o."

"Now you are talking like a child. I shall return to England. As to my
American career, my only chance lies here. I hate the rest of the
country, and the best material is in California, anyhow. Yesterday I
received a letter from my solicitor, enclosing one from Jimmy, who
informed me that I was on every tongue, that the public curiosity was
piqued, that the newspapers were demanding that I should return and
accept my responsibilities, and that without doubt a place would be made
for me in the new Liberal Cabinet. It is a propitious moment for
return. If there is a time when a Liberal peer can make any running it
is when his party is in power."

There was a pause for several moments. Gwynne filled and lit another
pipe. Isabel stared at a ring she twisted about her finger, Mr. Clink at
the geranium stump. The low dull roar in the forest tops was unceasing,
but for other sound of life they might have swung off into space.

Finally Isabel spoke. "I won't marry you," she said. "But all ends will
be served if we announce an engagement. We can state that we think it
best not to marry until your law studies are concluded. It can be
postponed once or twice on other pretexts, then fall through. By that
time gossip will be forgotten, people will have lost interest in us. In
San Francisco they are not likely to hear of this at all, or if they do
it will not matter, and if you fall in love with any of the _cotillon_
beauties I will release you in due form and give you my blessing."

"I have not the least intention of undertaking life with a _cotillon_
beauty. Your compromise will do for the present, but you will understand
that my proposal is a bona fide one, should you arrive at a more
rational frame of mind."

"I sha'n't fall a victim to any irrational state of mind. I won't marry.
Why, even people that like me too much interfere with my sense of
liberty."

Gwynne laughed. "We had better be starting," he said.

XXXI

They parted at the foot of the mountain, and as Isabel approached her
own house she saw Anabel Colton's trap tied to the garden gate. She set
her teeth and slackened the pace of her horse, but Anabel and Miss
Boutts had seen her, and leaned over the edge of the veranda, calling to
her impatiently. She gave her horse a cut with the whip and rode rapidly
to the stable. When she finally reached the veranda she greeted her
friends courteously enough, and then, as she noted their expression of
defian