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"You fickle child! And you have always declared you liked my motor better than any car that ever was seen!"

"So I do" Cherry looked up at her with unsravity "But----"

"But now you must all come in and have lunch" Mrs Carstairs turned to Anstice "Dr Anstice, you can spare us a little time, can't you? Lunch is quite ready, and Cherry, I'm sure, endorses my invitation!"

He hesitated, torn between a desire to accept and an uncomfortable suspicion that he could not afford the time

"You will have to lunch somewhere, you know!" Her manner was a trifle warmer than usual "And it will really save time to do it here!"

"My lunch is a very hurried affair as a rule," he said, s "But if I hted to stay"

He felt a small hand slip into his as he spoke, and looked down, to meet Cherry's clear eyes

"Do stay, my dear!" Her tone was a quaint imitation of her mother's, and before the twofold invitation Anstice's scruples were put to flight

"I'll stay with pleasure," he said, patting the kind little hand; and with an air of satisfaction Cherry led hi their lead

Once seated at the pretty round table, sith the fragrance of hyacinths in a big Swansea bowl, and bright with silver and glass, Anstice owned inwardly to a feeling of pleasure at his position Although as a rule he loved his solitude, welcomed the silence of the old panelled house he had taken in Littlefield, and shunned those of his kind who had no direct need of his services, there were tihed heavily upon his spirit, when the ghosts of the past, whose shrouded forms were ever present to reonethat first haunted year, when Hilda Ryder's face was ever before his eyes, her sad and tender accents in his ear, he had sought hosts It had seeh some instinct within hiht to alleviate hisby any etfulness, could be purchased at the price of a pinprick, it seeo that Nirvana