Accordingly he wrote to Mrs. Failing, and said he should like to
pay his respects. He told her about the Ansells, and so worded
the letter that she might reasonably have sent an invitation to
his friend.

She replied that she was looking forward to their tete-a-tete.

"You mustn't go round by the trains," said Mr. Ansell. "It means
changing at Salisbury. By the road it's no great way. Stewart
shall drive you over Salisbury Plain, and fetch you too."

"There's too much snow," said Ansell.

"Then the girls shall take you in their sledge."

"That I will," said Maud, who was not unwilling to see the inside
of Cadover. But Rickie went round by the trains.

"We have all missed you," said Ansell, when he returned. "There
is a general feeling that you are no nuisance, and had better
stop till the end of the vac."

This he could not do. He was bound for Christmas to the Silts--
"as a REAL guest," Mrs. Silt had written, underlining the word
"real" twice. And after Christmas he must go to the Pembrokes.

"These are no reasons. The only real reason for doing a thing is
because you want to do it. I think the talk about 'engagements'
is cant."