that at least twenty minutes must elapse before his faithful digestion could also rest from its labours, he lighted a pipe slowly and

ut was to-night fast shut. Another hoisted the breakneck staircase which led to the room above. A third stood blank, while the fourth was just wide enough to frame the tremendous fireplace, which, with its two chimney-corners, made up a bay nearly one half the size of the

upon, satisfactorily discharged the duties for which they were contrived. A battered foot-bath did more. In a word, it received platters and knives and forks which needed

sired; but, since Major Anthony Lyveden did not live in it, that did not trouble him. He used t

ent from the

Under the treatment of these three bluff specialists the handsome face had in a sh

otice and had twenty-one pounds in the wor

e job has been considered and abusively rejected by five ex-other ranks on the score that it is "not good enough"; as an ex-officer myself, I disagr

pplied by telegram,

merged from the London train into t

the physique of an Atlas, and, after a little delay, Lyveden had found himself seated in a high dog-cart, which, in the wake

dener-that's what I want." Anthony's brain reeled. "That's what I am myself. Listen. I've inherited this estate, which has been let go for over a hundred years. There isn't a foot of fencing that isn't rotten, a road that you can walk on, a bridge that is safe. The woods-it's all woodland-have gone to blazes. I want to pull it round.... Fifty R.E.'s and a Labour Battalion is what it wants, but that's a dream. I've tried the obvi

it," said Lyveden.

he roads are so bad we can't get the timber through. It's all sawn

Lyveden had found himself violently interested

m at Girdle for the best part of a week, had abetted his determination to take immediate possession with a grateful heart, presenting his new tenant with some blankets and an e

the biggest ones, perhaps, in all Lyveden's life. In that short

den's enterprise had been stifled: for months Necessity had kept his intellect chained to a pantry-sink: such ambition as he had had was famished. To crown it all, Love had lugged him into the very porch of Paradise, to slam the gates in his f

y an unruly rabble-dogs with their paws upon the table, eating the children's bread-where avenues and glades were choked with thickets, where clearings had become brakes, and vistas and prospects were screened by aged upstarts that knew no law; when they followed the broken roads, where fallen banks sprawled on the fairway, and the laborious rain had worn ruts into straggling ditches, where culverts had given way and the damm

is time among these glorious woods, to have a healthy occupation which would never be gone, to enjoy

lessen the mysteries of the unknown world, travel the trackless earth, sail on uncharted seas, trudge on eternal snows, to sweat and shiver under s

ion pricked up its

e broken roads mended, the bridges rebuilt, streams back in their beds, vistas unshuttered, avenues cleared.... He saw himself striving, one of a little company sworn to redeem the stolen property. Man ha

rough eloquence of the great days the place had seen, of lords and ladies who had slept at the house, of coaches that had r

rth three lines and a photograph of the 'Brigadier Breaks Stones' order. But there's a zest to the job you won't find in Pall Mall. There's an encou

as t

e touched it. As it was, a third of it went into his tool-bag. The appalling magnitude of the task never worried him-nor, for the matter of that, his fellow-workers. Master and men went toiling from dawn to dusk under a spell, busy, tireless as gnomes, faithful as knights to their trust. Their zeal was quick with the devotion to a caus

us ramble, which nothing but nightfall could curtail. To his delight, too, Anthony and the other men showed an unexpected and eventful interest in stones and boughs an

for he is stretched upon the warm bricks in a slumber

o the old grey house alone-and the going is ill, as you know, and the night, if young, is evil. A whole gale is coming, and the woods are beside themselves. The thrash of a million branches, the hoarse booming o

old fellow, full of years, gone to his long home. For the last time the squirrels have swung from his boughs: for the last time the rooks have sailed an

ned intently, as if he hoped that he had been mistaken, and that the sound he had hear

*

id the Judge, snapping a wafer

wine-waiter, who had been about to refill his glass with por

never have reached him. But, if it did, he may not have t

dge, "naturally. Still,

en drawn. The surface thus exposed gave back such light as fell upon it enriched and mellow

oise. A brace of shaded candles to each small table made up nine several nebulae, whose common radiance provoked an atmosphere of sober mystery, dim and convenient. Light so subdued subdued in turn the tones of the company of hosts and visitors. Conversation became an exchange of confidences; laughter was

again?" said

ll stared at his p

to push the matter, because I've got so very little to go on. In

said his guest. "But t

'm fairly

ved. For a Justice of the King's Bench suddenly to be consumed by a desire to know the names of the uncles of somebody else's footman smacked of collaboration by Gilbert and Cha

I left, while I was resting after luncheon, the manager of the hotel brought a priest to my room-a Catholic priest of

s desire to the attendant doctor had resulted in the latter dashing into the street and stopping and returning with the first priest he encountered. This happened to be my friend. Upon beholding him, the patient, who had hoped

ght of. To the laity, solicitor, lawyer, barrister, and attorney are synonymous

hen in the sickroom I drew the will upon a sheet of notepaper. He signed it in my presence and that of the priest. The latter then took

ome the s

ves evidence before me in a burglary case. A footman called Anthony Lyveden. For a long time I couldn't imagine where I'd heard the names before. Then somethin

