The Partnership Read Free Page B

decided before, to ignore a sarcasm of which its victim seemed unconscious. He continued to smile benignly. Meanwhile Wilfred remarked to Lydia:
    â€œIn uniform, I see.”
    â€œYes,” said Lydia. Soothed by the appreciation in his tone, she described her evening’s activities.
    â€œAnd I hear you’re off on holiday to-morrow,” pursued Wilfred.
    A little frown of worry appeared on Lydia’s smooth brow, and she remarked that the maid’s enforced departure was most inopportune at this particular moment. To leave her mother without help in the house was not by any means satisfactory to her, yet she saw no alternative.
    â€œCouldn’t you put off going for a day or two, till you’ve found someone else for Aunt Louise?” suggested Wilfred helpfully.
    Lydia frowned a little more, and explained that the place she was going to made a very definite rule that visitors should arrive on Fridays only. Seeing the astonishment on Wilfred’s face, she added hastily: “It’s a kind of holiday home, you know.”
    â€œA holiday home!” exclaimed Wilfred in capital letters. “What are you going to a place like that for?”
    He so obviously regarded holiday homes as the refuge of the indigent that Lydia blushed and explained that she was going there to help—in the organization of games and other such sociable activities, she supposed. She gave him further details of the place and described how it had come to her notice.
    â€œIt doesn’t sound much like a holiday for you, to me,” objected Wilfred. “You’re too good, Lydia; always doing something for somebody else.”
    â€œOh, I shall enjoy it thoroughly,” protested the earnest Lydia. “I’m sure it’s a splendid institution, and very well run.”
    Wilfred grunted incredulously. “What time do you leave in the morning?” he inquired.
    â€œSeven fifteen,” replied Lydia. “I have to leave early, you see, to catch a good train from London.”
    â€œI’ll take you down to the station in the car,” volunteered Wilfred.
    â€œOh, please don’t bother,” protested Lydia, distressed at the idea of anyone taking so muchtrouble for her. “I can manage quite well in the tram.”
    â€œIt’s no bother,” affirmed Wilfred with his usual matter-of-fact air. “I’ll call for you at seven.”
    The Reverend Charles had not overheard this simple conversation, for an Italian tenor’s palpitating declaration of some passion or other was now throbbing on the air; but to see Lydia and Wilfred talking so intimately together was highly pleasurable to him. His glance noted with satisfaction Wilfred’s downright and candid, if homely, air, and then softened into tenderness as it rested on his daughter’s earnest brown eyes and the serious little pucker on her broad young brow. She wore her looped hat too far back on her head, and this somehow intensified the naïve simplicity and purity of her face. Mr. Mellor smiled benevolently, and his face took on exactly the same expression as the one he was admiring in his daughter. How nice, he thought, that they were both called Tolefree! Well, he had done his duty faithfully, at considerable cost to him and his, in that wretched business of Herbert’s all those years ago, and now everything was working together for good. The quarterly cheque which his brother-in-law had given him shortly before Lydia’s appearance crackled in his pocket, and he gazed upon the future with an eye of eager hopefulness.
    The dusk had now completely fallen; and as the curtains were still undrawn and the lights within the room blazing, the night outside hadassumed a deep, romantic, glowing shade of blue, which seemed to press tangibly against the windows and beckon those within to come out and share all the most alluring and dramatic possibilities of life. The effect was rather as if a