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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Star-Gazers, by George Manville Fenn
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Star-Gazers
+
+Author: George Manville Fenn
+
+Release Date: November 8, 2010 [EBook #34244]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STAR-GAZERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
+
+
+
+
+Volume 1, Chapter I.
+
+LODESTARS.
+
+Ben Hayle, keeper, stepped out of his rose-covered cottage in Thoreby
+Wood; big, black-whiskered, dark-eyed and handsome, with the sun-tanned
+look of a sturdy Englishman, his brown velveteen coat and vest and tawny
+leggings setting off his stalwart form.
+
+As he cleared the porch, he half-turned and set down his carefully kept
+double-barrelled gun against the rough trellis-work; as, at the sound of
+his foot, there arose from a long, moss-covered, barn-like building, a
+tremendous barking and yelping.
+
+"Now then: that'll do!" he shouted, as he walked towards the great
+double door, which was dotted with the mortal remains of what he termed
+"varmin"--to wit, the nailed-up bodies of stoats, weasels, hawks, owls,
+magpies and jays, all set down as being the deadly enemies of the game
+he reared and preserved for Mrs Rolph at The Warren.  But even these
+were not the most deadly enemies of the pheasants and partridges,
+Thoreby Wood being haunted by sundry ne'er-do-weels who levied toll
+there, in spite of all Ben Hayle's efforts and the stern repression of
+the County Bench.
+
+"May as well stick you up too," said Ben, as he took a glossy-skinned
+polecat from where he had thrown it that morning, after taking it from a
+trap.
+
+He opened one of the doors, and two Gordon setters and a big black
+retriever bounded out, to leap up, dance around him, and make efforts,
+in dog-like fashion, to show their delight and anxiety to be at liberty
+once more.
+
+"Down, Bess!  Down, Juno!  Steady, Sandy!  Quiet!  Good dogs, then," he
+cried, as he entered the barn, took a hammer from where it hung, and a
+nail from a rough shelf, and with the dogs looking on after sniffing at
+the polecat, as if they took human interest in the proceeding, he nailed
+the unfortunate, ill-odoured little beast side by side with the last
+gibbeted offender, a fine old chinchilla-coated grey rat.
+
+"'Most a pity one can't serve Master Caleb Kent the same.  Dunno,
+though," he added with a chuckle.  "Time was--that was years ago,
+though, and nobody can't say I've done badly since.  But I did hope we'd
+seen the last of Master Caleb."
+
+Ben Hayle took off his black felt hat, and gave his dark, grizzled hair
+a scratch, and his face puckered up as he put away the hammer, to stand
+thinking.
+
+"No, hang him, he wouldn't dare!"
+
+Ben walked back to the porch to take up his gun, and a look of pride
+came to brighten his face, as just then a figure appeared in the porch
+in the shape of Judith Hayle, a tall, dark-eyed girl of twenty,
+strikingly like her father, and, as she stood framed in the entrance,
+she well warranted the keeper's look of pride.
+
+"Are you going far?"
+
+"'Bout the usual round, my dear.  Why, Judy, the place don't seem to be
+the same with you back home.  But it is dull for you, eh?"
+
+"Dull, father?  No," said the girl laughing.
+
+"Oh, I dunno.  After your fine ways up at The Warren with Miss Marjorie
+and the missus, it must seem a big drop down to be here again."
+
+"Don't, father.  You know I was never so happy anywhere as here."
+
+"But you are grown such a lady now; I'm 'most afraid of you."
+
+"No you are not.  I sometimes wish that Mrs Rolph had never had me at
+the house."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because it makes you talk to me like that."
+
+"Well, then, I won't say another word.  There, I must be off, but--"
+
+He hesitated as if in doubt.
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"Well, I was only going to say, I see young Caleb has come back to the
+village, and knowing how he once--"
+
+"Come back, father!" cried Judith, with a look of alarm.
+
+"Yes, I thought I'd tell you; but I don't think he'll come nigh here
+again."
+
+"Oh, no, father, I hope not," said the girl, looking thoughtfully
+towards the wood, with her brows knitting.
+
+"He'd better not," said the keeper, picking up and tapping the butt of
+his gun.  "Might get peppered with number six.  Good-bye, my dear."
+
+He kissed her, walked to the edge of the dense fir wood, gave a look
+back at the figure by the porch, and then plunged in among the bushes
+and disappeared, closely followed by the eager dogs, while Judith stood
+frowning at the place where he had disappeared.
+
+"I wish father wouldn't be so close," thought the girl.  "He must know
+why I'm sent back home.  It wasn't my fault; I never tried; but he was
+always after me.  Oh, how spiteful Miss Madge did look."
+
+She went into the cottage to stand by the well-polished grate, her hand
+resting upon the mantelpiece, whose ornaments were various fittings and
+articles belonging to the gamekeeper's craft, above which, resting in
+well-made iron racks, were a couple of carefully cared-for guns; one an
+old flint-lock fowling-piece, the other a strong single-barrel, used for
+heavier work, and in which the keeper took special pride.
+
+"Caleb," she said with a shudder, "come back!  Well, I was so young
+then."
+
+As Ben Hayle went thoughtfully along the path, trying to fit into their
+places certain matters which troubled him, the man of whom they had both
+been thinking was near at hand, so that, as the gamekeeper was saying to
+himself,--"Yes: it's because young squire come home to stay that the
+missus has sent her back,"--Caleb Kent stood before him in the path, the
+dogs giving the first notice of his presence by dashing forward,
+uttering low growls, and slipping round the slight, dark, good-looking,
+gipsy-like fellow coming in the opposite direction.
+
+"Hallo, you, sir!" said the keeper sharply.
+
+"And hallo, you, sir!" retorted the young man, showing his white teeth
+as he thrust his hands far down in his cord breeches pockets, and, as he
+stopped, passing one cord legging over the other.
+
+"What are you doing here?"
+
+"Looking at you, Ben Hayle.  Path's free for me as it is for you.  No, I
+aren't got a gun in two pieces in my pockets.  You needn't look.  You
+know how that's done."
+
+"If I'd been you, I'd ha' stopped away altogether," said the keeper,
+"and not come back here, where nobody wants you."
+
+"Pity you weren't me.  Six months' hard would have done you good once
+more."
+
+"When I get six months' imprisonment, it won't be for night poaching,
+but for putting a charge of shot in you, you lunging hound.  And don't
+you let that tongue of yours wag so fast, young man.  I'm not ashamed of
+it.  Everyone knows I did a bit of poaching when I was a young fool, and
+did my bit in quod for that trouble with the keepers.  But they know too
+that, when I came out, and the captain's father come to me and said,
+`Drop it, my lad, and be an honest man,' I said I would, and served him
+faithful; so shut your mouth before I do it with the stock of my gun."
+
+"All right, mate, don't be waxey.  Look here:--s'pose I turn honest
+too."
+
+"You!" said the keeper, scornfully.
+
+"Yes, me; and marry Judy."
+
+"That'll do," cried the keeper sharply.
+
+"No it won't, we're old sweethearts--Judy and me."
+
+"That'll do, I say.  Now, cut."
+
+"When I like," said the man, with a sneer.  "Better let me marry her;
+the captain won't."
+
+The keeper caught him by the throat.
+
+"Will you keep that cursed tongue still!"
+
+"No, I won't," cried the young man fiercely, and with a savage look in
+his eyes.  "I know, even if I have been away.  I know all about it.  But
+I'm in that little flutter, Ben Hayle."
+
+"Curse you! hold your tongue, will you," roared the keeper; and the dogs
+began to bark fiercely as he forced the young poacher back against a
+tree, but only to release him, as a quick sharp voice, called to the
+dogs, which dashed up to the new-comer, leaping to be caressed.
+
+"Hallo! what's up?  You here again?"
+
+Captain Robert Rolph, of The Warren, and of Her Majesty's 20th Dragoon
+Guards, a well-set-up, athletic-looking fellow, scowled at the poacher,
+and the colour came a little into his cheeks.
+
+"Oh yes, I'm back again, master."
+
+"Then take my advice, sir; go away again to somewhere at a distance."
+
+The young man gave him a sidelong glance, and laughed unpleasantly.
+
+"Look here, Caleb Kent: you're a smart-looking fellow.  Go up to
+Trafalgar Square.  You'll find one of our sergeants there.  Take the
+shilling, and they'll make a man of you.  You'll be in my regiment, and
+I'll stand your friend."
+
+"Thankye for nothing, captain.  'List so as to be out of your way, eh?
+Not such a fool."
+
+"Oh, very well then, only look out, sir.  I'll see that Sir John Day
+doesn't let you off so easily next time you're in trouble."
+
+"Ketch me first," said the young man; and giving the pair an ugly,
+unpleasant look, he walked away.
+
+"Not me," he muttered.  "I haven't done yet; wait a bit."
+
+"No good, sir," said the keeper, looking after the young poacher till he
+was out of sight.  "Bad blood, sir; bad blood."
+
+"Yes, I'm afraid so.  Morning, Hayle.  Er--Miss Hayle quite well?"
+
+"Yes sir, thank you kindly," said the keeper; and then, as the captain
+walked away, he trudged on through the woods, talking to himself.
+
+"_Miss Hayle_," he said, and he turned a bit red in the face.  "Well,
+she is good enow for him or any man; but no, no, that would never do.
+Don't be a fool, Ben, my lad: you don't want trouble to come.  Trouble,"
+he muttered, as he half cocked his gun, "why, I'd--bah!" he ejaculated,
+cooling down; "what's the good o' thinking things like that?  Better
+pepper young Caleb.  Damn him! he set me thinking it.  Captain's right
+enough.  I like a man who's fond of a bit of sport."
+
+As it happened, Captain Rolph was thinking, in a somewhat similar vein,
+of poachers and dark nights, and opportunities for using a gun upon
+unpleasant people.  But these thoughts were pervaded, too, with bright
+eyes and cheeks, and he said to himself,--
+
+"He'd better; awkward for him if he does."
+
+Volume 1, Chapter II.
+
+MARS ON THE HORIZON.
+
+In the drawing-room at The Warren, Mrs Rolph, a handsome, dignified lady
+of five-and-forty, was sitting back, with her brows knit, looking
+frowningly at a young and pretty girl of nineteen, whose eyes were
+puzzling, for in one light they seemed beautiful, in another shifting.
