"I'm not so sure! But it does seem the wiser plan. One can say so much more—verbally." "Only of course we can't count it really an engagement, till they know." "I'm afraid I count it very real indeed." "You don't know what mother will think." Her face shadowed over, and a chill query shot through his mind. Had he brought trouble upon her by his impulsive action? He was not in the main a selfish man; far from it; but this day he had been completely carried away by passion. In the morning he had intended to let her know about his parentage; but since she had never named the Morrises, he had no idea that she had ever come across them. He felt only that she had a right to know all; and he meant to enlighten her. Now he had gone far beyond mere enlightenment. He had taken irrevocable steps. Whether their engagement should or should not be permitted to stand, he had called into active life longings, hitherto vague, now definite, which would not be easily laid to rest. Was she to pay a penalty of suffering for his failure in self-control? CHAPTER XXV The Squire's Advice "LETTERS. One for you, Sylvester, from Doris. And another for me, from Mrs. Brutt." The burly Rector sat at one end of the breakfast-table; and at the other Mrs. Winton presided, with her usual air of state. She never forgot that a Peer of the Realm was her distant cousin. They studied their missives in silence. "What a woman it is!" came presently. "The amount of talk! What does Doris say?" "Wants to climb another mountain. Mrs. Brutt refuses consent." "She shows some sense—for once!" "So the child appeals to us." Mr. Winton read on, smiling to himself. "Mrs. Brutt says she has been ill—and her English doctor has done 'wonders' for her. Is that the one who went up the peak with Doris?" "Probably." "Mrs. Brutt seems full of him. 'A delightful young fellow,' she calls him. 'Young!'" Mrs. Winton scented mischief. She had pictured the doctor in question as a comfortable, middle-aged practitioner, father of a family. "'Young,' Sylvester. You heard!" "Yes, my dear." "And Doris has been rampaging over the mountains with this young doctor! Just listen—" "'Such a dear young doctor—so gifted!—with quite distinguished manners. Really, I never came across a medical man with keener insight. I assure you, he read my constitution at a glance which must mean absolute genius on his part, for I am not a person easily understood—so very complex, you know!—as my dear old doctor used often to say—"Yours is such a highly-strung organisation, my dear lady; it needs acute observation—"'" Mrs. Winton came to a bored pause. "I don't believe any doctor alive would say anything so supremely absurd—unless by way of flattery." "But about Doris?"