Jane showed surprise at this, and Sidney laughed and said: "Darling old thing you are! You don’t know what you’re worth; but you will in a year or two. Anyhow, I’m not jealous of you, and I like Harry for remembering his old friends and not wanting to drop them for new ones. Of course I knew him before you did, but not as he is now. He’s older than I should have thought, and I think he looks rather sad. You’ve got to cheer him up, and if I’m wanted to help I shall be quite ready." "Of course you’ll be wanted to help," said Jane. "You’ll be seeing more of him, for one thing, as you will be staying in the house. I suppose you won’t mind my being his _chief_ friend though, if you like somebody else better." "I should be a horrid sort of creature if I did," said Sidney. "You won’t suffer from me when you’re not here." Harry and Sidney strolled together in the garden after dinner, with the full concurrence of their elders, except possibly of Mrs. Brent, who had not yet recovered from her air of slight bewilderment, and was quieter than she had been for the last few days. They talked about Jane, and for the first time Harry seemed to regard Sidney with interest. Hitherto he had been merely friendly with her on the surface, as with one who was there but didn’t matter much. "Oh, yes, we’re real friends," she said, with her free and pleasant smile. "I suppose you can only see that she’s a child, but I’ve never treated her like one. I began like that because girls of that age love being talked to as if they were grown up, but I very soon found out what a lot there was in her. If she’s a child in some ways still, as of course she is, it makes her all the more fascinating. She’s one in a thousand. She’ll make all the difference to me down here, if I can get hold of her sometimes." "She’s a real person," Harry said. "If you and she have made friends it will be jolly for all three of us. We can all be friends together." "That’s what Jane wants," said Sidney. "She’s devoted to you, and I believe she’s also devoted to me, though not so much so. We can go and get hold of her to-morrow morning, can’t we? She has a holiday on Saturday." "Oh yes. I’m very glad you want to. I was half afraid you might think she was too young for you." "I suppose you mean that you were half afraid you’d have to dance attendance on me, when you’d rather have been with Jane; but you see you need fear nothing of that sort." They looked at one another. There was just light enough to catch an expression of face. Then they both laughed, and became friends from that moment. "We’d settled that Jane was to tell you," said Sidney, "but I think I might as well do it myself. I’m engaged to somebody, but the engagement is not smiled upon. In fact it isn’t recognized at all, and can’t be spoken of. But Jane and I thought that if you knew of it it would make things more comfortable all round for us three."