“Come on,” says Randal excitedly; “Miss Hescott and I will hunt the lot of you!  But look here, you must all keep to the parts of the house agreed on.  I am not going to have my beloved aunt descending upon me in a nightcap and a wrapper!”

“Well, you must give us three minutes,” says Tita, “and you mustn’t stir until you hear someone cry, ‘Coo-ee!’ You understand now, Minnie.”

“I know!  I’ll keep him in hand,” says Miss Hescott.

“And he mustn’t peep,” says Mrs. Chichester.

“Good gracious! what a mean thought!” says Mr. Gower, who is already laying plans in his own mind as to how he is to discomfit the hiders, and win laurels for himself as a searcher.

“Well, off we go!” cries Mrs. Chichester, flying out of the room, Captain Marryatt after her.

Hide-and-seek as a game leaves little to be desired.  Even Margaret, who had said so much against it, enters into the spirit of it presently, and knows the throes of anguish when the hunter draws nigh her hiding-place, and the glow of joy when she has safely eluded him and flown to the den, without a clutch upon so much as the end of her garments.  Indeed, all have given themselves up to the hour and its excitement, except only Marian Bethune, who, whilst entering into the game with apparently all the zest of the others, is ever listening—­listening——­ He had said he might come home to-night.  And it is now close on eleven!  In ten minutes, if at all, he will be here.  If only she could so manage as to——­

They are all now standing once more, laughing, talking, in the small drawing-room, preparatory to another start.

“Who’ll hunt now?” asks Colonel Neilson, who has been far and away the best pursuer up to this.

“Why not Tita and Mr. Hescott?” says Marian suddenly, vivaciously.  She seems to have lost all her indolence.  “They have not been hunting once to-night.”

“Yes; that is true,” says Captain Marryatt.

“I hate hunting and I like hiding,” says Tita.  “Colonel Neilson, you and Margaret can be our pursuers this time.  Come, Tom! come, all of you!”

Mrs. Bethune for a moment frowns, and then a quick light comes back to her eyes.  Even better so—­if Maurice should arrive.  She had planned that they—­those two, Tita and her cousin—­should be together on his arrival, should he come; and now, now they will be hiding together in all probability!  Oh for Maurice to come now—­now!

She has evaded her own partner in the game, and, slipping away unobserved, is standing in one of the windows of the deserted library—­a window that opens on the avenue—­listening for the sound of horses’ hoofs.  In five minutes Maurice will be here, if he comes at all to-night, and as yet they have scarcely started on their game of hide-and-seek.  She had heard Tita whisper to Mr. Hescott something about the picture-gallery—­she had caught the word—­a delightful place in semi-darkness, and with huge screens here and there.  Oh, if only Tita could be found hiding behind one with Mr. Hescott!