He didn't look like a fellow who'd run through money, and I think the old testator was pretty rich. He gave that impression. And for a will made in

r sipped his

"should give us the maiden surname of Anthon

ill raised his

to me," he said. "It's

of A

omerset House had revealed the fact that a son named Anthony had been born upo

the Judge exc

ote there and then s

BLI

n you can submit a Christian name to my memory, please d

erely, GIL

*

pursuit, yet-he and the galley are both of this world; things temporal only keep them apart, and if the master came pricking, with a whip in his belt.... You must remember that Anthony had been used very ill. At first, bound to the oar of Love, he had pulled vigorously and found the sea silken, his chains baubles. Then a storm had arisen. In his hands the docile oar had become a raging termagant, and, when he would h

ed the last coach but one upon a London train and partially destroyed two mailbags before its flames were subdued. It follow

ient, believe me,

rain-pan, we should have found his supplication that the missive might go astray even more urgent. We should have noted that, while he was just as fearful to be reminded of the galley a

quite clea

ever after. The Fabulous Age being dead, Anthony made the best shift he could, and strove to bury kingdom and queen together so deep within him that their existence should not trouble his life. If he could not put out the light, he would hide it under a bushel. It occurred to him that his mind, appropriately occupied, should make an excellent bushel-appropriately occupied.... He resolved that Gramarye should have his mind. Of this he would make a kingdom, mightier and more material than that of his heart. The trouble was, his mind, though more tractable, liked Valerie's occupation, found it desirable, and clung to its present tenant for all it w

thin end of

weight, when Valerie's hold seemed indefeasible, when the woods were quick with memory, when Anthony heard an old faint sigh in the wind, and the laughter of a brook fluted the note of a soft familiar voice, then more than

how loudly a chore called for completion, no matter how blackly wind and weather were threatening the half-done work, upon Wednesday afternoon and Sunday not an axe was lifted, not a cord hitched, not a nail driven. It was a wise rule and fruitfu

nterviewed and paid. A kindly farmer's wife, who baked fresh meat for him and sent it thrice a week to his cottage in the shape of a cold pas

load of fuel had to be stacked, and Patch had been bogged that morning and was, consequently, fit neither to be seen nor sme

e had had a fall hunting. That Anthony did not remark this was because he was regarding her horse. There was nothing unusual about the animal

infamous Gallowstree Hill, he saw the lady before him with her mount across the r

e so good?"

plea

ept the whip. Anthony, if he thought about it at all, attributed the scene to caprice. In this he was right, yet wrong. Caprice was the indirect reason. The

stepped Conversat

e of a toss, and I lost him. A labourer caught him, and then let him go again. By the time I'd got him, the hounds were miles away.

ng by her side, l

said. Then: "I hope

on the point. But a hot bath'll

ile on. At

l stare

ama

ny. "I live in the cottage at

D'you work

ny no

's my

jor Lyveden?"

y look

you know?

Then the red lips parted, and André Strongi'th'arm

f Girdle, and the fact escape the notice of the other parishioners?" She hesitated, and a suggestion o

I am," sa

with an elaborate courtesy. "Thank you very mu

r broke i

r. "Please walk again." She pulled the hor

t worse. You're much too honest. Besides, I love the count

n y

arrestingly pathetic, and André sta

to a thirsty plant.... I suppose

you set straight, that you just can't hold your hand. And all the time the work's so fascinating that you don't deserve an

upon your heart. All the same, are you sure you were meant for this? Are

over," sa

lf and others-to give it the whole of your life? As estates go, I fancy the possibilities of Eden were even more amazing than tho

e result

ngi'th'ar

with our destinies in our pockets and the great round world

ony, "and I'm still lame from it. And Fat

ame to," said André, leaning forward and caressing h

norted, and Anthony found himself jo

ur is still kicking. And that under the mud appears to be a scrap

id Lyveden, "monks ar

no rule agai

es are made to cope with inclinations. Where there's no inclination--" She broke off suddenly and checked her horse. Setting her

there was no inclination. Eagerness, presumably, left no room for Merriment. Or else the matter was too high, too thoughtful. Not that they laboured sadly-far from it. Indeed, their daily ro

ou?" he sa

hen their lids hid them. With flushed

ye. So you be careful. Bar your door of nights. Frame rules against laughter a

be behind her to pick it up and have the honou

cried André, preten

Gramarye say?

