"It's a horrible place for a man to sit in," she said, looking around
her. "You must take that wicker chair and throw away as many cushions
as you like. Now I am going to fetch my uncle, and remember, please,"
she concluded, looking back at him from the door, "if I have seemed
frivolous this morning, I am not always so. More than anything I am
looking forward, down at Lyndwood, to have you, if you will, talk to me
seriously."

"Shall I dare to argue with you, I wonder?" he asked.

She smiled at him.

"Why not? A matter of courage?"

"The bravest person in the world," he declared, "remembers always that
little proverb about discretion."



CHAPTER VIII

The conference between Mr. Foley and Maraton was brief enough. The
former arrived a few moments after his niece's departure.

"I have come," Maraton announced, as they shook hands, "to accept your
invitation to Lyndwood. You understand, I am sure, that that commits me
to nothing?"

Mr. Foley's expression was one of intense relief.