Sibyl was reading a newspaper. Hugh lit his pipe in silence, and sat down opposite to her. Presently the newspaper dropped, and Sibyl's eyes were turned upon her husband with a smile. 'Well?' 'Well?' They smiled at each other amiably. 'What do you suggest, Birdie?' The fondling name was not very appropriate, and had not been used of late; Carnaby hit upon it in the honeymoon days, when he said that his wife was like some little lovely bird, which he, great coarse fellow, had captured and almost feared to touch lest he should hurt it. Hugh had not much originality of thought, and less of expression. 'There are places, you know, where one lives very comfortably on very little,' said Sibyl. 'Yes; but it leads to nothing.' 'What _would_ lead to anything?' 'Well, you see, I have capital, and some use ought to be made of it. Everybody nowadays goes in for some kind of business.' She listened with interest, smiling, meditative. 'And a great many people come out of it--wishing they had done so before.' 'True,' said Carnaby; 'there's the difficulty. I had a letter from Dando this morning. He has got somebody to believe in his new smelting process--somebody in the City; talks of going out to Queensland shortly. Really--if I could be on the spot----' He hesitated, timidly indicating his thoughts. Sibyl mused, and slowly shook her head. 'No; wait for reports.' 'Yes; but it's those who are in it first, you see.' Sibyl seemed to forget the immediate subject, and to let her thoughts wander in pleasant directions. She spoke as if on a happy impulse. 'There's one place I think I should like--though I dread the voyage.' 'Where's that?' 'Honolulu.' 'What has put that into your head?' 'Oh, I have read about it. The climate is absolute perfection, and the life exquisite. How do you get there?' 'Across America, and then from San Francisco. It's anything but a cheap place, I believe.' 'Still, for a time. The thing is to get away, don't you think?' 'No doubt of that.--Honolulu--by Jove! it's an idea. I should like to see those islands myself.' 'And it isn't commonplace,' remarked Sibyl. 'One would go off with a certain eclat. Very different from starting for the Continent in the humdrum way.'