"I hope you'll come again," she said, as they shook hands. "Perhaps on
another Sunday morning, to church and lunch. I'll let you know."

She said the last words with a significance which made Malling understand
that she did not wish him to come to church at St. Joseph's again till
she gave him the word.

The rector let him out of the house. Not another word was spoken about
Henry Chichester. As his guest walked away the rector stood, bareheaded,
looking after him, then, as Malling turned the corner of the gardens,
with a heavy sigh, and the unconscious gesture of a man greatly troubled
in mind, he stepped back into his hall and shut the door behind him.




IV


A week later, Mailing paid a visit to Professor Stepton. He had heard
nothing of the Hardings and Chichester since the day of the luncheon in
Onslow Gardens, but they had seldom been absent from his thoughts, and
more than once he had looked at the words, "Dine with H.C." in his book
of engagements, and had found himself wishing that "Hornton Street,
Wednesday" was not so far distant.

The professor lived in Westminster, in a house with Adam ceilings, not
far from the Houses of Parliament. He was unmarried, and Malling found
him alone after dinner, writing busily in his crowded library. He had but
recently returned from Paris, whither he had traveled to take part in a