+She was a Rosetti-ish style of girl, with too much neck, a tangle of
+dark red hair, and lips of that peculiar pout seen in the above artist's
+pictures, in conjunction with heavily-lidded eyes, and suggesting at one
+moment infantile retraction from a feeding-bottle, at another parting
+from the last kiss.  There was a want of frankness in her countenance
+that would have struck a stranger at once, till she spoke, when the
+soft, winning coo of her voice proved an advocate which made the
+disingenuous looks and words fade into insignificance.
+
+Her voice sounded very sweet and low now, as she said softly,--
+
+"Are you not judging dear Robert too hardly, aunt?"
+
+"No, Madge, no.  It is as plain as can be; he thinks of nothing else
+when he comes home--he, a man to whom any alliance is open, to be taken
+in like that by a keeper's--an ex-poacher's daughter."
+
+"Judith is very ladylike and sweet," said Marjorie softly, as if to
+herself.
+
+"Madge, do you want to make me angry?" cried Mrs Rolph, indignantly.
+"Shame upon you!  And it is partly your fault.  You have been so cold
+and distant with him, when a few gentle words would have brought him to
+your side."
+
+"I am sure you would not have liked me to be different towards him.  You
+would not have had me throw myself at his feet."
+
+The words were as gentle-sounding as could be, but all the same there
+was a suggestion of strength behind, if the speaker cared to exert it.
+
+"No, no, it is not your fault, my dear," cried Mrs Rolph, angrily; "it
+is mine, I can see it all now.  It was a foolish mistake having her
+here.  Educating a girl like that is a great error, and I see it now
+that it is too late.  Oh, Madge, dear, if I could see him happily wedded
+to you, how different things might be.  But I declare that nothing shall
+ever induce me to consent.  If he will go on in utter rebellion to his
+mother, he must do so."
+
+"But is it too late, aunt?"
+
+"Unless you rouse yourself up to the position, act like a woman of the
+world, and drag him from this wretched girl.  Oh, it is too disgraceful.
+If I had only thought to send her away before his regiment was
+quartered so near."
+
+"Yes," said Marjorie, musingly, "but it is too late now."
+
+"Then you will not try?"
+
+"I did not say so.  Here he is."
+
+There was a step in the hall, the sound of a stick being thrust
+carelessly into a stand, and, directly after, Rolph tramped into the
+room.
+
+"Ah, Madge," he said, in a careless, easy way; and, ignoring the smile
+of welcome with which she greeted him, he walked across to his mother's
+chair.
+
+"Well," he said, "how is the head?" and he stooped down and kissed her
+brow.
+
+"Not at all well, my dear," she said affectionately.  "I think I will go
+up to my room."
+
+"Have a drive, dear; I'll order the tandem out."
+
+"No, no, my dear, I shall be better soon."
+
+She rose, kissed him, and left the room.
+
+"Dodge to leave Madge and me together," muttered the young man.  "All
+right.  Bring things to a climax."
+
+"How very little we see of you, Robert," said Madge softly.  "So much
+training?"
+
+"Health.  Shows how wise I have grown.  I'm like pepper; a little of me
+is very nice--too much an abomination."
+
+Marjorie sighed.
+
+"Hallo!  Been reading poetry?"
+
+"No," said the girl, in a low, pained voice.  "I was thinking."
+
+"Thinking, eh?  What about?"
+
+"Of how changed you are from the nice frank boy who used to be so loving
+and tender."
+
+"Ah, I was rather a milksop, Madge; wasn't I?"
+
+"I never thought so; and it pains me to hear you speak so harshly of
+yourself.  What has made you alter so?"
+
+"Ask Dame Nature.  I was a boy; now I am a man."
+
+Marjorie sighed, and gave him a long, sad look.
+
+"Well," he said, "what is the matter?"
+
+She looked at him again, long and wistfully.
+
+"As if you did not know," she said.
+
+"Know?  How should I know?"
+
+"Then I'll tell you," she cried quickly.
+
+"No, no; confide in some lady friend."
+
+"Robert," she said, in a low, husky voice, and her whole manner changed,
+her eyes flashed and the lines about her lips grew hard.  "What have I
+done that you should treat me like this?"
+
+"Done?  Nothing."
+
+"Then why have you turned so cold and hard to me?"
+
+"I am the same to you to-day that I have always been."
+
+"It is not true," she whispered, with her voice full of intensity of
+feeling, "you left no stone unturned to make me believe you cared for
+me."
+
+"Nonsense!  Why--"
+
+"Silence!  You shall hear me now," she continued, with her excitement
+growing.  "I resisted all this till you almost forced me to care for
+you.  You even make me now confess it in this shameless way, and, when
+you feel that you are the master, you play with me--trifle with my best
+feelings."
+
+"Gammon!  Madge, what is the matter with you?  I never dreamed of such a
+thing."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Are you going mad?"
+
+"Yes," she cried passionately, "driven so by you.  It is shameful.  I
+could not have believed the man lived who would have treated a woman so
+basely.  But I am not blind.  There is a reason for it all."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Do you think me a child?  I am to be won and then tossed aside for the
+new love--fancy, the poacher's daughter, and when--"
+
+"Don't be a fool, Madge.  You are saying words now that you will
+repent."
+
+"I'll say them," she cried, half wild with jealous rage, and her words
+sounding the more intense from their being uttered in a low, harsh
+whisper, "if I die for it.  The gamekeeper's daughter, the girl taken in
+here by your mother out of charity."
+
+"Madge!"
+
+"Who is to be the next favourite, when you are weary of your last
+conquest--one of the kitchen wenches?"
+
+"Perhaps," he said coolly.
+
+"Rob!  Have you no heart that you treat me as you do?"
+
+"I never thought, never said a word to make you think I meant--er--
+marriage."
+
+"Think you meant marriage?" she whispered.  "I did love you as dearly as
+I hate you now for your heartless cruelty to me.  But you shall repent
+it--repent it bitterly."
+
+"Look here," he said roughly; "for years past we have lived in this
+house like brother and sister, and I won't have you speak like this.
+Does my mother know?"
+
+"Ask her."
+
+"Bah!"
+
+"You dare not ask her what she thinks or whether she approves of your
+choice.  Captain Rolph in love with the gamekeeper's daughter!  Is she
+to be taken to the county ball, and introduced to society?  And is she
+to wear the family diamonds?  Judith--Judy--the miserable, low-bred--"
+
+"Here, hold hard!"
+
+Marjorie Emlin stopped short, startled into silence by the furious look
+and tone she had evoked.  The young man had listened, and from time to
+time had made deprecating movements to try and turn away the furious
+woman's wrath till she had made this last attack, when he glared with a
+rage so overpowering that she shrank from him.
+
+"You have done well," he said.  "My mother looks upon you as a daughter.
+I have always been to you as a brother."
+
+"It is not true," she said, as she stood quivering with fear and rage
+before him, trying to meet his eye.  Then, with a low cry, full of
+vindictive passion, she struck at him, and ran out of the room.
+
+"Curse the girl!" growled Rolph.  "I wish women wouldn't be such fools.
+A kiss and a few warm words, and then, hang 'em! you're expected to
+marry 'em.  Man can't marry every pretty girl he kisses.  They want a
+missionary among 'em to tell 'em this isn't Turkey.  If there's much
+more of it, I'm off back to Aldershot.  No, I'm not," he added, with a
+half laugh, "not yet--Hallo, mother!  You?"
+
+"Yes, my boy.  I saw Madge go out just now, looking wild and excited.
+Rob, dear, you have been speaking to her?"
+
+"Well, I suppose so," he said bitterly.
+
+"And you have told her you love her?--asked her to be your wife?"
+
+"Good heavens, mother! are you gone mad too?--Madge--I never dreamed of
+such a thing."
+
+"Why?" said Mrs Rolph, with a strange coldness.
+
+"Because--because--"
+
+"Yes; because you have taken a fancy to another," said Mrs Rolph
+sternly.  "Robert, my son, it is not I who am mad, but you.  Have you
+thought well over all this?"
+
+"Don't ask questions," he said sulkily.
+
+"I am your mother, sir, and I assert my right to question you on such a
+matter as this, as your poor father would have questioned you.  But
+there is no need.  I have done wrong, and yet I cannot blame myself, for
+how could I, his mother, know that my son would act otherwise than as a
+gentleman."
+
+"Well, I never do."
+
+"It is false.  When Mary Hayle died, I bade her go in peace, for I would
+try to be a mother to the orphaned girl.  Heaven knows, I tried to be.
+I brought her here, and made her the humble companion of your cousin
+Madge.  She shared her lessons; she was taught everything, that she
+might be able to earn her own livelihood as a governess."
+
+"Well, I know all that."
+
+"To be treated with ingratitude.  My foolish son, when he comes home,
+must allow himself to be enmeshed by a cunning and deceitful woman."
+
+"What bosh, mother!"
+
+"But it is true.  You do not dare to tell me you do not love Judith
+Hayle?"
+
+"There is no dare in question.  I like the girl."
+
+"Unhappy boy! and she has led you on."
+
+Captain Rolph whistled.
+
+"Any telegram come for me?  I sent a man to Brackley."
+
+"Telegram!"
+
+"Yes.  I want to know about the footrace at Lilley Bridge."
+
+Mrs Rolph gave her foot an impatient stamp.
+
+"Listen to me, sir.  This is no time for thinking about low sports."
+
+"Hallo?  Low?"
+
+"Yes, sir; low.  I have never interfered when I saw you taking so much
+interest in these pursuits.  My son, I said to our friends, is an
+officer and a gentleman, and if he likes to encourage athleticism in the
+country by his presence at these meetings, he has a right to do so; but
+I have not liked it, though I have been silent.  You know I have never
+interfered about your relaxations."
+
+"No; you've been a splendid mater," he said laughingly.
+
+"And I have been proud of my manly son; but when I see him stooping to
+folly--"
+
+"Misapplied quotation, mater--when lovely woman stoops to folly."
+
+"Be serious, sir.  I will not have you degrade yourself in the eyes of
+the neighbourhood by such conduct, for it means disgrace.  What would
+the Days say--Sir John and Glynne?  If it had been she, I would not have
+cared."
+
+"Let the Days be," he said gruffly.
+
+"I will," said Mrs Rolph; "but listen, Rob, dear; think of poor Madge."
+
+"Hang poor Madge!  Look here, once for all, mother; I'm not a witch in
+Macbeth.  I don't want three ounces of a red-haired wench--nor seven
+stone neither."
+
+"Rob!  Shame!"
+
+"I'm not going to have Madge rammed down my throat.  If I'm to marry,
+she's not in the running."
