"You have told him this?"

"Of course! It was my mission!"

"Sir Leslie, you must tell me what he said."

Borrowdean sighed.

"My dear young lady," he said, "it is rather a painful subject with me
just now. Yet since you insist, I will tell you. Something has come over
your uncle which I do not understand. His party--no, it is his country
that needs him. He prefers to stay here, and watch his roses blossom."

"It is wicked of him!" she declared, energetically.

"It is inexplicable," he agreed. "Yet I have used every argument which
can well be urged."

"Oh, you must think of others," she begged. "If you knew how weary one
gets of this place--a man, too, like my uncle! How can he be content? The
monotony here is enough to drive even a dull person like myself mad. To
choose such a life, actually to choose it, is insanity!"

Borrowdean raised his head. He had heard the click of the garden gate.

"They are coming," he said. "I wish you would talk to your uncle like
this."

"I only wish," she answered, passionately, "that I could make him feel as