But Anstice might not seize the moment; and although Bruce Cheniston had hitherto taken the second place in Iris' esteem, when once she realized that Anstice had apparently no intention of renewing their late friendship she gently put the thought of him out of her heart and turned for relief to the man who had not failed her.
So matters stood on the morning of Iris' birthday, a glorious day in mid-July, when the gardens of Greengates were all ablaze with roses and sweet-peas, with tall white lilies whose golden hearts flung sweetest incense on the soft air, with great masses of Canterbury bells and giant phlox making gorgeous splashes of colour, mauve and red and white and palest pink, against their background of velvet lawns and dark-green cedar trees.
This was the day on which Bruce Cheniston had decided to put his fortune to the test; and as he looked out of his window at Cherry Orchard and noted the misty blue haze which foretold a day of real summer heat, he told himself that on such a day as this there could be no need to fear a reverse in his present luck.
He whistled as he dressed, and when the breakfast-bell rang he went downstairs feeling at peace with himself and all the world.
"'Morning, Chloe. What a day!" He stooped and kissed his sister as he passed behind her chair, and she looked faintly amused at the unusual salutation.
"Yes. A beautiful day." Her deep voice expressed little pleasure in the morning's beauty. "Are you going anywhere particular that the fine weather fills you with such joy?"
"No--only over to Greengates." He was so accustomed to making this reply that it came out almost automatically and certainly caused Chloe no surprise.
"It's Iris' birthday, isn't it, Bruce?" Cherry flatly refused to endow her uncle with the title which rightly belonged to him. "What are you going to give her?"
"Give her? Well, come round here, and you shall see."
Nothing loth, Cherry obeyed, and stood beside him attentively while he opened a small leather case and took out a pair of earrings each consisting of a tiny, pear-shaped moonstone dangling at the end of a thin platinum chain.
"Earrings! But Iris hasn't any holes in her ears, my dear!" Cherry's consternation was genuine.
"I know that, you little goose! But these don't want holes--see, you screw them on like this."
He took one of her little pink ears in his fingers and screwed on the earring deftly.