old safe investments and putting it into Foreign
Things, which always smash. Silence would have been
criminal. Her own fortune was invested in Home Rails,
and most ardently did she beg her niece to imitate her.
"Then we should be together, dear." Margaret, out of
politeness, invested a few hundreds in the Nottingham
and Derby Railway, and though the Foreign Things did
admirably and the Nottingham and Derby declined
with the steady dignity. of which only Home Rails
are capable, Mrs. Munt never ceased to rejoice, and to
say: "I did manage that, at all events. When the smash
comes poor Margaret will have a nest-egg to fall back
upon." This year Helen came of age, and exactly the
same thing happened in Helen's case; she also would
shift her money out of Consols, but she, too, almost
without being pressed, consecrated a fraction of it to
the Nottingham and Derby Railway. So far so good,
but in social matters their aunt had accomplished noth-
ing. Sooner or later the girls would enter on the process
known as throwing themselves away, and if they had
delayed hitherto, it was only that they might throw
themselves more vehemently in the future. They saw
too many people at Wickham Place -- unshaven musi-
cians, an actress even, German cousins (one knows
what foreigners are), acquaintances picked up at Con-
tinental hotels (one knows what they are too). It was
interesting, and down at Swanage no one appreciated
culture more than Mrs. Munt; but it was dangerous,
and disaster was bound to come. How right she was,
and how lucky to be on the spot when the disaster
came!

The train sped northward, under innumerable tun-
nels. It was only an hour's journey, but Mrs. Munt had
to raise and lower the window again and again. She
passed through the South Welwyn Tunnel, saw light
for a moment, and entered the North Welwyn Tunnel,
of tragic fame. She traversed the immense viaduct,
whose arches span untroubled meadows and the dreamy

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