elcomed him very nicely.

'Audrey tells me that I am to have another son,' she said softly, as she
held out her hand to him.

'If you will only let me be one,' he returned gratefully, as he carried
the soft motherly hand to his lips.

Audrey might be forgiven if she regarded Cyril's behaviour as perfect.
As for Mrs. Ross, the tears started to her eyes at that act of
reverential homage. She told Audrey afterwards that she felt as though
she could have kissed him.

'What a pity you did not! I think Cyril would have liked it,' was
Audrey's quiet answer.

She heard her mother inviting him to dinner as she turned to the
tea-table, for the afternoon was nearly over. 'We shall be just by
ourselves, Mr. Blake.'

'Will you call me Cyril now?' he asked in almost a whisper, and a blush
came to Mrs. Ross's comely face.

'I will try and remember,' she said, in the kindest possible voice; and
then he joined Audrey at the tea-table, and made himself very busy in
waiting on them both, and they were soon as easy and comfortable as
possible.

'Would you like my mother to come and see you to-morrow?' he asked
presently, when lamps had been brought in and the October twilight had
been excluded; 'that will be the correct thing, will it not, Mrs. Ross?'

'I suppose so,' she assented; but Audrey, with her usual impulsiveness,
interrupted her:

'Why should you not take me across now?' she said; 'I think it is so
stupid thinking about etiquette. Your mother is older than I, and it is
for me to go to her.' Audrey spoke with decision, and Cyril looked
enchanted.

'I did not like to propose it,' he said delightedly; 'will you really
come? May I take her, Mrs. Ross?'

But Audrey did not wait for her mother's permission. She left the room,
and returned presently in her hat and jacket.

'I am quite ready,' she said, speaking from the threshold; but she
smiled as she said the words. Was she interrupting an interesting
conversation? Cyril was on the couch beside her mother, and he was
talking eagerly. Perhaps, though Audrey did not know it, he was making
up for his previous self-restraint by pouring out some of his pent-up
feelings.

'You understand?' he said as he stood up, and Mrs. Ross beamed at him in
answer.

'Are you two having confidences already?' observed Audrey happily, as
she looked on at this little scene; and Cyril laughed as he followed her
into the hall.

'She is the sweetest woman in the world but one,' he said, a