when john, with corin in his wake, entered the drawing-room of delancey castle that evening, he glanced anxiously around. he had no real cause for anxiety. he was a good ten minutes in advance of the hour mentioned, having led a protesting corin up the hill at a fine pace.

mrs. trimwell had seen them depart, her face an amazed and horrified note of interrogation.

“you’re dining with her ladyship!” she had gasped.

“we are,” john had assured her.

“you aren’t never going up to dine at the castle in them clothes!” she had ejaculated.

“we dine,” john had said smiling, “in these very clothes that you now perceive upon us.”

“land sakes!” mrs. trimwell had gasped. and words failing her, either from horror, or lack of imagination, she had mutely watched them depart.

[pg 182]

they had started betimes; they had also, as i have stated, walked at a fine pace; and now, somewhat heated, they found themselves shaking hands with lady mary, while the clock yet wanted some ten minutes of seven-thirty.

but, so argued john, surveying the said clock, half an hour, even an hour too soon, was infinitely preferable to one minute too late. it was the first moment of meeting that would set the keynote to the whole evening. it was at that first psychological moment that the easement of his presence was necessary. corin, he considered as quite beside the mark, you perceive.

father maloney was already present. he was seated in the window-seat with antony and michael, who had been granted half an hour’s furlough from bed.

and now came the moments of suspense,—an anxious waiting. corin and the two boys alone were absolutely at their ease. corin, having engaged rosamund in conversation, was expatiating on his day’s work. john, his eyes on the clock, his ear alert for the opening of a door, talked to lady mary. it is fairly certain that her eyes and her ears were likewise occupied.

[pg 183]

“i hear from the boys that you were present at the cache this afternoon,” said she smiling.

john laughed.

“it was a fairy-tale scene,” quoth he. “i wouldn’t have missed it for worlds. it isn’t often an imaginative conception works so successfully.”

“in this instance,” she reminded him, “there was the celtic temperament to deal with. nothing is beyond the imagination of a celt, i fancy.”

“no,” said john musingly. and then, “not as criticism, but merely as query, i wonder how far it is justifiable to play upon it?”

“you mean that molly’s imagination was played upon?”

“yes.”

“i fancy,” said lady mary, “that the human element comes into most of our material rewards. it is the agency by which they are worked. in this case the human agency merely hid itself beneath a fantastic garb, thereby adding a subtle pleasure to the reward. i don’t know whether molly believes in her heart of hearts that the fairies had been at work, any more than i’ll vouch for tony’s and michael’s belief in santa claus filling their stockings. i fancy there are many things the [pg 184]pleasure of which is enhanced by their being shrouded in the soft light of imagination, rather than by their being dragged forth to the somewhat garish light of fact. there’s no lack of truth in keeping them shrouded. there is, after all, no necessity to be merely blatant.”

“no,” laughed john.

“most children,” went on lady mary, “have a subtle power of imagination. if you were to bring them to hard bed-rock fact, they’d own to the imagination, though probably reluctantly.”

“i know,” said john, “a willow wand is not a spear, neither is a broomstick a horse, nor a twisted tree-trunk a dragon, and you know it. but when you ride forth on the horse, armed with the spear, to kill the dragon, you suffer some terrible and indefinable loss when the actual facts of the case are set before you in faultless english by an all too-truthful aunt.”

“you see,” smiled lady mary.

“i see,” said john, “and i withdraw my query, or, rather, you have answered it.”

there was a silence, and again they both waited. they made no attempt to break the silence. it could only have been broken now by some entirely [pg 185]futile remark, and neither john nor lady mary was in the mood for such remarks.

john looked in the direction of rosamund and corin. he saw that the former glanced towards the door every now and again, and back from it to the clock. the minutes seemed interminably slow in their passing. and then, suddenly, footsteps were heard in the hall without. john’s heart leaped; lady mary’s face was pale; rosamund was smiling; father maloney looked up from the little tin soldier he was examining.

the door opened and the butler appeared on the threshold. he muttered something. certainly his speech was not his usual clear enunciation. john, seeing his solemnly injured expression, felt a sudden desire to laugh. lady mary certainly smiled. and then david delancey entered the room.

of course the actuality wasn’t half, or a quarter, as bad as the anticipation. in two minutes the introductions were over. john had shaken hands; everyone had shaken hands; antony, in a clear treble, had informed the guest that it was on his account alone that he and michael had been granted half an hour’s furlough from bed. the [pg 186]announcement broke the ice, so to speak; if, indeed, there had been any to break. probably there wasn’t any. there had been a sudden thaw the moment the solemnly injured butler had appeared upon the threshold.

and david himself was so utterly simple. to his direct mind the invitation alone had conveyed sufficient assurance of his welcome. why on earth should it have been issued else? there you have your child all over. he may hesitate to intrude for fear of a snub; but, once let an invitation be given, snubbing does not enter into the category at all. such conventionalities as enforced politeness do not enter his mind. of course lady mary was as pleased to welcome him as david was to make her acquaintance. it was sine qua non to the present situation.

i don’t say it hadn’t surprised him. he had been extremely surprised. it wasn’t in the least the way he saw himself acting had he been in lady mary’s place. nevertheless he saw entire genuineness in her action.