He had been brought up in it as a child.

But he had only inherited the Beechmark property from his uncle just before the war, and during almost the whole of the war he had been so hard at work, as a volunteer in the Admiralty, that he had never been able to do more than run down once or twice a year to see his agent, go over his home farm, and settle what timber was to be cut before the Government commandeered it.

He was not yet demobilized, as his naval uniform showed.

There was a good deal of work still to do in his particular office, and he was more than willing to do it.

But in a few months' time at any rate--he was just now taking a fortnight's leave--he would be once more at a loose end.