"I'm half afraid she does it too much already. It seems to me that love-making is more altered than leap-frog since our day, Charles,-- Well, well, some things don't change, and luckily luncheon is a permanent institution. Come, and spare Mrs Jones's feelings." "I am losing my appetite," said Mr Mannering, sighing. "Come in, at all events." And, with a little show of reluctance on the part of the elder, the brothers walked off to the long dining-room lying on one side of the library, and looking out upon the cheerful and sunny garden which had somehow caught the spirit of Robert Mannering's kindliness. CHAPTER TWO. "So many worlds, so much to do, So little done, such things to be." _In Memoriam_. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The path from Thorpe Regis to Hardlands lay across two or three of those green fields which ran in and out of the village and gave it the air of deep retirement remarked by the few visitors who jogged in a fly from the nearest town to see the thatched cottages, the red church, the apple orchards, and the great myrtles which grew boldly up to the very eaves of the houses. You might reach Hardlands in a more dignified and deliberate fashion by driving along the old London road, and turning into a short lane, when the iron gate would soon appear in sight; but the most sociable and habitual means of approach was that which led through the fields to a narrow shrubbery path, emerging from which the long white house, with a green veranda stretching half-way across its front, became pleasantly visible at once.