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do see—don’t you, Norah—that it will be rather wonderful for me.’

‘Yes; of course it will,’ said Norah slowly. ‘It’s only about Celia that I am thinking.’

‘Well, I am too. Do you think, after all this time, that it will in any way be difficult for her?’

‘It’s bound to bring it all back, isn’t it,’ said Norah; ‘seeing him all the time and seeing that he has forgotten her, in every way; as only men can forget.—Forgive me, Mrs. Wilmott; I do like Clive most awfully; I always have, even when I saw that he was breaking Celia’s heart; but it’s true, isn’t it?’

‘He hasn’t forgotten, Norah, it’s only that marriage crowds friendships so completely out of a man’s life, and what I hope for now is that he will remember enough for things to be happy again. After all they were really like brother and sister;—he will remember back to that happy time.’

‘It would be frightfully hard lines if he remembered the time that wasn’t happy. It would be frightfully hard lines for Celia if he remembered enough to be sorry for her. Celia, though she looks such a wisp, is the bravest creature in the world and couldn’t help it if a microbe did get into her lungs.’

‘She’s so brave that no one could be sorry for her.—You mean it will be a strain for her—showing