"I know what you are thinking. Edward Verney! You think my regrets hover round him. It's not true, Jean, it's not true. I had forgotten his very existence until I saw your face. If I had cared, surely my thoughts would have flown to him first of all. He is only a `might-have-been.' I had reached the length of noticing the way his hair grows on his forehead, and his nice, close ears--that was a danger-signal, I suppose; and I acknowledge that I have dressed with an eye to his taste, but it has gone no deeper. I shall be sorry, but it won't _hurt_ to end our friendship." "Then why need you--" "Oh!" Vanna laughed lightly. "I think he admires my--ears also! If we saw more of each other we should grow nearer; I realise that, therefore we must separate with all speed. As things are, he won't suffer any more than I. He is just a dear, simple, unimaginative Englishman, who needs to have things pushed very conspicuously before his eyes before he can see them. He knows that I have gone away for a long change after the strain of Aunt Mary's illness. It will be some months before it dawns upon him that my holiday is exceeding its limit; and by that time my image will have lost its freshness. He will be sorry, but he won't attempt to follow. He'll say to his friends, `pity Miss Strangeways has left the place. She was a jolly girl.' But if all had been well, I might have been his wife--" There was silence for several minutes. Each girl was thinking deeply of the future; pondering over the difficulty of mapping out a life which seemed to have no settled direction, Vanna had many gifts, but no one outstanding talent. Until this moment she had never dreamt of taking up any work outside the domestic circle; but it would be impossible to fritter away life in the care of self alone. What could she do? She herself had announced her decision of leaving her native town. Where could she live? After puzzling the problem in a circle for several minutes, Jean ventured another timid question. "Have you thought, dear; have you any idea what you will do?"