Lucilla had put up a bounteous basket of good things, and all the materials for afternoon tea; and the fun of arranging the grassy table first, and of making a fire and boiling the kettle afterwards--not to speak of the very satisfactory meal that intervened--had its natural effect upon our impressionable heroine of eighteen. Her _fiancé_, much revived by a tumbler of dry champagne, carefully cooled in the water-hole, was also in improved spirits and temper, and he set himself to be very kind to his little sweetheart, and forgave her all her misdeeds. Between three and four, having had their tea, the horses were put to, and they started on their way again; and just at nightfall they arrived at the railway, and at the inn where they were to spend the night. Here they found dinner awaiting them, of which Rachel partook in sleepy silence; and she went to bed soon afterwards, and slept too soundly even to dream of trouble. In the morning they parted from Mr. Thornley, and started by the first train to town; at noon they lunched in a railway refreshment-room; and in the middle of the afternoon they found themselves once more in Toorak, being helped out of the family brougham by good-natured Ned, and welcomed into the green satin drawing-room by his bright-faced wife. "And so you are back again at last!" exclaimed Beatrice gaily, as she took her young cousin into her arms. "And how are you, dear child? Why you look quite pale. Take off your hat and sit down at once, and have some tea. Mr. Kingston, I don't think this country air that they talked so much about has done anything very wonderful after all. Rachel is not looking so well as she was when she left." Rachel blushed a lovely rose-colour immediately, of course, and Mr. Kingston looked up at her with vague anxiety. "I don't think she is, myself," he said; "I noticed it as soon as I got up there. But she will be all right now she is home again." "I am only tired," murmured Rachel. "A girl like you has no business to be tired," retorted the little woman brusquely. It did not escape her sharp eyes that something was the matter, and she determined to take the earliest opportunity to find out what it was. "I do hope to goodness," she said to herself, "that it is not her engagement that she is tired of--and everything going on so nicely!" And then she took off Rachel's sealskin cap and jacket, settled her by the fireside, furnished her with a cup of fragrant tea and some thin bread and butter, and left her to herself while she attended to her mother's wants. Beatrice and her tea had a generally cheering and invigorating effect. Mr. Kingston, making himself comfortable in a very easy chair, grew talkative and witty upon the news of the day and the latest items of fashionable gossip; in the society of this charming little woman of the world--_his_ world--the satisfaction of being in town again began to creep over him pleasantly.