Bentley had hummed and hawed a little, twisting his red moustache, and
finally had given the name and address; whereupon Miss Wigram had
gathered up her papers, some of which had drifted to the floor between
her table and Doris's easel, and had taken an immediate departure, a
couple of hours before her usual time, throwing, as she left the
studio, a wistful and rather puzzled look at Mrs. Meadows.

Doris congratulated herself that she had kept her own counsel on the
subject of the Dunstables, both with Uncle Charles and Miss Wigram.
Neither of them had guessed that she had any personal acquaintance with
them. She tried now to put the matter out of her thoughts. Jane brought
in a tray for her mistress, and Doris supped meagrely in Arthur's
deserted study, thinking, as the sunset light came in across the dusty
street, of that flame and splendour which such weather must be kindling
on the moors, of the blue and purple distances, the glens of rocky
mountains hung in air, "the gleam, the shadow, and the peace supreme"!
She remembered how on their September honeymoon they had wandered in
Ross-shire, how the whole land was dyed crimson by the heather, and how
impossible it was to persuade Arthur to walk discreetly rather than,
like any cockney tripper, with his arm round his sweetheart. Scotland
had not been far behind the Garden of Eden under those circumstances.
But Arthur was now pursuing the higher, the intellectual joys.

She finished her supper, and then sat down to write to her husband. Was
she going to tell him anything about the incident of the afternoon? Why
should she? Why should she give him the chance of becoming more than
ever Lady Dunstable's friend--pegging out an eternal claim upon her
gratitude?

Doris wrote her letter. She described the progress of the spring