But then he would have to tell her about the Landors. She would feel that down in the depth of her loving little heart, which Colin knew to be really loving, though some might count her to be of a cold disposition. No, he would not write yet. Better to wait, since evidently she was not grieving. Mr. Mackenzie, like his wife, had been somewhat hurt by Euphrasia's long silence, even while telling himself that it meant nothing. Then he reached the Rectory, and his courage was at a low ebb, though not now for himself. Floods of tears! States of despair! Not a whit! As he stood in the hall, lugubrious with the weight of his pity, he heard the merriest laugh, coming through the closed study door. That Mrs. Landor! And a deeper-toned masculine laugh, no less cheerful. That the poverty-stricken and despairing Rector! Colin could hardly believe his own ears. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER XIII NOT CAST DOWN "HERE, sir, please." Into the study Colin was welcomed—by the Rector with a smiling face, by Mrs. Landor with outstretched hand and look of welcome. In all the years he had known that sweet serene woman, he had never seen her so bright. Calm she had usually been, but seldom bright. Was this forced, unnatural, the result of over-strain? "Come in, pray come in, Mr. Mackenzie. Come in and sit down. If you don't mind an economical cup of tea. My husband and I are practising at once for the future. No use to put off, is it? You see, we cannot possibly afford any longer the most expensive Souchong, so I picked up a pound of one-and-sixpenny tea as I came along; and we have made it with half the usual quantity. It 'really' isn't bad. Like Dickens' Marchioness, one only has to exercise one's imagination a little. And, after all, the most important ingredient is real boiling water." Colin received his cup from those slender hands, and had some difficulty in swallowing the first mouthful. "Some cake, or bread and butter? I did not tell your wife about our affairs because I thought it would take too long, as she had a good deal to say first. So you must explain it all to her, and say that it is nothing for her to fret about. Is it, dear?" lovingly to her husband. "The less one has to carry in life, the more lightly one ought to be able to go!" Colin might appropriately have delivered his message here, but he was in no state of mind to remember it. "Most people think the burden of anxiety a great deal heavier than the burden of wealth," he could not help saying. "If one must be anxious," she said, smiling a little. "For my part, I am sure of one thing," observed Mr. Landor placidly, "and that is that it is worth a great deal to know what sort of a wife one has. I thought I did know before—pretty well—but it seems I didn't!"