"I was meaning"-- waving her hand expansively--"big things." "And when you've got your own house, my dear," retorted Joan, "you'll find those commonplaces of existence assume alarmingly big proportions." Soon after Stair had finished his after-breakfast pipe, the chiming of the bells announced that it was time to prepare for church.

The Rectory pew was situated close to the pulpit, at right angles to the body of the church, and Diana and Joan took their places one at either end of it.

As the former was wont to remark: "It's such a comfort when there's no competition for the corner seats." The organ had ceased playing, and the words "_Dearly beloved_" had already fallen from the Rector's lips, when the churchdoor opened once again to admit some late arrivals.

Instinctively Diana looked up from her prayer-book, and, as her glance fell upon the newcomers, the pupils of her eyes dilated until they looked almost black, while a wave of colour rushed over her face, dyeing it scarlet from brow to throat.
Two ladies were coming up the aisle, the one bordering on middle age, the other young and of uncommon beauty, but it was upon neither of these that Diana's startled eyes were fixed.

Behind them, and evidently of their party, came a tall, fair man whose supple length of limb and very blue eyes sent a little thrill of recognition through her veins.
It was her fellow-traveller of that memorable journey down from town! She closed her eyes a moment.