+
+"What? when you know my wishes?"
+
+"Man marries to satisfy his own wishes, not his mother's.  I have other
+ideas."
+
+"Then what are they, sir?" said Mrs Rolph scornfully.
+
+"That's my business," he said, taking out his cigar-case.
+
+"Then, am I to understand that you intend to form an alliance with the
+family of our keeper?" said Mrs Rolph sarcastically.
+
+"Bah!" roared her son fiercely; and he strode out of the room and banged
+the door.
+
+"Gone!" cried Mrs Rolph, wringing her hands and making her rings crackle
+one against the other.  "I was mad to have the wretched girl here.  What
+fools we women are."
+
+Her son was saying precisely the same as he marched away.
+
+"Does she think me mad?" he growled.  "Marry freckle-faced Madge!--form
+an alliance with Ben Hayle's Judy!  Not quite such a fool.  I'll go and
+do it, and show the old girl a trick worth two of that.  She's as
+clean-limbed a girl as ever stepped, and there's a look of breed in her
+that I like.  Must marry, I suppose.  Ck!  For the sake of the estate,
+join the two then--I will--at once.  It will stop their mouths at home,
+and make an end of the Madge business.  She'll be all right, and begin
+kissing and hugging her and calling her dearest in a week.  That's the
+way to clear that hedge, so here goes."
+
+He stopped, took a short run and cleared the hedge at the side of the
+lane in reality to begin with, before striking off through one of the
+adjacent fir woods, so as to reach the sandy lanes and wild common on
+the way to Brackley.
+
+Volume 1, Chapter III.
+
+CONCERNING VIRGO AND GEMINI.
+
+"And what does Glynne say?"
+
+"Well, Sir John, she don't say much; it isn't her way to say a deal."
+
+"Humph!  No; you're quite right.  But I should have thought that she
+would have said a good deal upon an occasion like this."
+
+"Yes, I thought she would have roused up a little more; but she has been
+very quiet ever since I went into training for the event."
+
+"Hang it all, Rolph, don't talk about marriage as if it were a bit of
+athletic sport."
+
+"No, of course not.  It was a slip."
+
+"Well, tell me what she did say."
+
+"That I was to talk to you."
+
+"Humph!  Well, you have talked to me, and I don't know what to say."
+
+"_Say yes_, sir, and then the event's fixed."
+
+"Exactly, my dear boy, but I might say _yes_, and repent."
+
+"Oh no, you won't, sir, I'm precious fond of her; I am, indeed.  Have
+been since a boy."
+
+"No one could know my daughter without being fond of her," said Sir John
+stiffly.
+
+"Of course not; and that's why I want to make sure."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated Sir John.  "You've a good income, my boy, and you're
+a fine, sound fellow; but I don't much like the idea of my little Glynne
+marrying into the army."
+
+"Oh, but I shall only stay in till I get my commission as major; and
+then I mean to retire and become a country squire."
+
+"Humph! yes; and go in more for athleticism, I suppose."
+
+"Well, I think an English country gentleman ought to foster the sports
+and pastimes of his native land--the hunt, the race meetings, and that
+sort of thing."
+
+"Humph!  Do you?  Well, I think, my boy, that we ought to take to
+agriculture and the improvement of stock.  But there, I daresay you'll
+tone down."
+
+"Then you have no objection, Sir John?"
+
+"Who?--I?  None at all, my boy; I liked your father, and I hope you'll
+make her a good husband--as good a husband as I did my poor wife;
+though, as the common folk say, I say it as shouldn't say it.  Now then,
+have you any more questions to ask?"
+
+"No, I don't think I have.  Of course I'm very happy and that sort of
+thing.  A fellow is sure to be at such a time, you know."
+
+"Yes, yes, of course.  To be sure.  Then that's all is it?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Don't want to ask questions about settlements, eh?"
+
+"No, I don't want to ask any questions.  I want Glynne, and you say I
+may have her; so that's all."
+
+"Come along then, and see my pigs."
+
+Captain Robert Rolph looked a little chagrined at the suggestion
+respecting pigs; but he concealed his annoyance and walked briskly on
+beside his companion, Sir John Day, Bart of Brackley Hall, Surrey, a
+grey, florid, stoutly-built gentleman, whose aspect betokened much of
+his time being spent in the open air.  He was an intent, bright,
+bustling-looking man, with grey, mutton-chop whiskers; and his drab-cord
+trousers, brown velveteen coat and low-crowned, grey hat, gave quite a
+country squire, country-town-bench turn to his appearance.
+
+"I've great faith in these pigs," he said, sharply.  "Been at a deal of
+trouble to get hold of the breed, and if I don't take a cup at the
+Agricultural Show this year, I shall be down upon some of those judges--
+in the _Times_."
+
+"Ah, 'tis disappointing when you've set your mind upon a cup and don't
+get it," said the captain.  "How many have you won, Sir John?"
+
+"What, cups?  Thirty-four, my boy, thirty-four."
+
+"Ah, I've got fifty," said the captain, with a touch of pride in his
+tone.  "When I go in training for anything, I always say to myself, I
+shall put it off, and I pretty generally do."
+
+"Humph! yes," said Sir John, shortly; "so I suppose.  Oh, by the way
+though, Rolph, you'd oblige me very much by going back to the house.
+I'll show you the pigs another day."
+
+"Certainly, certainly," said the young man with alacrity.
+
+"You see there's my brother.  He thinks a great deal of Glynne, and I
+never like to take any important step in life without consulting him.
+Do you understand?"
+
+"Well--er, not exactly."
+
+"Oh, I mean, just go back and see him, and say what you did to me just
+now."
+
+"What!  Do you mean I must ask his consent, Sir John?" cried the young
+man, aghast.
+
+"No, no, no! of course not, my dear boy.  Tell him I've given mine, and
+that it's all settled, and that you hope he approves, and--you know what
+to say.  He'll like it.  Be right, you see.  Captain to senior officer,
+eh?  There, be off, and get it over.  I must go on and see the pigs."
+
+"Confound the major!" said Captain Rolph, as he stopped, looking after
+the brisk retreating figure of the baronet.  "He'll want me to ask the
+housekeeper next.  Hang it all! it's almost worth more than the stakes.
+I did think I'd got it over.  The old major's as peppery as a curry.
+He'll want to order me under arrest if he doesn't like the engagement.
+Well, here goes to get it over.  Let's see; just a mile to the park
+gates.  Pity to waste it."
+
+He glanced round to see if there was anyone near, but he was quite alone
+on the hard, sandy, retired road; so, buttoning his well-cut morning
+coat tightly across his chest, he tucked up his cuffs and the bottoms of
+his trousers, selected two smooth pebbles about as large as kidneys from
+a stone heap, clasped one firmly in each hand, and then thrust one in
+his pocket for a moment while he referred to a stop watch, replaced it,
+took hold of the stone once more, and then, throwing himself into
+position, the gentlemanly officer seemed to subside into the low-type
+professional walking or running man.
+
+For a few moments he remained motionless in a statuesque attitude, his
+brow all in wrinkles, his teeth set, lips tight, and his chest expanded
+and thrown forward as if he were waiting the order to start.  Then he
+cried, "Off!" and bounded away at a rapid rate, running hard till he
+reached the park gates at Brackley, where he stopped short, threw away
+the stones, referred to his watch, and nodded and smiled as he drew
+himself up--the stiff, military officer once more.
+
+"Not bad," he said, "and as fresh as a daisy.  I could have done it in
+half a minute less.  Now, I'll go and see the old man."
+
+Captain Rolph did not "see the old man" then, for when he reached the
+house, the old man--that is to say, Major Day, formerly of a lancer
+regiment that took part in several engagements in the Sikh war, but who
+had long since hung up his sabre in his bedroom at Brackley--was out for
+a morning walk, following a pursuit in which he took great delight--to
+wit, gathering fungi, a family of plants that he made his study, and he
+was coming back with a small, bright trowel in one hand, his stout stick
+in the other, and a large salmon creel slung from his shoulder, when he
+encountered his brother, the baronet, striding away to his model farm.
+
+Major Day was a fierce-looking, smart, officer-like man of sixty, with
+curly grey hair that stood out from his well-shaped head, piercing eyes,
+heavy dark brows, and a massive, zebra-patterned moustache, the rest of
+his face being closely shaven.
+
+Perhaps "zebra-patterned" is an unusual term to give to a cavalry
+moustache; but this was regularly striped in black and silver grey,
+giving a peculiar aspect to the keen, upright, military man.
+
+"Halt!" shouted the major.  "Hallo, Jack, going to see the pigs?"
+
+"Yes.  Thought you were at home.  Just sent Rolph to speak to you."
+
+"To speak to me?  What about?"
+
+"Oh, I thought it best, you see, being my brother, and--er--as you like
+Glynne, and--er--"
+
+"What in the name of fortune are you stammering about, Jack?" said the
+major, sharply.  "Why, you don't mean--"
+
+"That he has proposed for Glynne."
+
+"Damn his impudence!"
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, Jem," said the baronet, testily.  "He has
+proposed, and I have given my consent."
+
+"But I always thought he was to marry that second cousin, Marjorie
+Emlin."
+
+"Doesn't look like it.  Never seemed very warm when they dined here."
+
+"But--but it's so unexpected, so sudden.  And Glynne?" cried the major,
+flushing, and bringing his heavy brows down over his eyes; "she hasn't
+accepted him?"
+
+"Why, of course she has.  Don't be a fool, Jem," cried the baronet,
+angrily.
+
+"Fool!  It's enough to make any man a fool.  What does that fellow want
+with a wife--to take gate-money at some meeting?"
+
+"I do wish you wouldn't be so prejudiced, Jem."
+
+"To hold the tape when he's coming in after a footrace?"
+
+"Hang it all, Jem, do be sensible."
+
+"To feed him with raw steaks when he is in training?" continued the
+major, ironically.  "To keep time, and polish his cups, and mind that he
+does not break the rules of his trainer?  Good heavens!  Jack, why, both
+you and Glynne must be mad."
+
+"Indeed!" said the baronet, hotly.  "I don't see any madness in giving
+my consent to my child's accepting the son of an old neighbour, a
+confoundedly fine fellow, of good birth, and with four thousand a year."
+
+"I don't care if he were better of birth, and had twenty thousand a
+year.  He wouldn't be a fit husband for our Glynne."
+
+"Well, no," said the baronet, proudly.  "No man would be sufficiently
+good for her."
