Page:Possession (Roche, February 1923).pdf/219

 came over and spoke to me. Told me some of his plans. He was almost drunk with exhilaration but declared he was not 'cock-a-hoop' about it. Then he jerked his head towards Fawnie and said, 'Your sister-in-law is coming on like anything, isn't she, Captain Vale? Then Edmund swore with a fluency that showed that his years in the army had not been altogether wasted.

They were sitting smoking in the porch. There had been a stream of vehicles, but the road was now resuming its accustomed quiet.

"I can't imagine what is keeping her," muttered Derek. "I'm beginning to get anxious."

"God knows," replied Edmund. "Probably hobnobbing with Hobbs. Each one assuring the other that they are not 'cock-a-hoop'."

Derek shifted in his willow chair, making it creak beneath him. He stared anxiously up the road. "There she comes, now," he exclaimed.

She was approaching along the edge of the bluffs, her figure, in its yellow dress and streamered hat, silhouetted against the burnished blue of the sky. She was wheeling the perambulator before her, and, as she descended and ascended the rolling side of the cliff, it was surprising that the child was not thrown from its seat. But they came steadily on, watched in silence by the brothers.

She descended the last steep, crossed the bridge, and began to climb the rise to the gate. Phœbe, seeing her from the kitchen window, where she was washing dishes, rushed out along the drive to meet the baby, her arms still wet with dishwater, her woolen slippers padding on the sand.

"Here comes the prince!" she cried. "See him in his fine