'Edith! Sorry! Edie, I say, I'm sorry. Come back.'

There was no answer.

He pushed the letter under the door of her room, and said through the
keyhole:

'Edith, look here, I'm just going for a little walk. I'll be back to
dinner. Don't be angry.'

Bruce brought her home a large bunch of Parma violets. But neither of
them ever referred to the question again, and for some time there was a
little less of the refrain of 'Am I master in my own house, or am I
not?'

The next morning, when a long letter came from Aylmer, from Spain,
Edith read it at breakfast and Bruce didn't ask a single question.
However, she left it on his plate, as if by mistake. He might just as
well read it.



CHAPTER XV

Mavis Argles

Vincy had the reputation of spending his fortune with elaborate yet
careful lavishness, buying nothing that he did not enjoy, and giving
away everything he did not want. At the same time his friends
occasionally wondered on what he _did_ spend both his time and his