was cantering up the

she flung up an arm and

y wave

*

lie upon the huge tiger-skin before the hearth, or gravely to face her father across that very table and draw houses and flights of steps and stiff-legged men and women with flat feet upon his notepaper, while Mr. French dealt with his correspondence. Always, when the picture was comp

ath. There were who said he had died of a broken heart-a heart broken nine y

e influence of a grand piano and the soft-toned cretonnes upon the leather chairs, the solemnity of the chamber me

whipped from her doors the very finest gentleman in all the world. What was a thousand times worse, he had completely vanished. Had she known where he was, she would have gone straight to him and, kneeling upon her knees, begged his forgiveness. Her pride was already in tatters, her vanity in rags: could she have found him, she would have stripped the two mother-naked. In a word, she would have done anything which it is in the power of a mortal to do to win back that wonder of happiness which they had together built up. It must be remembered that Valerie was no fool. She realized wholly that without Anthony Lyveden Life

d appreciated her plight, so much the better for her. Only her aunt and the Alisons could possibly help at all; to those four she spoke plainly, telling the cold facts and feeling the warmth of well-doing in tearing her pride to tatters. Then she rent her vanity and begged their services to find and, if necessary, plead for her wi

upon every incoming post. Then she

nd of Anthony Lyveden. Except she drew upon the store of Memory, she had nothing else at all that spoke of him. Hence the common env

night when he and she had paced those flags together, while music had floated out of the gallery, and the stars had leaped in the heavens, and the darkness had quivered at the breath of the cool night ai

red pulpit. Before she was half-way there the desire had faded, but she went listlessly on. Come to the top, she turned to let her eye wander over the nearest shelf. Old, little-read volumes only met her gaze-Hoole's works, Jessey, John Sadler, Manley.... Of the ten small volumes containing Miss Manl

temples, her little palms hiding the misery of that striking face, her knees convulsively closed, that shining foot tucked beneath the other in the contortion of grief. We w

*

t, the work had gone well. A bridge had been finished which should laugh to scorn the elements for a long century; a sore-needed staf

ing back; the frozen silence of the firmament hung like a magic cloak upon the shoulders of darkness; the

water drawn from the well; within twenty, the few odd jobs on whose performance the comfort of regularity depended, had been disposed o

o ankle. Tight-fitting about the calf, but not shaped to the leg, they fell well over the tops of the heavy boots, resting, indeed, upon the insteps. They suited Anthony, for whom they might have been made, admirably. They were, moreover, a wholly redeeming feature, and turned his garb from that of a thousand corporals into the homely attire of a gentleman farmer. So soon as you saw them, you forgot the War. The style of th

his pipe, when the Sealyham growled. Anthony, whose ears were becoming sharper every day, listened intently. Th

ony followed the terrier and, picking

conscience is clear. I warned you. And since you are at home and th

tepped to

ne," he said

e! I'm just perished," she added, crossing to spread he

latter ran to the lady and sniffed the hem of her

o be walking the countryside in even

. I happened to be passing and I happened to see your light, so I thou

e," said Lyve

an order

but I'd hate people to talk about you." He felt himself flushing, and went on jerkily: "I mean, I don't honestly kn

little sil

s smile. "I've never been lectured by a mon

extraor

asure it." She produced a cigarette case. "May I sm

d Anthony str

dded comfortably. "Oh, please don't look so reproachful! I just can't bear it. I'm no

possibly-I mean..." He broke off helplessly and touche

t either. I'd much rather stand." And, with that, my lady set her b

isite complexion a jolly look; the bright brown eyes and the merry mouth were those of a Bacchante. Above her plain black frock her throat and chest showed dazzling whit

"is Gramarye? Have yo

stared

you know?

arm shrugged her

lse-if you can. Have you thought over what I said? No. I can s

't think

.. Wh

ng to laugh at. The

the War

the hearth and kick

o," he said

laughed e

, bu

t w

nds. The work's too urgent-too solemn. It's like restoring a cathedral. You don't feel you want to laugh." He swung round and faced her. "There's a religion in

her cigarette and caught her

now you're going-you!" The flame died out of her voice leaving it tender and passionate. "And you're too wonderful a thing, lad; you're too perfect a specimen; you're too strong and gentle ... too honest.... Ah"-her hands slipped from his shoulders and her eyes dropped-"you needn't look so reproachful. I know I'm a rotter. I dropped my cr

ony passed with

simply not

ondon road. André opened its door, thrust in a groping hand.... For a moment her fingers hunted. Then two shafts

g with her back to Lyveden, she pulled them on fiercely, but her hands

te way, put his head on one side and stared up the line

stened, André

put out

," he sai

his head and kissed him frantically. A moment later she was leaning wearily against the car, with the sleeve of h

hony swung on his heel and faced the speaker.

" he said

an electri

urned to Miss

e," he said. "My feelin

try to forgive me." H

water for her radiator,

d!" said Winch

ie!" flam

e fairly whistled. Instin

g. And I'm glad you saw it. Glad!" She tore off her left glove. "Because it's your own fault. It's eighteen months since I promised to be your wife. Eighteen solid months. And I'm tired-sick of waiting-fed up. First it was Russia: then the North of France: then-Gramarye. Gramarye!" She flung back her head and laughed wildly. Then she snatched a ring from her finger

moment, white-faced, her lips trembling.... Then she whipped into the car and slammed the do

road, she changed into second s

ft them, motionless, the little

the engine grew f

thony turned and touched t

ways Gramar

him. Then he straightened his bow

d, "yes. There's