+
+"Who's talking nonsense now?" cried the major.  "There are lots of good
+fellows in the world if she wants a husband, but I don't believe she
+does."
+
+"But she has accepted him."
+
+"Silly girl.  Bit taken with the fine-looking fellow, that's all.  Don't
+know her own mind yet.  This is springing a mine."
+
+"Ah well, the thing's settled, so you may just as well retreat from your
+position, Jem."
+
+"But I shall not retreat, sir.  I shall hold my position as long as I
+can, and when I am driven back, I shall do my duty as one in command of
+a light cavalry regiment should: I shall harass the enemy's flanks and
+rear.  He'll get no rest from me."
+
+"Hang it all, Jem, don't do that--don't be rude to the young fellow,"
+cried the baronet in dismay.
+
+"I--I don't approve of it at all, Jack.  I don't really."
+
+"But the thing's done, man--the thing's done."
+
+"Then why do you send the fellow to me?"
+
+"Well, I thought it would be a bit civil to you, Jem, and respectful,
+and--"
+
+"It is not either," cried the major.  "I look upon it, knowing as you do
+how I am attached to Glynne, as a regular insult."
+
+"Now, what nonsense, Jem."
+
+"It is not nonsense, Jack.  The fellow is a mere machine--a
+good-looking, well-built machine, with not a thought above low-class
+footraces, and training, and rowing, and football, and cricket."
+
+"And not bad things either," said the baronet, hotly.
+
+"No, sir," replied the major, drawing himself up, "not bad things, but
+good things if a young man takes to them as amusements to keep his
+nature in subjection, and to bring it to its finest state of
+development, that he may have a sound brain in a sound body."
+
+"Hear, hear!" cried Sir John.
+
+"But bad, rotten, and blackguardly things when a man gives the whole of
+his mind to them, and has no more ambition than leads him to be the
+winner of a cup in a walking match."
+
+"Oh, rubbish!" cried the baronet, warmly.  "Rolph's a gentleman."
+
+"Then he's a confoundedly bad specimen of the class, Jack."
+
+"You're as prejudiced as an old woman, Jem," cried the baronet, angrily.
+
+"Perhaps I am," replied his brother: "but it isn't prejudice to see that
+this fellow can't talk to a girl on any subject but athletics.  I
+haven't patience with him.  I always hated to see him here."
+
+"And I haven't patience with you, Jem; 'pon my honour, I haven't.  Why,
+what next?  Here, out of respect to you as my brother, I sent my
+daughter's future husband to you, and you tell me to my face that you
+will insult him.  I won't have it, sir; I say I won't have it.  You're
+intolerable.  You're getting beyond bearing, and--and--confound it all,
+I will not have it!  Pretty thing, indeed, when a man mayn't choose a
+husband for his own child."
+
+The baronet took a few strides this way and that way, grew scarlet as he
+spoke, and ended by taking off his grey hat and dabbing his shining
+forehead.
+
+"I've too much love for Glynne, and too much respect for her mother's
+memory to stand by silently and see such a miserable bargain concluded;
+and I enter my protest against what must turn out an unhappy match,"
+said the major.
+
+"It will turn out nothing of the sort, sir," cried the baronet, hotly;
+"and, look here, Jem, it's time we came to an understanding.  I will not
+have your dictatorial mess-room manners brought into my establishment;
+and I tell you once for all, if you can't conform to the simple home
+life of a country squire's house, the sooner you go, sir, the better."
+
+The major stuck his stick into the turf with a furious stab, as if he
+had a feud with mother earth; then, dragging round the creel he banged
+the bright trowel with which he had been gesticulating into the basket,
+and giving the wicker a swing back, caught up his stick and strode away
+without a word.
+
+"Confound his insolence!" cried Sir John furiously, "I won't have it.
+My own brother: my junior by two hours!  A man who has been petted and
+pampered too, because--because he is my brother--because he has been in
+the wars--because--because--because he is--my brother--because--hang it
+all!" he roared, stamping heavily on the turf.  "What an abominably
+hasty temper I have got.  He'll pack up and go, and--here!--hi!--Jem!--
+Jem!"
+
+The baronet was stout, but it was the active, muscular stoutness of a
+man constantly in the open air: he did not suffer from the abnormal size
+of that which Punch's fashionable tailor called his middle-aged
+customer's chest, so that it required little effort on his part to set
+off at a trot after his brother, who heard his shouts and his pursuing
+steps, but paid no heed to each summons; for, with head erect, and his
+stick carried as a military man bears his sabre on the route, he marched
+steadily on with the regular swinging pace of a well-drilled soldier.
+
+"Jem!  Hold hard!  Jem, old fellow," cried the baronet, overtaking him;
+but the major kept on without turning his head.
+
+"Jem!  Here, I beg your pardon.  I lost my temper.  I'm a passionate old
+fool."
+
+Still there was no response, and the major passed on; but his brother
+now took tight hold of his arm.
+
+"Jem!  Come, I say.  Don't you hear me?  I beg your pardon, I say.  Hang
+it all, old boy, do you want me to go down upon my knees."
+
+"No, Jack," cried the major, stopping short and facing him, "I don't;
+but you told me I'd better go."
+
+"Yes: in a passion; but you know I don't mean what I say.  Here, shake
+hands, old boy.  I say, though, what a peppery old fire-eater you are!"
+
+"Am I, Jack?" said the major, with a grim smile.
+
+"No, no; I mean I am.  Look here, old chap, I'm sure there's a membrane,
+or a strap, or a nerve, or something of that sort, given way inside me.
+It lets my temper out, and then I say things I don't mean."
+
+"It must have given way a great many years ago, Jack," said the major,
+drily.
+
+"Oh, come, Jem!  Hang it all, old fellow, I've begged your pardon.  I've
+humbled myself to you.  Don't jump on a man when he's down.  'Tisn't
+chivalrous; it isn't indeed."
+
+"Then you don't want me to go?"
+
+"Go?  Now look here, Jem, do try and be reasonable.  What should I do
+without you?"
+
+"Well then, I'll stop this time; but really, Jack, if ever you insult me
+again like that, I can have my old chambers in St James's, close to the
+club, and I shall go back to town."
+
+"Go along with you!" cried Sir John.  "Don't talk nonsense.  We're
+getting old boys now, Jem, and you'll stop along with me to the end."
+
+"Yes, we're getting old, Jack, very fast indeed," said the major, as his
+brother laid a hand affectionately upon his shoulder just as he used in
+old school-boy days; "time gallops away now."
+
+"Ay, it does; and that's why I can't help feeling a bit anxious about
+seeing Glynne happily settled in life."
+
+"And it ought to make you the more particular about--"
+
+"Hush!" cried the baronet, interrupting him sharply, "the girls!  Oh,
+hang it! how can Glynne be so absurd."
+
+Volume 1, Chapter IV.
+
+SERPENS.
+
+Sir John and his brother had just reached an opening in Brackley Wood, a
+fine old pheasant preserve, when the former became aware of the fact
+that his child and the lady whom she had of late made her companion and
+friend, were seated in the shade cast by a venerable oak, Glynne
+painting in front of her easel, upon which were the skilful beginnings
+of an oil picture representing a rough looking gipsy seated upon a tree
+stump, in the act of carving the knob of a stick with his long Spanish
+knife, while Lucy Alleyne, the friend, was reading from a book resting
+upon her knees.
+
+The group formed a pretty enough natural picture, upon which a silvery
+rain of sunshine was poured through the dense foliage of the overhanging
+boughs, for, without being classically beautiful, Glynne Day was as fair
+a specimen of a young English lady as a country visitor would be likely
+to see in one twenty-four hours.  Her's was the kind of face with its
+sweet, calm, placid repose that asked for a second look and then for a
+third: and when this was complete, he who gazed, old or young, wanted to
+look again, and so on, in never tiring mood.  It was not that her soft,
+abundant brown hair was so remarkable, nor that her face was so perfect
+an oval, nor her nose so true an aquiline, nor her eyes so dark a grey;
+but it was the completeness of the whole countenance, the elasticity of
+the step that bore onward so tall and graceful a figure, while the sweet
+repose of the face would have warranted anyone in taking the major's
+side when he declared that no pulse in her frame had ever yet been
+quickened by the thought of love.
+
+Glynne's companion, Lucy Alleyne, also possessed her share of
+attractions; but they were cast in a very different mould, for she was
+dark, large-eyed, little and piquante, with an arch expression about her
+bow-like mouth that told of suppressed merriment, and a readiness to
+join in anything that promised laughter, or, as she would have called
+it, a bit of fun.
+
+The other figure in the group--the model, whose counterfeit presentment
+was being transferred to canvas, first heard the steps; and he looked up
+sharply, in a wild, danger-fearing way, as a weasel might, and seemed
+about to spring to his feet and start off; but a peculiar leer crossed
+his face, and he half closed his eyes and sat firm as the brothers came
+up, both glancing at him sourly, the major taking a tighter grip of his
+stick.
+
+"Ah, my dears!" said Sir John, gruffly, "'most done, Glynne?"
+
+"Yes, papa, quite, for to-day," said the lady addressed, opening her
+purse and taking out half-a-crown, the sight of which made the model's
+eyes open a little wider as it was held out to him, while an unpleasant
+animal look was darted at Glynne as she spoke.  "That will do for to
+day.  I will send word by the policeman when I want you again."
+
+"Thankye kindly, my lady," said the young man, wincing at the name of
+the messenger; and he now touched his hat to Sir John humbly, and then
+to his brother.
+
+"You're back again, then, Caleb Kent," growled Sir John.
+
+"Yes, sir, I've come back," whined the man.
+
+"Then, just see if you can't lead a decent life, sir, for I warn you,
+that if you are brought up again for poaching, it will go pretty hard
+with you."
+
+"Yes, sir; I know, sir, but I'm going to reform, sir, and turn keeper,
+and--"
+
+"That'll do.  Be off.  Let's have deeds, not words."
+
+"Yes, sir, I will, sir.  I'm a-goin' to try, sir."
+
+"I said that will do."
+
+"Yes, sir," said the man, humbly; and, touching his cap all round, he
+slouched off, with an ill-used look, and gave two or three loud sniffs.
+
+"Oh, papa, dear," cried Glynne, "how can you speak so harshly to the
+poor fellow.  He did wrong once, and he has been punished."
+
+"Did wrong once.  Bah!  He did wrong in being born, and has done wrong
+ever since.  The fellow's a regular gaol-bird, and I don't like to see
+him near you.  For goodness' sake, my dear, if you must paint, paint
+something decent, not a scoundrel like that."
