"Vanna, what rubbish! You are only twenty-three; you have your whole long life ahead. If it's going to be dull, that's all the more reason why you should enjoy yourself now. I thought you would live in town, and we should do everything together. Can't you forget the future, dear, and enjoy the hour--buying pretty things and wearing them, and music, and flowers, and dancing, and talking things over afterwards? That has always been one of the best bits--comparing notes after the fray; making fun of other people, and ourselves! _Don't_ fall out, Vanna, and leave me to go on alone!" "You won't be alone!" The words were spoken instinctively, but Vanna drew herself up with instant compunction. "You have so many other friends, Jean, and I shall fall out for the festivities only. In all other respects we shall be as much together as before. Perhaps in time to come I may be festive once more, but for the moment I'm knocked out of time, and must hide my head like the ostrich. I made myself go to the ball last night, but it was not a success. I shan't try it again." Jean lifted her chin, with the slightly obstinate expression in which she took refuge when her will was questioned. "Oh-h! Well, you know best--or at least, you imagine you do. I should have thought, however, being of a simple and credulous nature, that you were enjoying yourself excessively when you walked through that conservatory last night. If you wished to hide your head at that moment you were a remarkably modest ostrich, for it looked most animated and attractive. Who was your partner, by the way? He looked quite nice." "Quite nice!" Vanna lifted her coffee-cup to hide a twitching lip. Behold the historic moment, and the heroine's romantic impression of her future spouse. "I must remember this," was the mental resolve, as she answered tranquilly: "He was more than nice, he was a delightful man. I was not introduced to him until after twelve o'clock, but our talk together was the best part of the evening. His name is Gloucester." Jean dropped her fork with a little clatter of surprise. "Gloucester? Not Robert Gloucester? Surely not! He could not possibly have been there." "He was, though. Very much there, for he is staying in the house. He naively observed that he had intended to go to bed, but as the `confounded noise' had kept him awake, he came downstairs in desperation, and Miss Morton introduced him to me. You did not look as if you recognised each other."