And then, quite suddenly, he rose, came across the room, and standing by her chair, he asked it.  The room had grown terribly still.  Even St. George ceased to purr.  Rosemary heard her own heart beating and was sure John Meredith must hear it too.

Now was the time for her to say no, gently but firmly.  She had been ready for days with her stilted, regretful little formula.  And now the words of it had completely vanished from her mind.  She had to say no—­and she suddenly found she could not say it.  It was the impossible word.  She knew now that it was not that she could have loved John Meredith, but that she did love him.  The thought of putting him from her life was agony.

She must say something; she lifted her bowed golden head and asked him stammeringly to give her a few days for—­for consideration.

John Meredith was a little surprised.  He was not vainer than any man has a right to be, but he had expected that Rosemary West would say yes.  He had been tolerably sure she cared for him.  Then why this doubt—­this hesitation?  She was not a school girl to be uncertain as to her own mind.  He felt an ugly shock of disappointment and dismay.  But he assented to her request with his unfailing gentle courtesy and went away at once.

“I will tell you in a few days,” said Rosemary, with downcast eyes and burning face.

When the door shut behind him she went back into the room and wrung her hands.

CHAPTER XXII.  ST. GEORGE KNOWS ALL ABOUT IT

At midnight Ellen West was walking home from the Pollock silver wedding.  She had stayed a little while after the other guests had gone, to help the gray-haired bride wash the dishes.  The distance between the two houses was not far and the road good, so that Ellen was enjoying the walk back home in the moonlight.

The evening had been a pleasant one.  Ellen, who had not been to a party for years, found it very pleasant.  All the guests had been members of her old set and there was no intrusive youth to spoil the flavour, for the only son of the bride and groom was far away at college and could not be present.  Norman Douglas had been there and they had met socially for the first time in years, though she had seen him once or twice in church that winter.  Not the least sentiment was awakened in Ellen’s heart by their meeting.  She was accustomed to wonder, when she thought about it at all, how she could ever have fancied him or felt so badly over his sudden marriage.  But she had rather liked meeting him again.  She had forgotten how bracing and stimulating he could be.  No gathering was ever stagnant when Norman Douglas was present.  Everybody had been surprised when Norman came.  It was well known he never went anywhere.  The Pollocks had invited him because he had been one of the original guests, but they never thought he would come.