+
+"Your father's quite right, my dear," said the major, grimly.  "That's
+not the sort of fellow to paint.  Whitewashing is what he wants."
+
+Sir John chuckled, and his child looked at him, wonderingly.
+
+"But he is so picturesque, papa, dear, and when I get the canvas
+finished--"
+
+"Oh, you don't want to finish canvases, pet.  Let that go.  Plenty else
+to think of now, eh, Miss Alleyne?  Why, my dear, you have a colour like
+a peach."
+
+"Have I, Sir John?" said the girl, demurely.  "How shockingly vulgar!
+Then I must wear a veil."
+
+"For goodness' sake, don't, my dear child," cried the baronet, hastily.
+"Pray, don't insult poor nature by refusing to look healthy and well."
+
+"I join in my brother's prayer," said the major, as he shook hands in a
+quiet, old-fashioned, chivalrous way.
+
+"And so do I," said Glynne, smiling in a calm, strangely placid manner.
+"Do you know, Lucy, I've been enjoying your colour as I painted."
+
+"James, old fellow," said the baronet, laughing, "let's be in the
+fashion.  How handsome you do look this morning.  How your hair curls."
+
+"Uncle always looks handsome," said Glynne, seriously, and she sent a
+thrill of pleasure through the old man, by quietly taking his arm and
+leaning towards him in a gentle, affectionate way.
+
+"And I'm nobody, Miss Alleyne," said Sir John with mock annoyance.
+
+"You would not think so, if you heard all that Glynne says about you
+when we are alone, Sir John."
+
+"Oh, come, that's better," cried the baronet, nodding and brightening
+up.  "Well, I must go.  I suppose you will walk back with uncle, eh,
+Glynne?"
+
+"Yes, papa," said Glynne, smiling on him tenderly.
+
+"Then, once more, here goes to see my pigs.  You don't care to come,
+ladies?"
+
+"No, papa, dear," said Glynne, with the same gentle smile.  "We were
+going home almost directly."
+
+"Go along, then," said Sir John.  "I shall be back before lunch.
+Morning, Miss Alleyne," and he strode away.  "Hope he won't upset
+Glynne," he muttered.  "No, I don't suppose he will say a word.  Can't,
+as Lucy Alleyne is there.  Nice little girl that, by the way."
+
+Sir John was wrong, for his brother did say something to Glynne--a good
+deal, in fact.  Indeed, no sooner had the baronet gone than Lucy Alleyne
+exclaimed,--
+
+"And now, dear, if you won't mind, as you have your uncle with you, I
+should like to run home."
+
+"Oh, no," cried Glynne, "you'll come and have lunch."
+
+"Not to-day, dear.  Mamma will be anxious to see me back."
+
+"Indeed!" said Glynne, raising her eyebrows slightly.
+
+"Yes, dear; she is a little anxious, too, about Moray; he has been
+working so hard lately."
+
+"Has he?" said Glynne, half-wonderingly, as if it seemed strange to her,
+in her placid existence, that people should ever work hard.
+
+"New discovery?" said the major.  "Star-gazing?"
+
+"I think so," replied Lucy; "but he is so quiet and reserved, and he
+does not like to speak until he is sure.  If you would not mind coming
+round our way, I could leave you at the end of the lane."
+
+"Mind?  No," cried the major; "but are you sure you will not come home
+with us to lunch?"
+
+"Quite sure, please," said Lucy.
+
+"Then, we'll see you right to your door," said the major, as he
+shouldered the little easel; "eh, my dear?"
+
+"Oh, yes, of course, uncle," replied Glynne; and they continued along
+the side path for about a quarter of a mile, before crossing a fir wood,
+whose trunks rose up like so many ruddy, grey-bronze columns, while the
+ground was made slippery by the thick coating of pine needles beneath
+their feet.
+
+"Oh, here's one of your favourites, Major Day," cried Lucy, eagerly, as
+she ran on and picked a curious grey-looking fungus, with a rough
+efflorescence on the top.  "No, no, don't tell me: I want to see if I
+recollect what it is."
+
+"She doesn't know, Glynne.  Tell her, my dear."
+
+"I, uncle?" said Glynne, smiling up at him.  "You know I never recollect
+the names."
+
+"I know you won't rouse up that brain of yours to take an interest in
+anything," said the major in a tone of good-tempered reproof.  "It's a
+great shame, when you are naturally so clever."
+
+"I!  Clever!  Oh, uncle!" said Glynne, laughing.
+
+"I know--I remember," cried Lucy, eagerly--"stop a moment, I have it."
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the major, whose eyes sparkled with pleasure, and
+he seemed sufficiently animated to set a stranger wondering at an old
+soldier taking up with enthusiasm so strange a pursuit as that in which
+he engaged.  "There, you don't know, my dear, but I applaud your brave
+effort to remember.  Someone here would not even try."
+
+"No, uncle, it is of no use," said Glynne, quietly, though she evidently
+took an interest in her companion's enthusiastic ways.
+
+"I do know," said Lucy, "and I won't be told."
+
+"You don't," said the major, banteringly.
+
+"I do," cried Lucy.  "Yes, I have it.  It's an _Amanita_."
+
+"Bravo!"
+
+"_Amanita Rubescens_," cried Lucy triumphantly; "and if you break it the
+flesh turns red--there!"
+
+"And she has broken the mushroom in half, and it has not turned red,"
+said the major, "because she is wrong."
+
+"Oh, Major Day!" cried Lucy, "don't say that.  I am right, am I not?"
+
+"No, my dear, not quite," said the major, "but very nearly.  That is
+_Amanita Pantkerinus_, a very near relative of the one I showed you
+yesterday."
+
+"But I have been trying," cried Lucy.
+
+"I know you have," said the major, smiling, "and I'm sure you can tell
+me what these are," he continued, pointing to a cluster of flat,
+greeny-grey buttons, with dimly marked orange rings upon their surface.
+
+"Oh yes, I know them," cried Lucy, eagerly picking two or three from the
+patch of grass in an opening amongst the Scotch firs.  "_Agaricus
+Deliciosus_; and, oh, it is getting so late.  I must make haste back.  I
+can run home now.  Good-bye, Glynne; good-bye, Major Day."
+
+"Good-bye, little pupil," he replied, "and you shall have your marks
+although you were not right."
+
+"We'll stop and watch you till you are safely home," said Glynne.
+"Good-bye--good-bye."
+
+Volume 1, Chapter V.
+
+VIRGO ASLEEP.
+
+Glynne Day stood with her uncle at the edge of the dark wood, where the
+slippery fir-needles lay thickly, and kept every blade of verdure from
+thrusting forth a relief to the dull, neutral grey that carpeted the
+ground, amid the tall, bronze-red columns.  They gazed down a steep
+slope, and over the wild heathery waste that lay between them and what
+looked like a little wooded islet, rising out of the common into quite a
+mamelon, almost precipitous of side, and crowned with a heavy-looking
+edifice of brick, with other structures attached, all solid, plain, and
+terribly out of character with the wild landscape.
+
+For, from where they stood, as it were on the very verge of the
+cultivated land, there was a stretch of miles upon miles of rolling
+surface, here sand, there bog, the one brown and purple with the heather
+or yellow with the gorse, the other in little patches of vivid green or
+creamy pink, where the _sphagnum_ grew, and the cotton rushes had their
+home.
+
+"What a desolate looking spot it is," said the major thoughtfully, as
+they watched the active little figure tripping along the sandy road;
+"and yet it has its beauties after all."
+
+"Ye-es, I suppose it has," said Glynne, "but I never think about its
+being ugly or beautiful."
+
+"No, my dear, you don't," said the major half pettishly; "and that's
+what annoys me.  Here you are, as beautiful a girl as well can be."
+
+"Am I, uncle, dear?" said Glynne, with the same calm, pleasant smile.
+
+"Are you?  Why of course you are, and with a splendid intellect, only
+you won't use it."
+
+"Don't scold me, uncle," said the girl, creeping closer to him, "I don't
+want to be clever, I don't want to know more than I know.  I am so
+happy: why should I change?"
+
+The old man's brow grew knotty and corrugated, partly, from perplexity,
+partly from annoyance, and he gazed sharply down at the sweet face
+looking lovingly in his.
+
+"There, there," he said, "I won't scold you, my darling.  Look, there's
+little Lucy waving her handkerchief before she enters Fort Science.
+Fine fellow that brother of hers."
+
+"Yes, Mr Alleyne is nice," said Glynne, returning her friend's salute;
+and then, as Lucy disappeared at the curve of a steep path that ran up
+the sandy mound, they turned and walked back towards the hall.
+
+"And so you are very happy, my dear?" said the major, after a thoughtful
+pause.
+
+"Oh yes, uncle, so very happy," replied Glynne quietly.  "You and papa
+both love me."
+
+"Oh, I don't know about that," said the major.  "I'm not so sure that I
+do."
+
+"But I am," said the girl gently, "quite sure.  Then Lucy loves me very
+much, and our friends are all so kind, and even the servants always
+smile pleasantly when I want anything done."
+
+"Of course they do," said the major, testily.
+
+"And it sets me wondering, when people talk about sorrow, and the
+weariness of the world."
+
+"Humph!  I suppose so," the major said, stopping short; "and how about
+Rolph?"
+
+"Oh, he loves me too, uncle," replied Glynne in the same quiet, placid
+tone and manner.  "I was going to tell you: he has asked me if I would
+be his wife."
+
+"And you--you have told him you would be?"
+
+"Yes, uncle.  Papa approves of it, I know; and Robert is so brave and
+strong and manly.  Don't you think it is right?"
+
+The major gave his hat a tilt on one side, and scratched his grey head
+vigorously.
+
+"Look here, Glynne," he cried; "you are the most extraordinary girl I
+ever knew."
+
+"I'm very sorry, uncle," she replied.  "I can't help being so."
+
+"No, no, of course not.  But look here--do you love Rolph?"
+
+"Oh yes, uncle, very much indeed."
+
+"How do you know you do?" cried the major, in the tone of an examiner
+dealing _viva voce_ with a candidate for a post in the army.
+
+"Oh, because he loves me," said Glynne, naively; "and, you see, I've
+known him a little ever since he was a boy."
+
+"Yes, but look here; what makes you love him?  Have you no other
+reason?"
+
+"No, uncle, dear," said Glynne; and there was not the slightest
+heightening of colour, nor a trace of excitement as she spoke.
