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are better not spoken of.’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Vivian said reflectively. ‘Practically the only thing I like about the Penhallows — except Eugene, of course — is their way of having everything aboveboard ;and freely spoken of. I mean, there’s nothing furtive about them.’
    ‘I was brought up to consider that certain things were better left unsaid!’ said Faith primly.
    ‘So was I, and damned dull it was. If you wouldn’t pretend so much—’
    ‘You seem to forget that I’m Eugene’s stepmother,’ said Faith, snatching at the rags of her dignity.
    ‘Oh, don’t be silly! You’re not quite eleven years older than I am, and I know perfectly well that you loathe this place as much as I do. But I do think you might do something to make it more possible! After all, you’re Penhallow’s wife! But just look at the servants, for a start! Sybilla’s just been extremely insolent to Eugene, and as for Reuben, and that loathsome creature, Jimmy-"
    ‘It’s no use complaining to me,’ interrupted Faith. ‘I can’t do anything about it. And Sybilla’s a good cook. I should like to know who else would stay in a place like this, or cook for a positive army of people on a stove that was out-of-date twenty years ago! I’m only thankful she and Reuben do stay.’
    ‘And then there’s that maid of yours,’ Vivian continued, disregarding her. ‘You’ll have to get rid of her, Faith.’
    ‘Get rid of Loveday! I’ll do no such thing! She’s the one person in the house who considers me!’
    ‘Yes, I know, but Aunt Clara always says she’s a double-faced girl.’
    ‘I don’t want to listen to what Clara says! She’s a spiteful old woman, and just because I’m fond of Love day—-’
    ‘No, it isn’t that. They all say the same. Bart’s at his old tricks again. It’s absolutely fatal to employ good-looking servants in this house. I should have thought you must have known that.’
    ‘Loveday Trewithian is a thoroughly nice girl, and I won’t hear a word against her!’
    ‘Eugene says she means to marry Bart.’
    Faith’s blue eyes started a little. She stammered: ‘I don’t believe it! Bart wouldn’t—-’
    ‘I know he’s never wanted to marry any of his other bits of stuff,’ said Vivian, ‘but honestly, Faith, he does seem to have gone in off the deep end this time. Conrad’s livid with jealousy. You must have noticed it! Eugene says—
    ‘I ‘I don’t want to hear what Eugene says! He always was a mischief-maker, and I don’t believe one word of this!’
    Any criticism of Eugene at once alienated Vivian. She put out her cigarette in the grate, and got up, saying coldly: ‘You can believe what you like, but if you’ve a grain of sense you’ll get rid of the girl. I don’t know if Bart means to marry her or not, and I care less, but if it’s true, and Penhallow gets to hear of it, you’ll wish you’d paid attention to me, that’s all.’
    ‘I don’t believe a word of it!’ Faith repeated, on the verge of tears.
    Vivian opened the door, remarking over her shoulder: ‘You never believe anything you don’t want to believe. I’ve no patience with people like you.’
    After she had gone, Faith lay for quite half an hour thinking how brutal Vivian had been, and how rude, and how no one cared for her nerves, or hesitated to upset her when she had had a bad night. It was characteristic of her that she did not let her mind dwell on the unwelcome tidings which Vivian had imparted. If they were true, there would be the sort of trouble she dreaded; but she did not want to dismiss Loveday, and so she refused even to contemplate the possibility of their being true.
    It was past ten o’clock when Faith at last got up and began to dress. Fortunately for herself, and indeed for the rest of the household, it was Sybilla Lanner who undertook the housekeeping at Trevellin. She had done so from the time of Rachel’s death. An attempt by Faith, in the early days of her marriage, to take the