if she were so silly and self-conscious as to be afraid of appearing to
want his company--well and good; she should do without it.

He had been disappointed and annoyed with Rose during their walk on the
evening before. The simple, matter-of-fact way in which they had been
jogging along in London was changed. At first, indeed, she had been
natural enough, but then she had become silent for some moments, and
afterwards had veered away from personal topics with a tiresome
persistency. He half suspected the truth, that this was due to a
careless word of his own which had betrayed how suddenly he had given up
his intention to spend Easter on the Riviera. If she had jumped to the
conclusion that this change was because Edmund had learnt at the
eleventh hour that Rose would be at Groombridge, she had no right to be
so quick-sighted. It was almost "Missish" of Rose, he told himself, to
be so ready to think his heart in danger, and to be so unnecessarily
tender of his feelings. She might wait for him to begin the attack
before she began to build up fortifications.

He was at the height of his irritation against Rose, when the three
other ladies came out on the terrace. Lady Groombridge instantly told
Mrs. Delaport Green that she knew she wished to visit the dairy, and
hustled her off through the garden. Edmund rose and smiled, with his
peculiar, paternal admiration, at Molly, whose dark looks were at their
very best set in the complete whiteness of her hat and dress. Then he
glanced after the figures that were disappearing among the rose-bushes.

"The party is not in the least what your chaperone expected; indeed, we
can hardly be dignified by the name of a party at all, but you see how
happy she is. She even enjoyed dear old Groombridge's prosing last
night, and she has been very happy in church, and now she is going to