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372 upon their society, and would come out to lounge about the house or the garden, smoking and cheerfully inspecting their activities. His tuneless whistle was frequently heard. He was very happy. Teresa too had recovered her old gaiety. The clouds of the past year seemed all to have disappeared.

Basil left all practical arrangements completely in Teresa's hands. She was to choose their home, and everything was to be exactly as she wished. He applauded the meals that she caused to be set before him, made light of any drawbacks, and proclaimed that he had never in his life been so comfortable. He was disinclined to stir from their domestic precincts even for half a day, and neither of them wanted to see any people. He took Ronald down to the beach every day, and taught him to swim. He wanted Teresa always within sight or hearing. He wanted, he said, to wallow in unbridled domesticity.

One morning Teresa, idly looking over the newspaper as she sat in a hammock, with Ronald, scantily clad, making mud-pies near by, saw on the first page an article, under portentous head- lines, on the threatened war between England and Turkey. Turkey had marched troops into the Sinai Peninsula, on the pretext that it was not a part of Egypt. England had let it be understood that if the Turkish forces were not withdrawn she would bombard Constantinople. This