When William Came | Page 2

piano.
"Come," she said, touching the young man lightly with a finger-tip on
the top of his very sleek, copper-hued head, "we're going to have
picnic-lunch to-day up here; it's so much cooler than any of the
downstairs rooms, and we shan't be bothered with the servants trotting
in and out all the time. Rather a good idea of mine, wasn't it?"
Ronnie, after looking anxiously to see that the word "picnic" did not
portend tongue sandwiches and biscuits, gave the idea his blessing.
"What is young Storre's profession?" some one had once asked
concerning him.
"He has a great many friends who have independent incomes," had
been the answer.
The meal was begun in an appreciative silence; a picnic in which three
kinds of red pepper were available for the caviare demanded a certain
amount of respectful attention.
"My heart ought to be like a singing-bird to-day, I suppose," said
Cicely presently.
"Because your good man is coming home?" asked Ronnie.
Cicely nodded.
"He's expected some time this afternoon, though I'm rather vague as to
which train he arrives by. Rather a stifling day for railway travelling."
"And is your heart doing the singing-bird business?" asked Ronnie.
"That depends," said Cicely, "if I may choose the bird. A missel-thrush

would do, perhaps; it sings loudest in stormy weather, I believe."
Ronnie disposed of two or three stems of asparagus before making any
comment on this remark.
"Is there going to be stormy weather?" he asked.
"The domestic barometer is set rather that way," said Cicely. "You see,
Murrey has been away for ever so long, and, of course, there will be
lots of things he won't be used to, and I'm afraid matters may be rather
strained and uncomfortable for a time."
"Do you mean that he will object to me?" asked Ronnie.
"Not in the least," said Cicely, "he's quite broad-minded on most
subjects, and he realises that this is an age in which sensible people
know thoroughly well what they want, and are determined to get what
they want. It pleases me to see a lot of you, and to spoil you and pay
you extravagant compliments about your good looks and your music,
and to imagine at times that I'm in danger of getting fond of you; I don't
see any harm in it, and I don't suppose Murrey will either--in fact, I
shouldn't be surprised if he takes rather a liking to you. No, it's the
general situation that will trouble and exasperate him; he's not had time
to get accustomed to the fait accompli like we have. It will break on
him with horrible suddenness."
"He was somewhere in Russia when the war broke out, wasn't he?" said
Ronnie.
"Somewhere in the wilds of Eastern Siberia, shooting and bird
collecting, miles away from a railway or telegraph line, and it was all
over before he knew anything about it; it didn't last very long, when
you come to think of it. He was due home somewhere about that time,
and when the weeks slipped by without my hearing from him, I quite
thought he'd been captured in the Baltic or somewhere on the way back.
It turned out that he was down with marsh fever in some
out-of-the-way spot, and everything was over and finished with before
he got back to civilisation and newspapers."
"It must have been a bit of a shock," said Ronnie, busy with a
well-devised salad; "still, I don't see why there should be domestic
storms when he comes back. You are hardly responsible for the
catastrophe that has happened."
"No," said Cicely, "but he'll come back naturally feeling sore and
savage with everything he sees around him, and he won't realise just at

once that we've been through all that ourselves, and have reached the
stage of sullen acquiescence in what can't be helped. He won't
understand, for instance, how we can be enthusiastic and excited over
Gorla Mustelford's debut, and things of that sort; he'll think we are a set
of callous revellers, fiddling while Rome is burning."
"In this case," said Ronnie, "Rome isn't burning, it's burnt. All that
remains to be done is to rebuild it--when possible."
"Exactly, and he'll say we're not doing much towards helping at that."
"But," protested Ronnie, "the whole thing has only just happened;
'Rome wasn't built in a day,' and we can't rebuild our Rome in a day."
"I know," said Cicely, "but so many of our friends, and especially
Murrey's friends, have taken the thing in a tragical fashion, and cleared
off to the Colonies, or shut themselves up in their country houses, as
though there was a sort of moral leprosy infecting London."
"I don't see what good that does," said Ronnie.
"It doesn't do any good, but it's what