me in London.
And I could not help feeling a bit jealous. He was doing things while I
was writing and talking. But I was glad he was an Allway. It will be
known as the Allway scheme. New ways will date from it."

She had thought it time for him to return indoors, but he pleaded for a
visit to his beloved roses. He prided himself on being always able to
pick roses on Christmas Day.

"This young man of yours," he asked, "what is he like?"

"Oh, just a Christian gentleman," she answered. "You will love him when
you know him."

He laughed. "And this new journal of his?" he asked. "It's got to be
published in London, hasn't it?"

She gave a slight start, for in their letters to one another they had
been discussing this very point.

"No," she answered, "it could be circulated just as well from, say,
Birmingham or Manchester."

He was choosing his roses. They held their petals wrapped tight round
them, trying to keep the cold from their brave hearts. In the warmth
they would open out and be gay, until the end.

"Not Liverpool?" he suggested.

"Or even Liverpool," she laughed.

They looked at one another, and then beyond the sheltering evergreens and
the wide lawns to where the great square house seemed to be listening.

"It's an ugly old thing," he said.

"No, it isn't," she contradicted. "It's simple and big and kind. I
always used to feel it disapproved of me. I believe it has come to love
me, in its solemn old brick way."

"It was built by Kent in seventeen-forty for your great-great
grandfather," he explained. He was regarding it more affectionately.
"Solid respectability was the dream, then."

"I think that's why I love it," she said: "for it's dear, old-fashioned
ways. We will teach it the new dreams, too. It will be so shocked, at
first."

They dined in s