Capricious Caroline

ent upstairs her ho

ved Mrs. Brenton, a trifle triumphantly. "I think

off her furs

to admit that for once you are right. A motor is a beautiful thing if it

aid Mrs. Brenton, as she

nd grey hair neatly plaited, but she had a pair o

folk will be switchbacked to America and home again; but I hate experiments-I am a lit

lla to slip out

hat a weight this coat is, Camilla! How can you walk in i

of very real astonishment. "Why, I have had it ages

quite glibly, and then made ha

e who had known her when she was a mere child-she had a staunch and a loving ally-a friend who in sickness and in health gave her almost an anxious affection, and whose curiosity to know what was p

to let Agnes know how worried she was, and into w

f she started the old discussion to-night; my nerves are all on wires! If she could help me it would be another matter, but I suppose a five-pound note would be about the utmost poor old Agnes could produce in an emergency." And Camilla shrugged her

off her ha

," she said. "I have had no

took the ba

s no need to fuss yourself; n

end me word every day," said

aid the other woman; "with just a little luck I shall find

thes into a very pretty dressing-gown by the

ed cheerily. "The children are just gone to bed

oke a little. Turning, she picked up two photographs tha

you; there is heaps of room, and children are never a bother to me, as you know. Well, now I'll trot away again. I expect you feel thoroughly tir

luxurious depths of the chintz-covered chair

ddenly. Why didn't you tell me he was co

uld come. I can't say that I think he is much improved, and he has put on a lot of flesh. He used to be rather a pretty boy, and now he is only a commonplace and very vulg

ng shrugged h

t in a corner and scowled in silence, and, of course, Sammy used al

r lips; there was definite

o say; then with an imperceptible shrug of her shoulders she turned aw

e big chair and shut her eyes. Just as the maid w

"but stay in the dressing-room. I am go

on had gone, but she was almost

ntention of going to sleep. She lay with closed eyes, however, and after a

... and I had almost forgotten." She turned her face on the cushions, and bit them as if a sudden physical pang had shot through her, and so

don't know which way to turn! Oh, how tired I am of living, sometimes! Why didn't he wri

, short, brown hair, and lay

e and fight; and is it my fault that I make mistakes? How can I be different? I was brought up to be what I am. When other children were given twopence a week to put into a m

ng from the chair, bunched herself on the hearth-rug, hold

er mind worked into an easier groove. "I do believe Sammy was glad to see me!" was her next thought. "He wasn't a bit changed. Perhaps I am worrying myself for nothing!" Her face lightened; the lips, the eyes grew eager. As was inevitable with her, despair began to give way slowly but surely before the

ife to wear black and sober colours. In the same way she assured herself that he would read family

ng-table, and she opened it with a smil

ate to send them to-night?... Won't they be pleased? No," she decided; "I don't think I will send them. Darl

of excitement, I expect,"

the trinkets as she sat

kind," she s

ad a new and great charm for her to

y. "Of course I must marry him if he asks me; yet the mere thought of living all day long in such a starchy atmosphere takes the life out of me! I thought he would have been so easy to manage when we first met! And instead of accepting our views he imposes his own. No wonder he is not popular! I only wish," said Camilla, sighing again as she got up, and looked at her pr

est of the party waiting for dinner, but when she did come she was so char

in to dinner, and she sat whe

other end of the table, and she changed colour when she heard him tell

e chauffeur had promised that the car would be at Yelverton either late that night or very early the next morning, there was no reason why this engagement sho

he said hurriedly. "I am quite disappo

ace f

I must go up quite early; my m

ous? But you must tell me about it a little later." And gathering her clinging black drape

lking together, Mrs. Brenton f

thing to you," she

e?" asked Camilla,

fon that bordered Camilla's beautif

ve been losing rather heavily since you came down here, haven't you? Sometimes I feel tempted," Mrs. Brenton went on, "to impose a maximum sum for points

olding me," said Camill

ton shook

me, and I do hate to see yo

just lightly kissed

feel in luck. Look"-she held out her wrist-"isn't this a sweet thing? Sammy has just given it to me to wear as a charm. He brought it from some weird place in America, and declares it is a magic ston

