Alvean laughed delightedly.

” Well met, dear ladies,” he cried. ” Were you coming to call on us?”

” We were not,” I answered.

” How unkind! But now you are here you must come in for a little refreshment.”

I was about to protest when Alvean cried: ” Oh, do let’s, Miss. Yes, please, Uncle Peter, we’ll come in.”

” I had hoped you would call before this,” he said reproachfully.

” We had received no definite invitation,” I reminded him.

” For you there is always welcome at Mount Widden. Did I not make that dear?”

He had turned his mare and we all three walked our horses side by side. He followed my gaze, which was fixed on the mare.

” You like her?” he said.

” Indeed I do. She’s a beauty.”

” She’s a real beauty, are you not, Jadnth my pet?”

” Jadnth. So that’s her name.”

” Pretty, you’re thinking. Pretty name for a pretty creature. She’ll go like the wind. She’s worth four of that lumbering old cart horse you’re riding, Miss Leigh.”

” Lumbering old cart bourse? How absurd! Dion is a very fine horse.”

“Was, Miss Leigh. Was! Do you not think that the creature has seen better days? Really, I should have thought Connan could have given you something better from his stables than poor old Dion.”

” It was not a matter of his giving her any horse to ride,” said Alvean in hot defence of her father. ” He does not know what horses we ride, does he. Miss. These are the horses which Tapperty said we could have.”

” Poor Miss Leigh! She should have a mount worthy of her. Miss Leigh, before you go, I would like you to take a turn on Jacinth. She’ll quickly show you what it feels like to be on a good mount again.” I ” Oh,” I said lightly, ” we’re satisfied with what we have. | They serve my purpose which is to teach Alvean to ride.” | ” We’re practising for the show,” Alvean told him. ” I’m j going in for one of the events, but don’t tell Papa; it’s to be . a surprise.”

Peter put his finger to his lips. ” Trust me. I’ll keep your secret.”

| ” And Miss is entering for one of the events too. I’ve made . her!”

” She’ll be victorious,” he cried. ” I’ll make a bet on it.”

I said curtly: ” I’m not at all sure about this. It is only an idea of Alvean’s.”

” But you must, Miss!” cried Alvean. ” I insist.”

” We’ll both insist,” added Peter.

We had reached the gates of Mount Widden which were wide open. There was no lodge here as at Mount Mellyn. We went up the drive where the same types of flowers grew in profusion the hydrangeas, fuchsias and fir trees which were indigenous to this part of the country.

I saw the house, grey stone as Mount Mellyn was, but much smaller and with fewer outbuildings. I noticed immediately that it was not so well cared for as what in that moment I presumptuously called ” our ” house and I felt an absurd thrill of pleasure because Mount Mellyn compared so favourably with Mount Widden.

There was a groom in the stables and Peter told him to take charge of our horses. He did so and we went into the house. Peter clapped his hands and shouted: ” Dick! Where are you, Dick?”

The houseboy, whom I had seen when he had been sent over to Mount Mellyn with messages, appeared; and Peter said to him : ” Tea, Dick. At once, in the library. We have guests. “

” Yes, Master,” said Dick and hurried away.

We were in a hall which seemed quite modern when compared with our own hall. The floor was tessellated and there was a wide staircase at one end of it which led to a gallery containing oil paintings, presumably of the Nansellock family.

I laughed at myself for scorning the place, which was very much larger and much grander than the vicarage in which I had spent my childhood.

But it had a neglected air—one might almost say one of decay.

Peter took us into the library, a huge room, the walls of which were lined with books on three sides. I noticed that the furniture was dusty and that dirt was visible in the heavy curtains. What they need, I thought, is a Mrs. Polgrey with her beeswax and turpentine.

” I pray you sit down, dear ladies,” said Peter. ” It is to be hoped that tea will not long be delayed, although I must warn you that meals are not served with the precision which prevails in our rival across the cove.”

” Rival?” I said in surprise.

” Well, how could there fail to be a little rivalry? Here we stand, side by side. But the advantages are all with them. They have the grander house, and the servants to deal with it. Your father, dear Alvean, is a man of property. We Nansellocks are his poor relations.”

