Dick Dennehy's new house was finished--at least it wanted only its last coat of paint and, if the weather held fine, would soon be dry enough to receive it profitably. By fits and starts consignments of its necessary gear--conceived on extremely Spartan lines--arrived from London. But the master of it had himself made no appearance. Every invitation from Shaylor's Patch--and now and then the invitation amounted to an entreaty, since Tora could not for the life of her make out what he wanted done at the house--was met by protestations of absorbing work. The problem which Winnie's imagination had forecasted did not arise--or at least it exhibited no development. Dick's obstinate absence did not disprove its existence, but might be said to suspend its animation. Winnie, dwelling in the cottage where Godfrey Ledstone once abode, had a rest from the other sex; here, too, a truce was called, after her brisk series of engagements. She welcomed it; it would have seemed shallow to pass too quickly from the thought of Bertie Merriam. She neither rejected nor winced at the idea that the truce might be perpetual. With Dennehy still away, the thought of the problem died down, leaving traces only in the compassionate amusement with which she again, from time to time, reflected that he had 'got over it.' She acquiesced very willingly in the conclusion. As matters stood, life was full, pleasant, peaceful, and fruitful in the growth of her mind. "I don't know whether you'll ever transform the world, but at least you're educating one ignorant woman, Stephen," she said. Dr. Westermarck being finished, Stephen had, with a sudden jump, transferred her to the study of Utopias, old and new; for these, of course, must figure in the Synopsis. "Ah, you bring some knowledge of life with you now. That makes learning ever so much easier." He smiled at her. "I really ought to go and get into some scrapes too. But there--I couldn't put my heart into the job, so it wouldn't be much use." "Wouldn't Tora object?" "I'm the one exception which mars the otherwise perfect harmony of Tora's conception of the male sex. She would be bound to greet any lapse on my part with scientific exultation. But, I say, I'm not going to have you burying yourself in the Synopsis." "That's just what I came here to do--exactly as I put it to myself!" "You shan't do it. You're much too young and pretty. I shall get some young men down, to tempt you."