. It would be good for Michael to have a
companion when she and her father and Percival went on one of their long
expeditions. The boy had been drooping sadly of late--the heat tried
him--and, as Audrey knew, Biddy's homely dishes seldom tempted his
sickly appetite.

Mr. Harcourt was not aware of this little plan. When he uttered his
marital protest Geraldine looked at her mother with a sort of resigned
despair.

'You hear what Percy says, mother. I suppose you must ask someone else
in my place.'

'But I am not going without you,' returned her husband good-naturedly.
'Your mother would not want me, my dear, under those circumstances. We
will stay at home, like Darby and Joan, by our own ingle-side.'

'Oh, then you can ask the Drummonds,' went on Geraldine, in a relieved
voice. 'Audrey ought to have reminded you of them, but she seems to
think only of the Blakes. I suppose you will be obliged to ask Mr.
Blake, too, mother?'

'Yes, certainly, my dear. Mrs. Blake would not like to come without her
son. It will be a large party, but----'

'Well, it cannot be helped, I suppose; but Percy and I think it is
rather a pity----' Here Geraldine gave a slight cough, warned by a look
from her husband.

'What is a pity, my dear?'

'Oh, it does not matter--at least, Percy does not wish me to speak.'

'Geraldine is rather like the dog in the manger,' interrupted Mr.
Harcourt. 'Because I will not let her come to your dinner-party, she
would rather you did not have one at all. That is it, isn't it, Jerry?'

Mrs. Ross smiled benevolently at this little sally. She liked to hear
her son-in-law's jokes. She never joked Geraldine herself, and so she
seldom saw that girlish blush that was so becoming.

When she had taken her leave, Geraldine said to her husband:

'Why did you stop me just now when I was dropping that hint about Mr.
Blake?'

'Because I thought the hint premature, my dear,' he returned drily, 'and
because it is not our place to warn Mr. Blake off the premises; he is
not the first young man, and I do not expect he will be the last, to
admire Audrey.'

'But, Percy, I am quite sure that Mr. Blake is too handsome and too
attractive altogether to be a harmless admirer.'

'Pooh! nonsense, my love. Don't let your imagination run away with you.
Audrey is too sensible a girl to let herself fall in love with a young
fellow like Blake. Now shall I go on with our book?' For that day
Geraldine was considered an invalid, a