and be married!"

"Oh, no; that wouldn't be fair to Janet." And yet the notion of doing
this fascinated her.

CHAPTER XXV

And meanwhile what had been going on at Old Place? Outwardly very little,
yet one long-expected, though when it happened, surprising, thing had
occurred. Also Janet, as the day went on, felt more and more worried
about Jack.

He wandered in and out of the house like an unhappy, unquiet spirit, for
the sudden departure of Enid Crofton for London two days before had taken
him utterly by surprise, the more so that she had left no address, and
he was suspicious of--he knew not what! It was reasonable to suppose she
had gone to pay the debt for which he had provided the money; but then
why keep her address in town secret from him?

At last, this morning, there had come a postcard to Rosamund, asking to
be met at the station, alone, with the Old Place pony-cart. It was a
reasonable request, for the funny little vehicle only held two people and
a minute quantity of luggage. Still Jack had felt annoyed she had not
asked him to meet her. She seemed to him absurdly over-cautious.

About ten minutes before the motoring party's return, Rosamund hurried in
with a casual message that Enid was very tired, and so had gone straight
to bed; that she hoped some of them would come in and see her on the
morrow, Sunday. In any case they would all meet at church.

Jack was puzzled, hurt, and bitterly disappointed, and at once he went
off to write a note which should be, while wildly loving, yet clear in
its expressions of surprise that she had not sent him some sort of
message appointing a time for their next meeting. He found the letter
unexpectedly difficult to write, and he had already torn up two
beginnings, when the door behind him burst open, and, turning round
irritably, he saw Timmy rush across to a window and shout exultantly,
"Mum? We're back! And we've brought Josephine and her kittens. Mr.
Trotman said she'd be all right now."

Jack Tosswill jumped up from his chair. It was as if his pent-up feelings
of anger had found a vent at last: "You have, have you?" he cried in an
enraged voice. "Then I'll see to the shooting of the brute this very
minute!"

Quick as thought, Timmy rushed back to the door and turned the key in the
lock. Then he bounded again to the open window. "Mum!" he screamed at the
top of his voice. "Come here--I'm frightened!"

Janet Tosswill, walking quickly across the lawn, w