“You encourage me! But——” He stood up and shook himself, as if in disgust at his moment of panic. “I have no intention of failing. It’s a matter of destiny, anyhow. All we realists are romantics fundamentally, and as she’s the woman I’ve been on the blind hunt for all my life and I recognized her the moment we met, there can be only one ending, however disheartening the prelude. If it were not for her cursed inhibitions she’d have known it too, long before this. But I can wait!” And Elsie, who had resolutely forgotten her day-dreams, reassured him warmly. “It’s as inevitable as the fructification of the soil when the sun shines on it long enough. We know how we’d work it out in a novel, or rather how, with two such characters, it would work itself out.” “A novel that doesn’t belie its name and isn’t merely a story, must conform strictly to life, and life has many unexpected cross-currents.” Bylant was gloomy once more. “True enough. But there comes a moment in every novel when the author for the first time is able to foresee the inevitable end. All signs point one way. That is where predestination comes in. Now, if you’ve calmed down, perhaps you’ll give me a bit of advice on a knot I’ve tied myself into. There are a few things about the novel I haven’t yet mastered, and one is technique.” “Good!” Bylant smiled wanly. “Just the let-down I need before lunch.” CHAPTER XX Gita decided to have a Christmas party. She knew that from the time the manor house had been built, down through the generations until the Carteret fortunes declined, there had been a ball and a Christmas tree for the servants and tenantry, and a gathering of the far-flung Carteret clan. The tenants were reduced to two farmers and their families, who, no doubt, would resent any hint of patronage, the servants to five, within and without, and the Carterets to one, but at least she could have a tree and a party. The tree and dancing would be in the great central hall with her dark-browed ancestors looking down in approval.