No more was safe just then; but by common consent they moved out on to
the terrace as soon as they had finished breakfast.

"It is too tiresome, too silly, too wrong," said Molly.

"Yes; the pet vice should be left at home," said Edmund. "Many of them
do it because it's fashionable, but this one must have it in the blood.
I saw her begin to play, and she was a different creature when she
touched the cards. What sort of repentence is there?"

"I found her crying last night like a child, but this morning I see she
is going to brazen it out. But she wants to quarrel with me at once, so
I don't get much confidence."

"But you don't mind that?"

"Not in the least, only--" Molly sighed, but intimate as their tone was,
she did not now feel any inclination to reveal her greater troubles.

"I don't want to end up badly with my first venture, and I have nowhere
else to go. For to-day I think she will talk of going to see the dentist
until she finds out how she is treated here."

"Oh! that will be all right for to-day," said Edmund. "There are no
possible trains on Bank holiday, and no motor. Let her get off early
to-morrow."

Molly had evidently sought his opinion as decisive, and she turned as if
to go and repeat it to Mrs. Delaport Green.