things into your own hands."

"Well, I did for a while. I managed to squeeze through the university,
then I went into the shops and had a bully time for five months, but
it made no end of a row! Sister felt that after all she had done for
me, I oughtn't to go dead against her wishes, and I guess she was
right. Then I went into the bank and was beginning to get the hang of
things, when she had a nervous collapse and was ordered to Egypt for
the winter. My brother-in-law couldn't take her, so he sent me."

"But you stayed longer than she did."

"Yes, I played around on the Riviera for a while."

"And you have been home, how long?"

"Three months. Honestly, I meant to buckle down to something right
off, but Cropsie Decker got this offer to go to the Orient for the
_Herald-Post_, and asked me to go along. I was keen about it
until--until I came down here."

They were both silent for a while, watching a spider that was
exploring Don's boot-lace.

"It all seems so footless now. What I want is a house of my own, a
home, I mean. I never had much of that sort of thing--I'm not quite
sure I knew what a home was until I saw Thornwood."

"Isn't it dear?" asked Miss Lady with a loving look over her shoulder
at the old house silhouetted against the sky. "I could kiss every