"And what an awful week it was after that! I was never so
miserable in all my life. I cried till my eyes were quite red,
and then I bathed them for an hour, and then I went to the pier,
and you were there--and I mightn't speak to you!"

"I remember," said Hilary, nodding gently.

"And then, Hilary, father sent for me and told me it was no use;
and I said I'd never marry any one else. And father said,
'There, there, don't cry. We'll see what mother says.'"

"Your mother was a brick," said Hilary, poking the fire.

"And that night they never told me anything about it, and I
didn't even change my frock, but came down, looking horrible,
just as I was, in an old black rag--no, Hilary, don't say it was
pretty!"

Hilary, unconvinced, shook his head.

"And when I walked into the drawing room there was nobody there
but just you; and we neither of us said anything for ever so
long. And then father and mother came in and--do you remember
after dinner, Hilary?"

"I remember," said Hilary.

There was a long pause. Mrs. Hilary was looking into the fire;
little Miss Phyllis's eyes were fixed, in rapt gaze, on the