before she comes in. Is there anything you can say to me?"
"Has she told you she left Round Hill?"
"Yes."
"I am here to reason with her. I had common-sense on my side, but not tact. I want her to return with me."
"Why should she return?"
"Because she was precipitate, and because the farm is no place for her."
She knew what he meant. She knew that this house must seem to him crude, cheap and uncomfortable. That she and Olivia must seem common and stupid old creatures, that he shrank from the thought of such a home and such associates for his daughter. So she said at once:
"Hildegarde will not live on the farm. She is going to marry Crispin Harlowe."
Carew's hands clutched at the arms of his chair. "Has she promised?"
"Yes."
"Is he here?"
She nodded. "They are out now together."
"In the rain?"
"They don't know that it rains."
"Why not?"
"They are in love."
He laughed harshly. "They think they are."
"Put it any way you like," Aunt Catherine told him, "but there's this about it, they don't care whether the sun shines or the storm beats. They are young, life is before them, they are happy."
