But the change, the stir, the commotion, the heavy posts, and constant ringing of the door-bell were delightful to everybody. There was occupation for everybody. They ran against each other with busy, pre-occupied faces. They hurried, when formerly time was of no account. The writing-tables were bargained for, and Maud, all-important, retained one solely for her own use,--while the two who had fancied they would have so much to tell of their London escapade, found it so completely superseded by the new excitement, that they dismissed it from their own minds. In short the whole atmosphere quivered with the sensation: "Who would have thought it?--who would have believed it?--" to which there was but one response: "We cannot make enough of it". The man himself, however, had yet to be seen. "Yes, it is very unfortunate," observed Miss Boldero, in answer to neighbourly inquiries; "Major Foster has been obliged to put off coming again. He has had another touch of fever--his long residence in hot climates has left him subject to these, and though it is nothing to be anxious about, he has to be careful. We expect him next week." A photograph was presented in lieu of the original, and no one had anything to say against the photograph. It represented an unmistakable soldier, even if he had not been in uniform. The face was clear-cut and clean-shaven, and some might have thought it had rather a melancholy expression--but such expressions in photographs are common, and not always truthful. Leo, for one, openly admired her sister's lover. "I do detest a smirk," she cried, gaily; "I am so glad Paul's man did not make him smirk. Were you with him when this was taken, Maud?" No, it had been taken in London on Paul's way through; he had promised copies to his regiment, and Maud had assisted him to send these out. Was he sorry to leave the service? She thought he was, a little. "So you had to--to cheer him up?" rejoined Leo, inwardly laughing over the remembrance of poor Val and his perfunctory proposal. "I daresay it does cheer up people to marry them. Your knight of the lugubrious countenance----ahem!" "I don't know what you mean," said Maud, coldly. "Heigho! I came near a cropper that time," muttered Leo, to herself. When she was alone she took up the photograph again and looked at it. She could have wished for Maud's sake that she was to be united to a more lively-looking individual. The eyes, she could almost swear, were sad eyes. The mouth had a droop about it.