+
+"But, my dear child," cried the major in the most perplexed way, "people
+don't fall in love like that."
+
+"Don't they, uncle?"
+
+"No, no, of course not.  There's a lot of passion and storm, and tempest
+and that sort of thing."
+
+"But only in books."
+
+"Oh, yes, in real life.  I remember when I fell in love with Lady Mary
+Callaghan."
+
+"Were you really once in love, uncle?" cried Glynne with the first touch
+of animation that she had shown.
+
+"Of course I was--of course--once--but it didn't come to anything.
+Well, there was a lot of fire and fury over that."
+
+"Was there, uncle?"
+
+"Yes, to be sure.  I felt as if I couldn't live without her, and she
+felt as if she couldn't live without me, and we were always writing
+letters to one another and couldn't keep apart."
+
+"Oh, I never felt anything of that kind, uncle, and I rarely write
+letters if I can help it."
+
+"Then you can't be in love," said the major triumphantly.
+
+"But were you really in love, uncle, with Lady Mary--Mary--"
+
+"Callaghan, my dear.  Yes."
+
+"But you did not marry her, uncle."
+
+"N-no--no; you are quite right, my dear, I did not.  Circumstances
+occurred and--er--we were not married.  But really, Glynne, my dear, you
+are a most extraordinary girl."
+
+"I am very sorry."
+
+"Don't say that, my dear; but--er--I--er--this is a very serious thing,
+this promising yourself in marriage, and I--er--I--er--should like you
+to be perfectly sure that you are doing wisely.  I think a great deal of
+you, my dear--old bachelor as I am, and it would trouble me more than I
+can say if you did not make a happy match."
+
+"Dear uncle," she said tenderly, as she clasped her hands upon his arm,
+and clung to him more closely.  "But you need not be afraid, for Robert
+says he loves me very dearly, and what more could a woman desire?"
+
+"Humph!  No, of course not, my dear," said the major, looking more
+perplexed than ever, as he gazed down into the unruffled face by his
+side.  "Untouched, if I know anything of womankind," he said to himself,
+"but if I attempt to interfere I shall be making trouble, and upset Jack
+as well.  What the devil shall I do?"
+
+There came no mental answer to this self-put question, and the
+communings were stopped by Glynne herself, who went on thoughtfully and
+in the most matter-of-fact way.
+
+"I told Robert that we must not think of being married for some time to
+come, and he said he was glad of that."
+
+"Said he was glad of it!" cried the major, looking at her aghast.
+
+"Yes, uncle, dear.  You see he has to make so many engagements
+beforehand.  His card is quite full for matches of one kind and
+another."
+
+"Is it indeed?" said the major sarcastically.
+
+"Yes, uncle.  He has to go in training--in training--in training--for,
+what did he call it?  Oh, I remember; in training for the various
+events, and he would not like to break any of them and pay forfeit."
+
+The major's eyes rolled in their sockets, and he seemed to be trying to
+swallow something that was extremely unsavoury, but he held his peace.
+
+"He says these engagements take up a great deal of his time; but the
+people like him, so that he can't very well get out of them."
+
+"Ah, it would be a pity to disappoint them," said the major, while
+Glynne, in her happy, childlike content, did not notice his tone, but
+talked on as calmly as if the great event of a woman's life were a most
+commonplace affair, justifying to the fullest extent her uncle's idea
+that her heart was quite untouched.
+
+They had spent so long over their walk that Sir John had had time to
+finish his visit to the pigs, and they all reached the park gates
+together.
+
+"Halloa!" he exclaimed, looking inquiringly from one to the other, "so
+you two have had a good talk.  Here, what does your uncle say, my dear?"
+he continued, with a suspicious tone in his voice.
+
+"Uncle?  Say?" replied Glynne, opening her beautiful eyes a little
+wider.  "Oh, uncle has said very little, papa.  I'm afraid I have done
+nothing but prattle to him all the time."
+
+"What about?" said her father, sharply.
+
+"Oh, principally about my engagement," she replied calmly.
+
+"Well, and what does he say to it?" said Sir John, half-defiantly.
+
+"Uncle thinks it a very serious step."
+
+"Yes, of course."
+
+"And that I ought to be careful in taking it."
+
+"To be sure, my dear, to be sure.  Well?"
+
+"Well, that was all, papa," she replied.  "Lunch must be ready.  I'll go
+in and take off my things.  You are coming soon?  Oh, here is Robert.  I
+won't stop for fear of keeping you waiting."
+
+The captain was some fifty yards away, but Glynne did not stay.  She
+merely waved her hand, and hurried to the front of the house, while her
+future lord came slowly on, whistling, with his hands in his pockets.
+
+"You've not opposed the match, then?" whispered Sir John.
+
+"No," said the major, "but I think less of it than ever."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated his brother.  "Have you spoken to Rolph yet?"
+
+"No.  Haven't seen him."
+
+"Then, for goodness' sake, drop all prejudice, Jem, and shake hands
+warmly.  You see they are devotedly attached."
+
+"No, I don't," said the major, gruffly; "but I'll shake hands."
+
+"Yes, do, Jem, do.  It's the one desire of my life to see Glynne engaged
+to a good, manly fellow who cares for her, and, now the opportunity has
+come, I look to you to help me."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated the major, as Rolph came up, and Sir John struck the
+iron while it was hot, to use his own form of expression.
+
+"Ready for lunch, Rob?"
+
+"Awfully," said the captain.  "Quite an edge on."
+
+"That's right," cried Sir John.  "Come along.  Oh, look here though," he
+added, as if upon second thoughts; "I've had no experience before in
+this sort of thing, and I want to get it over, and go on again as usual.
+I never do anything without telling the major here."
+
+Rolph bowed, and the major returned his salute stiffly.
+
+"I've been telling him about you know what, and it's all settled now, so
+you can shake hands, you know."
+
+"Yes; my brother has told me about your proposal," said the major,
+coldly.  "You have won a prize, sir, and I wish you joy."
+
+"Thankye, major, thankye," cried Rolph, seizing his hand and shaking it
+violently.  "You don't want to say anything more to me, do you?"
+
+"N-no," said the major, whose inward thoughts made him look ten years
+older.  "N-no."
+
+"That's right," cried the captain, with a sigh of relief.  "Shall we go
+in to lunch now, Sir John?"
+
+"To be sure, yes, my boy.  Go on.  I daresay Glynne is waiting.  Come
+along, Jem."
+
+He took his brother's arm; and, as the captain disappeared,--
+
+"Thankye, Jem, thankye," he said earnestly.  "Now for lunch.  I'm as
+hungry as a hunter, and my mind's at rest."
+
+"Humph!"
+
+Volume 1, Chapter VI.
+
+DUST IN THE OBSERVATORY.
+
+"Well, Mr Oldroyd, and what do you think?  Pray, tell me frankly.  You
+have found out what is the matter with him?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, I think I have."
+
+"Then, pray, speak."
+
+Mrs Alleyne leaned forward with every curve in her face as well as her
+eyes contradicting the form of her words.  "Pray speak," sounded and
+looked like a command to speak at once under pain of the lady's
+displeasure.  She was a woman of over fifty, with white hair and high
+clear forehead; but what would have been a handsome face was detracted
+from by a pinched, care-worn expression, as if there was some great
+trouble upon her mind; and this trouble had soured her disposition, and
+made her imperious and harsh.  Her cold and rather repellent manner was
+not softened by her formal white cap or her dress, which was a stiff,
+black silk, that in its old age appeared to have doubts as to whether it
+ought not to be a brown, save where it was relieved by white cuffs and a
+plain muslin kerchief, such as is seen in old pictures, loosely crossed
+over the breast, and secured behind.
+
+Neither did the room and its furnishings tend to soften matters, for,
+though good, everything looked worn and faded, notably the ancient
+Turkey carpet, and the stiff maroon curtains that had turned from red
+into drab, and hung limp and long beside the two tall gaunt windows,
+looking out upon a clump of desolate Scotch firs.
+
+The rest of the furniture was depressing, and did not suggest comfort.
+The solid mahogany chairs were stiff, and the worn horse-hair coverings
+would have been places of torture to a child; the great dining-table was
+highly polished and full of reflections, but it had nothing pleasant to
+reflect, and whoever looked, longed to see it draped with some warm,
+rich cloth.  While the great high-backed sideboard stood out like a
+polished mahogany sarcophagus upon which someone had placed a bronze
+funereal urn, though really inside that tomb-like structure there was a
+cellarette with a decanter or two of generous wine; and the bronze urn
+contained no ashes, merely an iron heater to make it hiss when it was
+used for tea.
+
+The blank, drab-painted walls seemed to ask appealingly for something to
+ameliorate their chilling aspect; but there was no mirror, no bracket
+bearing bust or clock; only opposite to the windows had the appeal been
+heard.  There, in the very worst light for the purpose, a large picture
+had been hung, whose old gilt frame was tarnished and chipped, and the
+gloomy canvas, with its cracked varnish, had been covered by some genius
+of the Martin type with hundreds of figures in every conceivable posture
+of misery and despair.  Fire was issuing from the earth, and lightnings
+were angularly veining the clouds, the tableau being supposed to
+represent the end of the world; and the consequence was that, as far as
+the walls were concerned, the aspect of the room was not improved.
+
+Now, in every good dining-room, the fireside is, or should be, the most
+cheerful part.  Prior to the days of the Georges, people knew this, and
+bright tiles and carvings and solid pillars gave a cheery look and
+countenance to the fire; and this style, thanks to the most sensible
+modern aesthetes, has come again into vogue, with handsome overmantels,
+kerbs, and dogs; but Mrs Alleyne's fireside was chilly, the fender and
+fire-irons were well-polished, but attenuated and of skewery form as to
+the latter, sharp edge as to the former, while the narrow drab shelf
+that formed the mantelpiece had for ornaments two obelisks that appeared
+to have been cast in that objectionable meat-jelly known as brawn.
+
+It only needed the yellowish roller blinds to be drawn half-way down to
+make the very atmosphere seem oppressive.  And this had been done, so
+that, as the lady of The Firs sat opposite Philip Oldroyd, the young
+doctor, who was patiently trying to solve that medical problem known as
+making a practice in an extremely healthy district, could not help
+thinking to himself that the place was enough to drive a susceptible
+person melancholy mad.
