they fade out of all recognition! _I_ am going there now. You know
how I love that rose-garden; I almost live there nowadays."

"I wish I could live there too," says Rylton, laughing.

He lifts her hand again and presses it fondly to his lips.
Something, however, in his air, though it had breathed devotion,
troubles Mrs. Bethune; she frowns as he leaves her, and, turning
into a side-path the leads to the rose-garden, gives herself up a
prey to thought.



* * * * *



Rylton, with a shrug, goes toward the room where Marian had told him
his mother was awaiting him. He could very readily (as Lady Rylton
had not formally requested his presence) have stayed away, but long
experience has driven into him the knowledge that when his mother
wants anything, all the delays and subterfuges and evasions in the
world will not prevent her having it. To get it over, then, as soon
as possible is the chief thing. And, after all, he is so far happy
in that he knows what the immediate interview is to be about. That
little ridiculous girl--not half a bad little girl--but----

It is with quite a resigned air that he seats himself on the lounge,
and agrees with himself to make his mother happy by letting her talk
to him uninterruptedly for ten minutes.