“Does she want to?” Dick had never noticed in his grand-daughter the slightest leanings to religion.

“I don’t know. There are compensations,” and again the Doña smiled.

“What? a new Girl-Guide kit?”

“No; the complete works of Scott.”

“My dear Anna—you ought to have been the General of the Jesuits!”

The Doña looked flattered.

“Well, Dick,” she went on in a brisk, but still friendly voice, “we really must decide soon—are we going to have pillar-roses or clematis at the back of the borders? Rudge says....”

They spent a happy, amicable morning together; and at luncheon their daughters were conscious that the tension between them had considerably relaxed.

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