l of our own, were we, baby? It was such nonsense
keeping my own sister from me, as I told them.'

'Percival is very pleased with his boy, Gage;' and then a soft,
satisfied look came into the young mother's eyes.

'I think it is more to him than to most men,' she whispered. 'He is not
young, and he did so long for a son. Do you know, mother tells me that
he nearly cried when she put baby into his arms--at least, there were
tears in his eyes, and he could scarcely speak when he saw me first.
Father loves his little boy already,' she continued, addressing the
unconscious infant, and after that Audrey did consent to take her
nephew.

'What do you mean to call him, Gage?'

'Mother and I would have liked him to be called John, after father; but
Percival wishes him so much to have his own father's name, Leonard; and
of course he ought to have his way. You must be my boy's godmother,
Audrey--I will have no one else; and Michael must be one
godfather--Percival told me this morning that Mr. Bryce must be the
other.'

'I am glad you thought of Michael,' responded Audrey rather dreamily:
baby had got one of her fingers grasped in his tiny fists, and was
holding it tightly; and then nurse came forward and suggested that Mrs.
Harcourt had talked enough: and, though Audrey grumbled a little, she
was obliged to obey.

Audrey took advantage of the first fine afternoon to walk over to Brail.
It was more than three miles by the road, but she was a famous walker.
The lanes were still impassable on account of the thaw; February had set
in with unusual mildness: the snow had melted, the little lake at
Woodcote was no longer a sheet of blue ice, and Eiderdown and Snowflake
were dabbling joyously with their yellow bills in the water and their
soft plumes tremulous with excitement.

Audrey had set out early, and Cyril had promised to meet her half-way on
her return; the days were lengthening, but he was sure the dusk would
overtake her long before she got home.

Audrey was inclined to dispute this point: she liked to be independent,
and to regulate her own movements. But Cyril was not to be coerced.

'I shall meet you, probably by the windmill,' he observed quietly. 'If
you are not inclined for my companionship, I will promise to keep on the
other side of the road.'

And of course, after this remark, Audrey was obliged to give in; and in
her heart she knew she should be glad of his company.

She had not seen Mr. O'Brien for some