she whispered.

“Bid them.”

So she asked them a trifle shyly, and they thanked her gravely, turned one by one to take a silent leave of me, then went noiselessly out into the early dusk.

“Euan, my dear mother is awaiting you in our best room.”

“I will instantly pay my duties and — — ”

“Lana is there also.”

“Does she know?”

“Yes. God help her and the young thing she has taken to her heart. The news came by courier a week ago.”

“How he died? Does she know?”