"Then that's settled, you see, Sir Joseph," Mrs. Delarayne remarked. She had been induced to have this interview with Denis against her will. Her sister and the baronet had prevailed over her better judgment, and now that she saw the issue of it was to be more satisfactory than she could possibly have hoped, she had difficulty in concealing her pleasure. At this point the report of a fire-arm made them all turn in the direction of Sandlewood. "They seem to have got a rabbit before reaching the woods," Sir Joseph observed. "That sounded extraordinarily near." Mrs. Delarayne was silent. She was obviously making an effort not to appear too highly gratified by the news she had heard, and was regarding Denis thoughtfully,--her eyebrows slightly raised, and her fingers drumming lightly on the arms of her chair. "Well, then," she repeated, "I'm afraid that's settled,--isn't it, Sir Joseph?" Another report was heard, and Sir Joseph rose. "I wonder what the deuce they're doing!" he exclaimed going to the window. "Probably got a stray rabbit, or a hare, on their way," suggested Denis. Sir Joseph turned from the window to face his secretary. "That's very odd. So she refused you?" he said. "Absolutely." "But you shouldn't despair over one refusal," he exclaimed, casting a glance full of meaning at Mrs. Delarayne. "A man doesn't lie down under one reverse of that sort." He chuckled, and glanced backwards and forwards, first at his secretary and then at Mrs. Delarayne, hoping she would understand his profound implication. "You must 'ave more perseverance," he added. Denis remembered the word "vulgar." He remembered the concentrated fury and contempt that the flapper had put into the expression, and he instinctively felt that it was hopeless. "I think what I should like to do," he said, "is to leave here, if you will allow me to; finish my holiday elsewhere, and see whether, meanwhile, a change may not come over Leonetta. If it doesn't, then there's an end of it." "You mean to leave here at once?" enquired the baronet. "Yes," interposed Mrs. Delarayne; and then she proceeded to explain to Sir Joseph what Denis meant, and declared his scheme to be eminently dignified and proper. It met with her entire approval. A discussion followed as to the best way of explaining to the others the reason of Denis's sudden departure, and various suggestions were made. Sir Joseph volunteered to be able to account for the young man's absence on the score of business. Denis himself inclined to the view that some family trouble would provide the best excuse. His mother might be ill. But Mrs. Delarayne, anxious above all to avoid the sort of explanation that might provoke dangerous sympathies for Denis in any female heart, agreed that a business excuse would be best.