He came to her with his light, athletic tread, stooped, and lifted her bodily in his arms.  He held her a moment before he set her on her feet, and then in his hot, fierce way he kissed her.

“You beautiful ghost!” he said.

She leaned against him, breathing rather hard.  “I wish—­I wish we needn’t go,” she said.

“Why?” said Piers.

He held her to him, gazing down at her with his eyes of fiery possession that always made her close her own.

“Because—­because it’s so hot,” she said quiveringly.  “There will be no one I know there.  And I—­and I—­”

“That’s just why you are going,” he broke in.  “Don’t you know it will be your introduction to the County?  You’ve got to find your footing, Avery.  I’m not going to have my wife overlooked by anyone.”

“Oh, my dear,” she said, with a faint laugh, “I don’t care two straws about the County.  They’ve seen me once already, most of them,—­in a ditch and covered with mud.  If they want to renew the acquaintance they can come and call.”

He kissed her again with lips that crushed her own.  “We won’t stay longer than we can help,” he said.  “You ought to go out more, you know.  It isn’t good for you to stay in this gloomy old vault all day.  We will really get to work and make it more habitable presently.  But I’ve got such a lot on hand just now.”

“I know,” she said quietly.  “Please don’t bother about me!  Lunch is waiting for us.  Shall we go?”

He gave her a quick, keen look, as if he suspected her of trying to elude him; but he let her go without a word.

They descended to lunch, and later went forth into the blazing sunshine where the car awaited them.  Avery sank back into the corner and closed her eyes.  Her head was aching violently.  The sense of reluctance that had possessed her for so long amounted almost to a premonition of evil.

“Avery!” Her husband’s voice, curt, imperious, with just a tinge of anxiety broke in upon her.  “Are you feeling faint or anything?”

She looked at him.  He was watching her with a frown between his eyes.

“No, I am not faint,” she said.  “The heat makes my head ache, that’s all.”

“You ought to see a doctor,” he said restlessly.  “But not that ass, Tudor.  We’ll go up to town to-morrow.  Avery,” his voice softened suddenly, “I’m sorry I dragged you here if you didn’t want to come.”

She put out her hand to him instantly.  It was the old Piers who had spoken, Piers the boy-lover who had won her heart so irresistibly, so completely.

He held the hand tightly, and she thought his face quivered a little as he said:  “I don’t mean to be a tyrant, dear.  But somehow—­somehow, you know—­I can’t always help it.  A man with a raging thirst will take—­anything he can get.”

His eyes were still upon her, and her heart quickened to compassion at their look.  They seemed to cry to her for mercy out of a depth of suffering that she could not bear to contemplate.