"If you think your friends may need persuasion, I should be pleased to present you with a copy of a little work of mine to send them. It describes all the attractions of the neighbourhood--and it's quite unlike the usual guide-book. It is thorough, but chatty. My aim has been to inform the visitor in a sprightly way." "An authoress?" he said warmly. "Of one book only," she murmured, her face suffused by an unbecoming blush. "But of many readers, I'll be bound! If obstacles arise then, it shall be your pen that conquers them. You overwhelm me with kindnesses. I really think, though, the address will be magnet enough for the friends I want. 'Mowbray Lodge, Sweetbay'--how they'll stare! 'Bring your spades and pails,' I shall write; 'come, and let us all be boys and girls again.' The girls have little girls and boys of their own now. No, don't be afraid of their smashing that soul-stirring Chelsea, my dear madam--I won't have them. That's the essence of the contract, the new generation must be left behind. There must be we four, and nobody else--the four who will find their childhood waiting for them here, just the four who can feel the enchantment of Mowbray Lodge. So it is settled?" "As far as--" She smoothed her gown. "Oh, naturally there must be references, and inventories, and all sorts of tiresome details--and with your permission we will get them over as soon as possible. I shall have the pleasure of writing to you to-morrow. To whom----" "Miss Phipps," she intimated. "And mine is 'Warrener.' Stay, I have a card. But, by the way, when did you propose to let me come in, Miss Phipps?" "Would next month suit you?" she asked. "Perhaps you would prefer it to be early in the month?" "I wouldn't disorder your arrangements for the world, yet I own that 'early' has a musical ring. It would be agreeable to arrive before the colder weather." "There are places in England where winter's cold blasts seem never to penetrate, and where birds and flowers go on singing and blooming in defiance of the calendar," she rejoined. "Really?" said Conrad. "Still----" "And among such places," concluded the lady firmly, "Sweetbay is pre-eminent.... But you will let me give you another cup of tea?" CHAPTER III He could not persuade himself that the invitations evoked enthusiasm, indeed two of them were declined at the beginning. Only Nina accepted at once. She wrote: "How on earth did you find Sweetbay again--is it still on the map? Yes, I will come--and with 'no encumbrances'--but I won't promise to be rural so long as all that. If I were you, I would arrange with the Stores for constant supplies. Can you depend on the cook?"