e chat between Mrs. Lancing and Haverford, for the car

atic, beckoned to Rupert Haverford to

r a little while about his

she said. "Why don't you have horses? You look just the sort of

g, and the mechanism of the cars interests me, and then I like rushing about. I have not yet got used to my idle life," he said, a little restlessly. "Old habits are very strong with me; I wake eve

and her fingers were moving briskly, th

averford," she added half lightly, "but I came to a conclusion about you a long time ago, and that conclusion is, that you are the sort

ord la

d town where I lived so long. But"-he laughed again, this time half sadly-"there is nothing for me to do; another man fills my old post and fills it well. However, I am planning a different futu

rd-players, at Camilla's dainty figure. The lines of her throat and shoulders were exquisite, frame

re planned out-I am going to travel," he added a little abruptly. "Ever since I was a boy I have longed to see the other side of the world! I d

He had so longed to know other countries and other people, but this was denied him--If he had lived--!" He broke off sharply. Agnes Brenton looked at him; he was fr

d looked at her; his

rty and misery of the people, who were his first thought. There was a fearful outbreak of fever and diphtheria, and he did superhuman work." Haverford shrugged his shoulders; he was trying to speak evenly. "Every man's endurance has a limit, and my father paid the natural, the inevitable penalty. That was a great many years ago, but he lives with me almost as clearly as though he we

nton had never gone so far as that. She had, in truth, judged him leniently, recognizing in his blunt fashion of speaking, in his straightforward manner, and rather deliberate methods, only the natural influence of his former circumstances; indeed, it had always seemed to her remarkable that any man who had toiled as Haverford had done, whose life had been set for so long in one narrow groove, sho

n which the possibility of mingling Camilla Lancing's future with his (a scheme which she cherished warmly) had seemed almost preposterous;

o him very closely. She tried to say something in answer to his last speech, but

e care of my motors to you, Mrs. Brenton. Though you hate

ling in with his

me back. You must come back," she said, "and marry,

ndeed, his eyes twinkled. "Marriage is about the one occupation that my change of fortune has suggested to me from the

ook he

ke me," she answered, with a smile

s such an absurd idea if one stops to think about it," he said lightly; "one chooses one's own servants, one does not go running about to one's friends to ask them if a partic

smiled, but

king as most people," she said; "you mu

into silenc

sit and watch Mrs. Brenton's comely han

was old-fashioned, not to say shabby, and she had no

t she was the one person out of all his

te believe the stories of her prowess as a sportswoman

Lancing's friend, and that she had a tender and even an anxious interest in the woman ab

en after a little desultory convers

isposal if she cares to use it to-morrow," he sai

t yourself?" Mrs

y. I shall not say 'Good-bye,'" Rupert added, as he held her hand in his, "for you are comin

enton said. "I hear it is full of beautifu

see, I can say that because I have had very little to do wit

alized that he was nowhere near. She got up from the card-t

she said; "now that Mr. Bogie

y, "is leaving us very early to-morrow morning. But he

r two. What have you been talking about, you two?" she asked suddenly, after a little

the sort of man one need never try to make conversation with. I me

ade a mou

e together," she said. "He ought to have been a s

t confided in me, but if I speak the truth I don't think

g was amazed a

new idea! As a matter of fact, I had a sort of

in the same even way; "but there, trot along; the

ng. He breakfasted alone; but just as he was about to get into the brougham a

in it without you. Do let me know how your mother is. I hope with all my heart that you wi

ely you

.

et-book. It was pleasant to have

took out the little note and read it again, he saw that it was dated at three o'clock that morning. She must have scribbled it before going to bed. He kne

found himself wishing with every turn of the wheels that he was going back ag

ly felt the appealing claim of her beauty, of that simplicity, that "insoucianc

, and, at the same time, tainted unmistakably with pronounced worldliness.

felt a wholly unreasonable amount of anger against that woman. And yet he

supremely intelligent, her mind had a tendency to poetry and charm evinced unconsciously a score of times) could find pleasure in the society of this young man wit

ponder as he might, he could offer to himself nothing convincing or satisfying where Camilla Lancing was concerned. All he knew

d dreamed of the day before-of that wide expanse of restless, sun-kissed sea, with

ical hum of the car, and he could feel once again that sense of delight, almost of possessive deligh

om him altogether by this da

pall on all that was bright

ountry; above all, he longed