+
+Oldroyd did not answer for a few moments, but sat thinking, and Mrs
+Alleyne watched him intently, scanning his great head, and somewhat
+plain, but intelligent features with his deep, brown, thoughtful eyes,
+and closely shaven face.  The latter was a sacrifice to Mrs Grundy, so
+that no objection should be made to his appearance by the more critical
+inhabitants of a narrow-minded country district, the result having been
+the destruction of a fine and flowing beard at the cost of much nicking
+of the skin, and the discomfort of shaving regularly, fine weather or
+foul.
+
+"I think, Mrs Alleyne, that I know exactly what is the matter with your
+son."
+
+"Yes, yes," said the lady, impatiently.  "Mr Oldroyd, you torture me."
+
+"Then, now I will relieve you, madam," he said with a pleasant smile.
+"He has really no physical complaint whatever."
+
+"I do not understand you," she said coldly.
+
+"I will be more plain then.  He has no disease at all."
+
+"Mr Oldroyd!" said the lady in a disappointed tone, that to the young
+doctor's ears seemed to say as well:--"How foolish of me to call in this
+inexperienced country practitioner, who, beyond a little general idea of
+his profession, knows next to nothing at all."
+
+"Oh, yes, my dear madam, you think he is very ill, and--pray excuse my
+plainness--in your motherly eyes he appears to be wasting away."
+
+Mrs Alleyne did not reply, but gazed at the speaker haughtily, and
+looked as cold and repellent as the room.
+
+"Your son, I repeat, has no organic disease; he has a marvellously fine
+physique, great mental powers, and needs no doctor at all, unless it is
+to give him good advice."
+
+"I presumed, Mr Oldroyd, that it was the doctor's duty to give advice."
+
+"Exactly, my dear madam; but pray be patient with me if I talk to you a
+little differently from what you expected.  You were prepared for me to
+look solemn, shake my head and say that the symptoms were rather
+serious, but not exactly grave; that we must hope for the best; that I
+was very glad you sent for me when you did; and that I would send in
+some medicine, and look in again to-morrow.  Now, you said, `Be frank
+with me;' I say the same to you.  Did you not expect something of this
+kind?"
+
+"Well," said Mrs Alleyne, with something that looked like--not the
+dawning of a smile, but the ghost of an old one, called up to flit for a
+moment about her lips, "yes, I did expect something of the kind."
+
+"Exactly," said Oldroyd, smiling genially, and as if he enjoyed this
+verbal encounter.  "Now, kindly listen to me.  As I say, your son has a
+fine physique, but what does he do with it?  Does he take plenty of
+active out-door exercise?"
+
+Mrs Alleyne shook her head.
+
+"Does he partake of his meals regularly?"
+
+"No, Mr Oldroyd," said Mrs Alleyne, with a sigh.
+
+"Does he sleep sufficiently and well?"
+
+"Alas!  No."
+
+"Of course he does not, my dear madam.  Here is a man who never employs
+his muscles; never takes the slightest recreation; disappoints nature
+when she asks for food; and turns night into day as he performs long
+vigils watching the stars, and burning the midnight oil.  How, in the
+name of all that is sensible, can such a man expect to enjoy good
+health?  Why, nature revolts against it and steals it all away, to
+distribute among people who obey her laws."
+
+Mrs Alleyne sighed, and thought better of the doctor than she did
+before.
+
+"It is impossible for such a man to be well, Mrs Alleyne; the wonder is
+that he has any health at all."
+
+"But he is really ill, now, Mr Oldroyd."
+
+"A little touched in the digestion, that is all."
+
+"And you will prescribe something for that?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, I'll prescribe turpentine."
+
+"Turpentine!" cried Mrs Alleyne, aghast.
+
+"Yes, madam, out of nature's own pharmacopaeia.  Let him go and climb
+the hills every day, and inhale it when the sun is on the fir woods.
+Let him get a horse and ride amongst the firs, or let him take a spade
+and dig the ground about this house, and turn it into a pleasant garden,
+surrounded by fir trees.  That is all he wants."
+
+"Oh, doctor, is that all?" said Mrs Alleyne more warmly; and she laid
+her thin, white hand upon her visitor's arm.
+
+"Well, not quite," he said, with a smile.  "He is a great student; no
+one admires his work more than I, or the wonderful capacity of his mind,
+but he must be taken out of it a little--a man cannot always be studying
+the stars."
+
+"No, no; he does too much," said Mrs Alleyne.  "You are quite right.
+But what would you recommend?"
+
+"Nature again, madam.  Something to give him an interest in this world,
+as well as in the other worlds he makes his study.  In short, Mrs
+Alleyne, it would be the saving of your son if he fell in love."
+
+"Doctor!"
+
+"And took to himself some sweet good girl as a wife."
+
+"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
+
+The doctor started, and looked for the source of the gush of mirth.
+
+A sweet ringing silvery laugh, that sounded like bell music in the
+gloomy room, for Lucy Alleyne had entered unheard, to catch the doctor's
+last words, and burst into this girlish fit of merriment.
+
+"Lucy!" exclaimed Mrs Alleyne with an angry glance, as she rose from her
+chair.
+
+"Oh, I am so sorry, mamma.  I beg your pardon, Mr Oldroyd, but it did
+seem so droll."
+
+She laughed again so merrily that it seemed infectious, and the young
+doctor would have joined in had not Mrs Alleyne been there; besides, as
+this was a professional call, he felt the necessity for some show of
+dignity.
+
+"May I ask, Lucy, what is the meaning of this extremely unseemly mirth,"
+said Mrs Alleyne, with a good deal of annoyance in her tone.
+
+"Don't be angry with me, mamma dear, but it did seem so comical; the
+idea of Moray falling in love and being married."
+
+"I fail to see the ridiculous side of the matter," said Mrs Alleyne,
+"especially at a time when Mr Oldroyd has been consulted by me upon the
+question of your brother's health."
+
+"Oh, but you don't think he is really ill, Mr Oldroyd, do you?" cried
+Lucy, anxiously.
+
+"Indeed, I do not, Miss Alleyne.  He requires nothing but plenty of
+open-air exercise, with more food and regular sleep."
+
+"And a wife," said Lucy, with a mirthful look.
+
+"And a wife," said Oldroyd, gravely; and he gazed so intently at Lucy
+that her merry look passed away, and she coloured slightly, and glanced
+hastily at her mother.
+
+"We must make Moray go out more, mamma dear," she said hurriedly.  "I'll
+coax him to have walks with me, and I'll teach him botany; Major Day
+would be delighted if he'd come with him--I mean go with him; and--oh, I
+say, mamma, isn't dinner nearly ready?  I am so hungry."
+
+"Lucy!" cried Mrs Alleyne, with a reproachful look, as Oldroyd rose.
+
+"It is an enviable sensation, Miss Alleyne," he said, as a diversion to
+the elder lady's annoyance; "one of nature's greatest boons.  As I was
+saying, Mrs Alleyne, _a propos_ of your son, he neglects his health in
+his scientific pursuits, and the beautifully complicated machine of his
+system grows rusty.  Why, the commonest piece of mechanism will not go
+well if it is not properly cared for, so how can we expect it of
+ourselves."
+
+"Quite true, Mr Oldroyd.  Did you ride over?  Is your horse waiting?"
+
+"Oh, no, I walked.  Lovely weather, Miss Alleyne.  Good-day, madam,
+good-day."
+
+"But you have not taken any refreshment, Mr Oldroyd.  Allow me to--"
+
+"Why, dinner must be ready, mamma," said Lucy.  "Will not Mr Oldroyd
+stop?"
+
+"Of course, yes, I had forgotten," said Mrs Alleyne, with a slight
+colour in her cheek, and a peculiar hesitancy in her voice.  "We--er--
+dine early--if you would join us, we should be very glad."
+
+"With great pleasure, madam," said the young doctor, frankly; "it will
+save me a five miles' walk, for I must go across the common this
+afternoon to Lindham."
+
+"To see poor old Mrs Wattley?" cried Lucy eagerly, as Mrs Alleyne tried
+to hide by a smile, her annoyance at her invitation being accepted.
+
+"Yes; to see poor old Mrs Wattley," said Oldroyd, nodding.
+
+"Is she very ill?" said Lucy sympathetically.
+
+"Stricken with a fatal disease, my dear young lady," he replied.
+
+"Oh!" ejaculated Lucy.
+
+"One, however, that gives neither pain nor trouble.  She will not suffer
+in the least."
+
+"I'm glad of that," cried Lucy, "for I like the poor old lady.  What is
+her complaint?"
+
+"Senility," said Oldroyd, smiling.  "Why, my dear Miss Alleyne, she is
+ninety-five."
+
+"Will you come with me, Lucy," said Mrs Alleyne, who had been vainly
+trying to catch her daughter's eye, and then--"perhaps Mr Oldroyd will
+excuse us."
+
+"Not if you are going to make any additions to the meal on my account,
+madam," said the doctor, hastily.  "I am the plainest of plain men--a
+bachelor who lives on chops and steaks, and it needs a sharp-edged
+appetite to manage these country cuts."
+
+Mrs Alleyne smiled again, and the visitor was left alone.
+
+"Old lady didn't like my staying," he said to himself.  "Shouldn't have
+asked me, then.  I am hungry, but--Oh! what a pretty, natural, clever
+little witch it is.  I wish I'd a good practice; I should try my luck if
+I had, and I don't think there is any one in the way."
+
+"Humph!  End of the world," he said, rising and crossing to look at the
+picture.  "What a ghastly daub!"
+
+"What a wilderness; why don't they have the garden done up?" he
+continued, going to one of the windows, and looking at the depressing,
+neglected place without.  "Ugh! what a home for such a bright little
+blossom.  It must be something awful on a wet, wintry day."
+
+"Sorry I stopped," he said, soon after.
+
+"No, I'm not; I'm glad.  Now, I'll be bound to say there's boiled mutton
+and turnips for dinner, and plain rice pudding.  It's just the sort of
+meal one would expect in a house like this.  Mum!"
+
+He gave his lips a significant tap, for the door opened, and Lucy
+entered, accompanied by a sour-looking maid with a clayey skin and dull
+grey eyes, bearing a tray.
+
+"Be as quick as you can, Eliza," said Lucy.  "You won't mind my helping,
+Mr Oldroyd, will you?" she continued.  "We only keep one servant now."
+
+"Mind?  Not I," he replied cheerily.  "Let me help too.  I'll lay the
+knives and forks."
+
+"No, no, no!" cried Lucy, as she wondered what Mrs Alleyne would have
+said if she had heard her allusion to "one servant now."
+
+"Oh, but I shall," he said; and the maid looked less grim as she saw the
+doctor begin to help.  "Let's see," he said, "knives right, forks left.
