Joan thought quickly; she knew instinctively that her moment had come. It was now or never with Milly.

"Do you want to marry him?" she asked quietly.

Milly looked up, a little smile trembling over her tear-stained face.

"Of course not," she said. "Would you want to marry Jack?"

"Well, then, look here; do you still want to go to the Royal College, or have you lost all interest in your fiddle?"

"Lost interest? Why, I want it more than anything on earth; you know I do."

"Right!" said Joan; "then you shall go. I'll speak to Mother to-morrow."

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
1

"IT'S no good, Mother," said Joan firmly. "Things like this can happen, they do happen; it's human nature, I suppose."