"But not here--not Mr Sale," she pleaded. "Let us go away quietly to
London--we two. Let it be in that great Church, where first the thought
was born in my heart that some day ... this might be."

He could refuse her nothing. Jeffrey might feel aggrieved when he knew.
But after all--this was their own affair. Time enough afterwards to let
in the world and its thronging notes of exclamation.

Roy was told when he came home. For imparting such intimate news, she
craved the response of his living self. And if Nevil's satisfaction
struck a deeper note, it was simply that Roy was very young and had
always included her Hindu-ness in the natural order of things.

Wonderful days! Preparing the children, with Helen's help; preparing
herself, in the quiet of her "House of Gods"--a tiny room above the
studio--in much the same spirit as she had prepared for the great
consecration of marriage, with vigil and meditation and unobtrusive
fasting--noted by Nevil, though he said no word.

Crowning wonder of all, that golden Easter morning of her first
Communion with Roy and Tara, with Nevil and Helen:--unfolding of heart
and spirit, of leaf and blossom; dual miracle of a world new made....


END OF PHASE I.




PHASE II.