"I doubt if they'd bear it again!" CHAPTER V!

"That's just what makes Mona hesitate!" Owen honestly exclaimed. "I mean the idea that I shall get back the things only if she gives me up." "Only give her time," said Fleda. She had advanced to the threshold of the door thus thrown open to her and, without exactly crossing it, she threw in an appreciative glance. She asked Owen when his marriage would take place, and in the light of his reply read that Mrs. Gereth's wretched attitude would have no influence at all on the event, absolutely fixed when he came down, and distant by only three months. He liked Fleda's seeming to be on his side, though that was a secondary matter, for what really most concerned him now was the line his mother took about Poynton, her declared unwillingness to give it up.

Fleda gave her a faint smile. "He'll come if he can." "I'm dashed if I want to!" Owen honestly declared. "But what's a fellow to do if she won't meet a fellow?" Fleda looked very blank. "What on earth am I to see him for?"