"I am sure it will come all right in the end," she said. "Perhaps when we tell Harry he will be able to do something." *CHAPTER XXII* *THE RETURN* Harry came home a few days after Lady Avalon and Sidney had come to Royd, and two days before they had been going away. But they were persuaded, without much difficulty, to stay a little longer. At least, Lady Avalon accepted Lady Brent’s invitation to prolong their visit, and informed Sidney that she had done so. "You see how it is," said Sidney to Jane, with whom she was now fast friends, much to the maturing of Jane’s behaviour, but not to the spoiling of her, as her parents gratefully remarked. "She’s a thoroughly nice unaffected girl," said Grant, "and she’ll be a nice friend for Jane, especially if what we think is going to happen does happen." "I’m not sure she’s not putting ideas into Jane’s head," said Miss Minster. "I know they have secrets together, and I’ve a sort of notion that they’re on the eternal subject of love." "Well," said Grant, "girls will talk about love, I suppose, and if they talk nicely I don’t know that there’s much harm done." "Jane ought to have learnt how to talk nicely about love by this time," said Miss Minster, with obvious reference. "I think Lady Sidney is all right really, or I should perhaps advise you both differently. Whether she’s going to set her cap at Harry or not I don’t know, and I don’t suppose Jane would tell me if I asked her. But I’m pretty sure that they have discussed it." Mrs. Grant listened to this without remark, but was a little disturbed at the idea of Jane having secrets which she would not impart to Miss Minster. Would she impart them to her? It would mark a stage if Jane were not ready to tell her everything. She was considering the advisability of approaching Jane on the matter when Jane approached her. "I’ve got a secret with Sidney, mother," she said, in her abrupt but open way. "It’s something she’s told me about herself. She says she’d rather I didn’t tell you just yet, if you don’t mind, but she doesn’t mind my telling you that there is a secret. You don’t mind, do you?" "What a lot of ’minds’!" said Mrs. Grant. "No, darling, I don’t mind at all, unless it’s something that you think you ought to tell me." "Oh, no, it’s nothing of that sort," said Jane. "It’s something about herself which she doesn’t want people to know yet. I’m going to tell it to Harry when he comes home, so that we can all three enjoy ourselves together."