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so much in this instance,’ she admitted, ‘because Major Milward is almost absurdly generous. Well, are you going?’

‘I don’t know. I could do the work very well; it would be less irksome to me than tilling the soil—supposing I could afford to consider my inclinations, which I can’t. I am not a great deal of help to Robert, though I endeavour to do my share, and it has struck me that I might be able to assist him to better purpose if I were earning money independently.’

‘Those are very good reasons why you should go; now let us hear one or two why you shouldn’t.’

Geoffrey was silent awhile. ‘There is only one,’ he said at last slowly. ‘You know that I was a good deal at Wairangi during the summer and autumn. It is a pretty place, and Major Milward has royal ideas of hospitality—you used to tell me jokingly what would happen.’

‘Ah!’ said Mrs. Gird, her eyes beaming. ‘The one thing you haven’t mentioned is that Eve Milward is a lovely girl.’

‘She is too lovely for my peace of mind.’

‘Good boy. So that’s the problem? Now let me think. I suppose you have never said anything to her? No. And you have no idea how she regards you. Well, as a friend, of course.’

‘If I go,’ said Geoffrey, ‘it will be as her lover.’

‘And as her father’s storekeeper.’

‘That is the crux of the whole matter. Are the two compatible?’

‘Perfectly—in this country. You are not in England now.’

‘Then do you advise me to go?’