” You are not our relations,” Alvean reminded him.

” Now is that not strange? One would have thought that, living side by side for generations, the two families would have mingled and become one. There must have been charming TreMellyn girls and charming Nansellock men. How odd that they did not join up and become relations! I suppose the mighty TreMellyns always looked down their arrogant noses at the poor Nansellocks and went farther afield to make

their marriages. But now there is the fair Alvean. How maddening n that we have no boy of your age to marry you, Alvean. J shall have to wait for you. There is nothing for it but that.”

Alvean laughed delightedly. I could see that she was quite fascinated by him; and I thought. Perhaps he is more serious than he pretends.

Perhaps he has already begun courting Alvean in a subtle way.

Alvean began to talk about the show and he listened attentively. I occasionally joined in, and so the time passed until tea was brought to us.

” Miss Leigh, will you honour us by pouring out?” Peter asked me.

I said I should be happy to do so, and I placed myself at the head of the tea table.

Peter watched me with attention which I found faintly embarrassing because, not only was it admiring, but contented.

” How glad I am that we met,” he murmured as Alvean handed him his cup of tea. ” To think that, if I had been five minutes earlier or five minutes later, our paths might not have crossed. What a great part chance plays in our lives.”

” Possibly we should have met at some other time.”

” There may not be much more time left to us.”

” You sound morbid. Do you think that something is going to happen to one of us?”

He looked at me very seriously. ” Miss Leigh,” he said, ” I am going away.”

” Where,” Uncle Peter? ” demanded Alvean.

” Far away, my child, to the other side of the world.”

” Soon?” I asked.

” Possibly with the New Year.”

” But where are you going?” cried Alvean in dismay.

” My dearest child, I believe you are a little hurt at the thought of my departure.”

” Uncle, where?” she demanded imperiously.

“To seek my fortune.”

” You’re teasing. You’re always teasing.”

” Not this time. I have heard from a friend who was at Cambridge with me. He is in Australia, and there he has made a fortune. Gold! Think of it, Alvean. You too, Miss Leigh. Lovely gold … gold which can make a man … or woman … rich . And all one has to do is pluck it out of the ground.”

” Many go in the hope of making fortunes,” I said, ” but are they all successful?”

” There speaks the practical woman. No, Miss Leigh, they are not all successful; but there is something named hope which, I believe, springs eternal in the human breast. All may not have gold but they can ‘all have hope.”

” Of what use is hope if it is proved to be false?”

” Until she is proved false she can give so much pleasure, Miss Leigh.”

” Then I wish that your hopes may not prove false.”

” Thank you.”

” But I don’t want you to go, Uncle Peter.”

” Thank you, my dear. But I shall come back a rich man. Imagine it.

Then I shall build a new wing on Mount Widden. I will make the house as grand as no, grander than Mount Mellyn. And in the years to come people will say it was Peter Nansellock who saved the family fortunes.

For, my dear young ladies, someone has to save them . soon. “

He then began to talk of his friend who had gone to Australia a penniless young man and who, he was sure, was now a millionaire, or almost.

He began planning how he would rebuild the house, and we both joined in. It was a pleasant game building a house in the mind, to one’s own desires.

I felt exhilarated by his company. He at least, I thought, has never made me feel my position. The very fact of his poverty or what to him seemed poverty endeared him to me.

It was an enjoyable tea time.

Afterwards he took us out to the stables and both he and Alvean insisted on my mounting Jacinth, and showing them what I could do with her. My saddle was put on her, and I galloped her and jumped with her, and she responded to my lightest touch. She was a delicious creature and I envied him his possession of her.

” Why,” he said, ” she has taken to you. Miss Leigh. Not a single protest at finding a new rider on her back.”

I patted her fondly and said : ” She’s a beauty.”

And the sensitive creature seemed to understand.

We then mounted our horses, and Peter came to the gates of Mount Mellyn with us, riding Jacinth.

As we went up to our rooms I decided that it had indeed been a very enjoyable afternoon.

Alvean came to my room and stood for a while, her head on one side.

She said: ” He likes you, I think. Miss.”

” He is merely polite towards me,” I replied.

” No, I think he likes you rather specially … in the way he liked Miss Jansen.”