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heard anything so—so —”
    “ Don ’ t say it, ” he urged her. “ It ’ s not in the least fantastic really—it ’ s merely expedient. A remedy for a difficult situation which we ’ ve got to face up to. I n a few weeks you ’ ll probably be so fit that you ’ ll be able to say goodbye to me with equanimity, but at present you ’ re so very f a r from fit that it doesn ’ t seem to me you have any choice in the matter. ”
    “ I could go into hospital, ” she whispered. “ The doctor could get me into hospital. ”
    “ He could, ” Iain agreed, “ but he would probably think it strange to be requested to do that when I ’ ve already told him you ’ re my fiancée , and Craigie has any number of empty bedrooms! ”
    After that he was almost shocked by the sudden whiteness of her face, the bewildered look in her eyes, and he paused and bent over her and put his hand on her shoulder for a moment.
    “ Look, ” he said gently, “ you don ’ t have to make any decision about this today. But have you told Mrs. Burns anything at all about yourself? ”
    “ Only that I expected to stay with Nannie McBain. ”
    “ Well, that ’ s perfectly all right. She knows Nannie McBain, and you would probably have preferred to stay with her. Mrs. Burns will understand that. It ’ s perfectly natural. ”
    “ But you must n ’t even think about leaving your own home just because of me! It would be dreadful if you had to do that —” with an appalled quiver in her voice.
    “ Don ’ t worry about that. ” He patted her shoulder lightly, and Karen was amazed at the sudden softening of his face, the compassion in the grey eyes. “ I ’ m not proposing to leave it today, anyway, and the important thing at the moment is to get you back to bed. I ’ m going to call Mrs. Bu rn s, and tomorrow, if you feel like it, we ’ ll have another talk. But in the meantime don ’ t worry about anything. ”
    Before the next day dawned, however, the cold brilliance of the weather had passed, and by evening there were leaden skies and a bleak north wind was blowing. Before Karen opened her eyes in the morning the soft, feathery flakes were fluttering down, and by the time she was sitting up in bed with a breakfast tray resting comfortably on her lap it was a white world outside. It was also a grey and ominous world, with the howling of the blizzard making a constant noise in her chimney. And when the wind dropped the snow simply continued to fall until every sound outside the windows was muffled by it.
    Mrs. Bu rn was almost triumphant when she drew back Karen ’ s curtains and let her see what was happening, and had happened, outside.
    “ I told you, didn ’ t I? ” she said. “ And I ’ m never wrong! The snow ’ s late this year, but it means business unless I ’ m no a weather prophet at all! ”
    Karen, from amidst her piled-up, lace-trimmed, feather pillows, gazed fascinatedly out the whirlwind of drifting white particles, and hardly knew whether to be concerned by what she saw or not. If this weather continued there was certainly no hope of her getting away from Craigie—there was no hope of anyone ’ s getting away from Craigie!— and the situation inside the house would be extremely odd. She and her host would be pinned here together for weeks perhaps, and Mrs. Burns and the household staff already believed that they were contemplating marrying one another!
    What an altogether absurd thought, Karen decided but she toyed with it for a moment as if it fascinated her. Two people who had not even known of one another ’ s existence a week ago talking of becoming husband an d wife, and pretending to be engaged for the sake of satisfying the proprieties.
    But evidently Iain Mackenzie had firmly made up his mind that the proprieties would have to be satisfied—and he had done that before there had been any danger of being snowed up! How would he feel about the necessity for such a pretence after they had been