"I think, Dane, it would be better if you and I went home this morning! I am afraid we can do nothing to help, and shall only be in the way. Could I have the carriage for the eleven o'clock train, Mrs Beverley?" "I will come with you, of course," Dane added, and Grizel shrugged her shoulders, and held out her hands with an eloquent little gesture of appeal. "Dear people, it's most inhospitable and horrid, but I think so too! I shan't have a moment to spare. I expect we shall be rushing home ourselves by the end of the week." The Squire and Martin looked uncomfortable, but said nothing. Plainly they also thought that the lovers would be better away, so Teresa excused herself and went upstairs to pack her box, an operation which she could not be persuaded to leave to a maid. With care and contrivance she could contrive to give the effect of a wardrobe that was sufficient, though not in any degree to be compared to those of her two hostesses, but the gimlet-like eyes of a lady's maid would speedily discover and despise the little contrivances inevitable to small means. Teresa had the true middle-class dread of what servants would "think." She had discussed with other Chumley girls the horror of staying in houses where a maid "poked about." One friend in especial had recounted a thrilling incident which had befallen her on a recent visit. For the purpose of impressing the maid she had borrowed from a married sister her very smartest "nightie," a cobweb confection of lawn and lace, which, discreetly crumpled, was hung over a chair in the morning, the while the utility flannelette was locked in a drawer. All went well, until one fateful morning, when, on the arrival of early tea, drowsiness overcame discretion, and the flanneletted figure had reared upright in the bed. "My dear," concluded the sufferer tragically, "I could have _died_!... After that her manner entirely changed." It was a sorry task, refilling that box which had been packed with such high hopes. As she folded ribbons, and stuffed tissue paper into the sleeves of dresses, Teresa could recall the exact sentiments which had been in her mind as she had gone through the same process a few days before. Dane liked blue, so she had decided to wear the new blue dress on the first evening. The new sports coat was green, which suited her fairness almost as well as blue. She would wear that when they went out walking together, and he would slip his hand through her arm. There was a filmy white scarf which she had intended to throw over her shoulders when they escaped together into the garden after dinner. That scarf had never been taken out of its wrappings. It had never been required. The visit to which she had looked forward, as she had looked forward to nothing else in her life, had ended in tragedy and upheaval.