"We had better get our letters written, as we shall not have time later on," said Jean calmly. Even when seated with Vanna at the same writing-table she made no reference to the event of the afternoon. It might have been the most natural thing in the world for Robert Gloucester to leave his old friends in less than a week after his return from India, in order to have the privilege of fishing with a strange elderly gentleman. When the letters were finished, she talked on indifferent subjects, gaily, lovingly, intimately as ever, yet with a certain carriage of the head, a set of the lips which seemed to send forth an unspoken warning, "Until now my heart has lain bare before you, but to-day there has entered into it something so intimate, so sacred, that it cannot be revealed to any human gaze. _Touch me not_!" And Vanna understood, and was silent. Robert Gloucester came back to dinner and sat at the head of the table opposite Miggles, the two girls seated one on either side. A bowl of roses stood in the centre of the table; roses twined round the framework of the opened window; tiny sprays of roses wandered over the muslin of Jean's gown. They talked of books, of pictures, of foreign lands, of things extraordinary, and things prosaic. When Robert recounted experiences abroad, the two girls questioned him as to scenery and environment, and Miggles wished to know what he had had to eat, and if there was any means of drying his clothes. Gloucester also entered into details about his business life, and the failure of his investments, explaining his present monetary position with an incredible frankness. "It seemed an awfully good thing, perfectly sound, but it came a jolly big crash. I was fortunate to get out of it as well as I did. I haven't been fortunate in my speculations. Between them I've dropped almost all my capital. I have a share or two in a bank paying rattling good interest, and the firm pay me a fair salary, and that's all that is left." "Oh, we know you don't mean _that_," laughed Miggles easily. "It will all go on quite nicely, I am sure, and you will be settling down and marrying, of course." "Of course," said Robert Gloucester.