Grace mused for a time and Kit thought her face disturbed.  Then she looked up quietly.

“One needs courage to know the risk and not to hesitate.  But you will keep those candles burning?”

“Yes,” said Kit, “I promised.  Besides, I like to think they’re burning.  It means something.”

“It means much,” Grace agreed, and after a pause resumed:  “You had no doubt about taking up your uncle’s engagement with the president, although you saw what it might cost?”

“Of course not,” Kit replied.  “There was nothing else to be done.”

Grace smiled and got up.  “No,” she said, “there was nothing else you could do.  Well, I must go home.”

Kit went back with her for some distance.  They talked but little on the way, but when she left him she gave him her hand and a look that made his heart beat.

Soon after Grace reached Tarnside, Osborn crossed the lawn to the tea-table where she and Mrs. Osborn sat beneath a spreading copper-beech.  His face was thoughtful when Mrs. Osborn gave him a cup.

“I met the post as I was driving home,” he said.  “There’s a letter from Gerald.”

“Has he any news?” Mrs. Osborn asked.

“Nothing important.  He’s well and says he’s kept occupied, which is fortunate.  In fact, the harder they work him, the better; I’d sooner Gerald did not have much time on his hands.”

“Then, why did he write?” Grace asked, because Gerald’s letters were by no means regular.

“I hope he did not want money,” Mrs. Osborn remarked.

“No,” said Osborn.  “That is, he did not want it for himself.”  He hesitated, and then resumed:  “He states that if I could raise a moderate sum, he knows how we could make a very satisfactory profit in a short time.  It seems he has got a useful hint.”

Grace laughed.  “About a racehorse?  Gerald is always hopeful, but his confidence in his ability to spot the winner is dangerous.  It has been so often misplaced.”

“This has nothing to do with racing,” Osborn rejoined angrily.  “Gerald knows the consequences of indulging his folly again.  There’s a difference between betting and buying shares.”

“I don’t know if the difference is very marked,” said Grace, with a curious feeling of annoyance, for there was a note in Osborn’s voice that jarred.  He was, like Gerald, a gambler, greedy for money he had not earned, and she thought about the story Kit had told.  Its hero had risked and lost his life, and Kit had paid in health and fortune, because they put honor before gain.  For all that, she knew she had said enough when she saw Osborn’s frown.

“Gerald is young, but he holds a responsible post and has opportunities of meeting important stock-brokers and business men,” Osborn went on, turning to his wife.  “He is, of course, optimistic and has been rash, but after all he may have found out something useful.  He declares the venture is absolutely safe.”