; I should have liked her to have married an older man. They are too
much of an age, and Audrey, with all her good-nature, has a will of her
own. Blake is by no means a weak man; on the contrary, I should say he
is strong; but he will have to give in to her.'

'Oh, I hope not!' for Mrs. Ross held the old-fashioned doctrines of
wifely submission and obedience.

'They will not find it out for a little; but, if I am not mistaken,
Blake will discover in time that he is somewhat handicapped. The girl
has too much on her side: there is her position, her little bit of
money, and her equality as regards age. Blake will have to steer his way
prudently, or he will find himself among shoals.'

Mrs. Ross looked distressed; her husband's opinion was infallible to
her. It never occurred to her that he might be occasionally wrong in his
premises.

'Percival and Geraldine will be dreadfully shocked,' she replied. 'I
quite dread the effect on Geraldine.'

Then Dr. Ross's mood changed.

'It is no business of hers, or of Harcourt's either,' he said, rather
sharply. 'If Audrey has her parents' consent, she need not trouble
herself about other people's opinions.'

Then Mrs. Ross knew that, whatever stormy discussion might be in store
for her, she must not expect her husband to come to her assistance. He
had more than once hinted that his son-in-law took rather too much upon
himself, and on one occasion he had gone so far as to say that it was a
pity Geraldine had married a man so much older than herself.

'Harcourt is a clever fellow, but he plays the autocrat rather too much.
A man has a right to be master in his own house, but Woodcote is not
Hillside.' And this speech had alarmed Mrs. Ross dreadfully.

'I wish your father cared for Percival as much as he does for Michael,'
she said once a little plaintively to Audrey. 'Nothing Michael says or
does is ever wrong in his eyes.'

'But there could not be two Michaels, mother,' returned Audrey; 'and
really, Percival does lay down the law far too much. I don't wonder
father was a little put out, for of course he is the older man.'

Meanwhile, the lovers were enjoying themselves after their own fashion.
When Audrey entered the study, Cyril was standing in the bay-window with
his back towards the door; but at the sound of her footstep he turned
round quickly and crossed the room. As he took her hands he looked at
her for a moment without speaking, and she saw at once that he was
deep