Denzil tries to persuade us now and then that the North Cape has quite a balmy atmosphere, especially from December to March.

He is quite safe.

We sha'n't go to test his statements." Instead of a time of misery, this first half-hour proved so pleasant that Lilian all but forgot the shadow standing behind her.

When tea was brought in, she felt none of the nervousness which had seemed to her inevitable amid such luxurious appliances.

These relatives of Denzil's, henceforth her own, were people such as she had not dared to picture them--so unaffected, genial, easy to talk with; nor did she suffer from a necessity of uttering direct falsehoods; conversation dealt with the present and the future--partly, no doubt, owing to Quarrier's initiative.