The Splendid Folly

air, returning from his matutinal dip in the sea, swung up the lane and pushed open the door giving access f

bring to the ancient rectory a fresh parson, obsessed by conventional opinion concerning the uses of bolts and bars, it is probable that the inhabitants of Crailing will manifest their disapproval in the simple and direct fashion of the Devon rustic-by placidly boycotting the

ite, now shrouded its walls with a network of brown stems and twigs tipped with emerald buds. Beneath the warmth of the morning sun the damp was steaming from the weather-sta

a disreputable old suit of grey tweeds and with his bathing-towel slung around his shoulders. His hands were thrust deep into his pockets, and since he h

up a Jovian shout, loud enough to arouse the most confirmed of sluggards f

?" called a fr

y breakfast. There's a beautifully assorted smell of coffee and fried b

n made his way into the house, pausing to sling his bath-towel picturesq

een. And so far as material matters were concerned, she had succeeded. She it was who usually found the MS. of his sermon when, just as the bells were calling to service, he would come leaping up the stairs, three at a time, to inform her tragically that it was lost; she who saw to it that hi

for counsel. A child in the material things of this world, he was a giant in spiritual development-broad-minded and tolerant, his religion spiced with a sense of humour and deepened by a sympathetic und

hip of suffering had drawn the two men together in a way that nothing else could have done, so that when Quentin made known his final wishes concerning his daughter, Alan Stair had gladly accepted the charge laid upon him, and

hundred a year of her own, and the sum she contributed to "cover the cost of her upkeep," as she laughingly termed it when she was o

g an assistance to the household exchequer, had proved to be a drain upon it, Alan Stair would have acted in precisely the same way-fo

of her musical training, as viewed through Carlo Baroni's eyes, had necessitated her departure from Crailing

y lest she should suffer from the effects of shock, and they had insisted that she should breakfast in

ed Stair anxiously, as his daught

ook he

no breakfast in bed about her; she'll be down

r la

would have expected her to feel a bit sh

rved Joan wisely. "Something interesting enough to have outweighed the shock

ctor c

uer was added to the ex

hter, faintly smiling as she p

r to good looks, but there was nevertheless something frank and wholesome and sweet about her-something of the charm of a nice boy-that counterbalanced her undeniable plainness. As she had once told Diana: "I'm not beautiful, so I'm

kfast when a light step sounded in the hall outside,

you've eaten all the breakfast!" And, she dropped, a light kiss on the top of the Rector's head. "Ugh! Your hair's all wet with sea-wat

eved her plate of kidneys and bacon from the

of respectability demanded by your present circumstances," he remar

ty isn't in the least a sine qua

chuc

e that in reality you were the most co

nce, I palled up with a perfectly strange young man. We conversed together as

roke in Joan, a

odded s

d of my misdeeds? Why, there he was a

curiously. "Any one fro

my life and the various other trifles which he rescued for me from the wreck of our compartment. T

there must be plenty of M.E.'s in th

. "No; at present he is

n up against each other

r laughed. "And was he

On the contrary, he appeared to regard it in the light o

ngly, pinching her cheek as he passed her on his way to se

orning?" inquired Diana, as she w

san Gurney-she's laid up wit

I? I suppose you've still go

hes and increasing taxes, Tommy is still left to us. Apparentl

neath the seat of the trap reposed the numerous little packages of tea and tobacco with which the Rector,

ould be embellished solely by the delivery of appropriate tracts. "And why not pamper them a bit, poor souls? A pipe of baccy goes a long way toward

iving the pony-trap slowly up and down the road, and stopping every now and agai

ient reason that in such sparsely populated districts the enterprising builder would stand an excellent chance of having his attractive villa residences left empty on his hands. No; new houses are built to order, if at all. In the same way, it is rare to find a fresh shop spring into being in a small village, and should it happen, in all probability a year or two will see the shutters up and the disgruntled proprietor departing in sea

of unreality to the twelve busy, eventful months which had intervened. She felt as if she had never been away, as though the Diana Quentin who had been living in Lo

st of their talents, had been such an immense change from the placid, humdrum existence which had preceded it, that it still held for her an almost dreamlike charm of novelty, a

med a few bars of a song, and as she listened to the deep, rich notes of her voice, poised with that sureness which only comes of first-cla

rom a neighbouring gateway and swung himself up into the trap beside her. "Di,

a fearful martinet. He nearly frightens me to death when he gets into one of his royal Italian rages-though h

ith Joan about some possible "gallant rescuer" who might have diverted her thoughts he had really attributed it partly to the youthful resiliency of Diana's nature, and partly

s, had impressed himself rather forcibly on Diana's mind, and the Rector acknowledged that

nt to Baroni to have my voice tested. It was in Grellingham Place, and all my songs

ommented the Rector dryly. "Did you

wouldn't re

uld

er all about it, and did recognise me again, but he wouldn'

ctor s

making the promiscuous acquaintance

a sn

perior way with him, a sort of independent, lordly manner, as though no one had a right t

rce your way into his reser

a gi

ter. The train was packed, and I was late. Of course I offere

d the Rector, adding seriously: "I'm very thankful he did. To think of you-alone-in

ous shiver, and then qui

the accident; it was unnatural, and he feared that later on the shock which she must have received might reveal itself in some abnormal nervousness regarding railway travelling. Th

s preparing to lead the pony into the stable-yard when Diana

ying. "You're such a darling-you always understan

lice: f