+Won't do to turn the table round if you place them wrong, as the
+Irishman did."
+
+Just then the maid--Eliza--left the room to fetch some addition to the
+table.
+
+"I am glad you are going to stay, Mr Oldroyd," said Lucy naively.
+
+"Are you?" he said, watching her intently as the busy little hands
+produced cruets and glasses from the sideboard cupboard.
+
+"Oh yes, for it is so dull here."
+
+"Do you find it so?"
+
+"Oh, no, I don't.  I was thinking of Moray.  It will be someone for him
+to talk to.  Mamma fidgets about him so; but I felt as sure as could be
+that he only looked ill because he works so terribly hard."
+
+A step was heard outside, and the young doctor started from the table,
+where he was arranging a couple of spoons on either side of a
+salt-cellar, with so guilty a look that Lucy turned away her head to
+conceal a smile.
+
+Oldroyd saw it though, and was annoyed at being so weak and boyish; but
+he felt that, after all, he was right, for it would have looked
+extremely undignified in Mrs Alleyne's eyes if he had been caught
+playing so domestic a part in a strange house.
+
+"I wish she had not laughed at me, though," he said to himself; and then
+he tried to pass the matter off as Mrs Alleyne came back, bland and
+dignified, trying to conceal the fact that she had been out to make a
+few preparations that would help to hide the poverty of the land.
+
+"You will excuse our meal being very simple, Mr Oldroyd," she said
+quietly; "I did not expect company."
+
+"If you would kindly treat me as if I were not company, Mrs Alleyne, I
+should be greatly obliged," replied Oldroyd; and then there was an
+interchange of bows--that on the lady's part being of a very dignified
+but gracious kind, one that suggested tolerance, and an absolute refusal
+to accept the doctor as anything else than a visitor.
+
+Oldroyd felt rather uncomfortable, but there was comfort in Lucy's
+presence, as, utterly wanting in her mother's reserve, she busied
+herself in trying to make everything pleasant and attractive for their
+guest, in so natural and homely a manner, that while the doctor had felt
+one moment that he wished he had not stayed, the next he was quite
+reconciled to his fate.
+
+"I feel as sure as can be that I am right," thought Oldroyd, as at the
+end of a few minutes, Eliza entered with a large dish, whose contents
+were hidden by a battered and blackened cover, placed it upon the table,
+retreated, came back with a couple of vegetable dishes, retreated once
+more and came back with four dinner-plates, whose edges were chipped and
+stained from long usage.
+
+Oldroyd glanced at Lucy, and saw her pretty forehead wrinkled up,
+reading accurately enough that she was troubled at the shabbiness of the
+table's furnishings; and, as if she felt that he was gazing at her, she
+looked up quickly, caught his eye, and coloured with vexation, feeling
+certain as she did that he had read her thoughts.
+
+"Will you excuse me a moment, Mr Oldroyd?" said Mrs Alleyne, with
+dignity.  "We do not use a dinner-bell, the noise disturbs my son.  I
+always fetch him from the observatory myself."
+
+Oldroyd bowed again, and crossed the room to open the door for his
+hostess to pass out.
+
+"What a nuisance all this formality is," he thought to himself, "I hate
+it;" but all the same, he felt constrained to follow Mrs Alleyne's lead,
+and he was beginning once more to regret his stay when he turned to
+encounter the fresh, natural, girlish look of the daughter of the house.
+
+"Mamma makes a regular habit of fetching my brother to meals, Mr
+Oldroyd," said Lucy; "I don't believe he would come unless she went.
+But while she is away, do tell me once again you don't think Moray is
+going to be seriously ill?"
+
+"But I do think so," he replied.
+
+"Oh, Mr Oldroyd!"
+
+The young doctor gazed at the pretty sympathetic face with no little
+pleasure, as he saw its troubled look, and the tears rising in the eyes.
+
+"How nice," he thought, "to be anyone she cares for like this," and then
+he hugged himself upon his knowledge, which in this case was power--the
+power of being able to change that troubled face to one full of smiles.
+
+"I think he is going to be very seriously ill--if he does not alter his
+way of life."
+
+"He could avoid the illness, then?" cried Lucy, with the change coming.
+
+"Certainly he could.  He has only to take proper rest and out-door
+exercise to be as well as you are."
+
+"Then pray advise him, Mr Oldroyd," said Lucy, who was beaming now.  "Do
+try and get him to be sensible.  It is of no use to send him medicine--
+he would not take a drop.  Hush! here he is."
+
+At that moment there were slow, deliberate steps in the hall, and then
+the door opened, and Mrs Alleyne, with a smile full of pride upon her
+calm, stern face, entered, leaning upon the arm of a tall, grave,
+thoughtful-looking man, whose large dark-grey eyes seemed to be gazing
+straight before him, through everything, into the depths of space, while
+his mind was busy with that which he sought to see.
+
+He was apparently about three or four-and-thirty, well-built and
+muscular; but his muscles looked soft and rounded.  There was an
+appearance of relaxation, even in his walk; and, though his eyes were
+wide open, he gave one the idea of being in a dream.  He was dressed in
+a loose, easy-fitting suit of tweeds, but they had been put on anyhow,
+and the natural curls of his dark-brown hair and beard made it very
+evident that the time he spent at the toilet-table was short.
+
+What struck the visitor most was the veneration given to the student by
+his mother and sister, the former full of pride in her offspring, as she
+drew back his chair, and waited until he had seated himself, before she
+took her own place at the head of the table, and signed to her guest to
+follow her example.
+
+It was a reversal of the ordinary arrangements at a board, for Oldroyd
+found himself opposite Moray Alleyne, with Mrs Alleyne and her daughter
+at the head and foot.  In fact, it soon became evident that Mrs
+Alleyne's son took no interest whatever in matters terrestrial of a
+domestic nature, his mind being generally far away.
+
+Mrs Alleyne had announced to him, as they came towards the dining-room,
+that Mr Oldroyd would join them at the meal; but the scrap of social
+information was covered by a film of nebular theory, till the astronomer
+took his place at the table, when he seemed to start out of a fit of
+celestial dreaming, and to come back to earth.
+
+"Ah, Mr Oldroyd," he said, with his face lighting up and becoming quite
+transformed.  "I had forgotten that you were to join us.  Pray forgive
+my rudeness.  I get so lost in my calculations."
+
+"Don't mention it," said Oldroyd, nodding; and then he looked hard at
+his _vis-a-vis_, marvelling at the change, and the tones of his deep
+mellow voice, and thinking what a man this would be if he had become
+statesman, orator, or the like, concluding by saying mentally, "What a
+physique for a West End physician!  Why, that presence--a little more
+grey, and that soft, winning, confidential voice, would be a fortune to
+him.  But he would have to dress."
+
+"I am sorry we have only plain boiled mutton to offer you, Mr Oldroyd,"
+said Mrs Alleyne, as the covers were removed.
+
+"I knew it was," thought Oldroyd, glancing at the livid, steaming leg of
+mutton.  Then aloud: "One of the joints I most appreciate, madam--with
+its appropriate trimmings, Miss Alleyne," he added smiling at Lucy.
+
+"I'm afraid the potatoes are not good," said Lucy, colouring with
+vexation; "and the turnips seem very hard and stringy."
+
+"Don't prejudge them, my dear," said Mrs Alleyne with dignity.  "We have
+great difficulty in getting good vegetables, Mr Oldroyd," she continued,
+"though we are in the country.  We--er--we do not keep a gardener."
+
+"And the cottage people don't care to sell," said Oldroyd.  "I have
+found that out.  But you have a large garden here, Mrs Alleyne."
+
+"Yes," said the lady, coldly.
+
+"Ah," said Oldroyd, looking across at Moray Alleyne.  "Now, there's your
+opportunity.  Why not take to gardening?"
+
+"Take to gardening?" said Alleyne, shaking off the dreamy air that had
+come upon him as he mechanically ate what his mother had carefully
+placed upon his plate, that lady selecting everything, and her son
+taking it without question, as a furnace fire might swallow so much
+coal.
+
+"Yes; take to gardening, my good sir," said Oldroyd.  "It is a very
+ancient occupation, and amply rewards its votaries."
+
+"I am well rewarded by much higher studies," said Alleyne, smiling; and
+Oldroyd was more than ever impressed by his voice and manner.
+
+"Exactly, but you must have change."
+
+Alleyne shook his head.
+
+"I do not feel the want of change," he said.
+
+"But your body does," replied Oldroyd, "and it is crying out in revolt
+against the burden your mind is putting upon it."
+
+"Why, doctor," said Alleyne, with his face lighting up more and more, "I
+thought you had stayed to dinner.  This is quite a professional visit."
+
+"My dear sir, pray don't call it so," said Oldroyd.  "I only want to
+give you good advice.  I want you to give me better vegetables than
+these--from your own garden," he added, merrily, as he turned to Lucy,
+who was eagerly watching her brother's face.
+
+"Thank you, doctor," replied Alleyne shaking his head; "but I have no
+time."
+
+Oldroyd hesitated for a moment or two, as he went on with his repast of
+very badly cooked, exceedingly tough mutton; but a glance at his hostess
+and Lucy showed him that his words found favour with them, and he
+persevered in a pleasant, half-bantering strain that had, however, a
+solid basis of sound shrewd sense beneath its playful tone.
+
+"Hark at him!" he said.  "Has not time!  Now, look here, my dear Mr
+Alleyne--pray excuse my familiarity, for though we have been neighbours
+these past five years, we have not been intimate--I say, look here, my
+dear sir--potatoes!  Thank you, Miss Alleyne.  That one will do.  I like
+them waxey.  Now look here, my dear sir, you are an astronomer."
+
+"Only a very humble student of a great science, Mr Oldroyd," said the
+other, meekly.
+
+"Ah, well, we will not discuss that.  At all events you are a
+mathematician, and deal in algebraic quantities, and differential
+calculus, and logarithms, and all that sort of thing."
+
+"Yes--yes," said Alleyne, going on eating in his mechanical way as if he
+diligently took to heart the epigrammatic teaching of the old
+philosopher--"Live not to eat, but eat to live."
+
+"Well then, my dear sir, I'll give you a calculation to make."
+
+"Not now, doctor, pray," said Mrs Alleyne, quickly.  "My son's digestion
+is very weak."
+
+"This won't hurt his digestion, madam," said Oldroyd; "a child could do
+it without a slate."
+
+"Pray ask me," said Alleyne, "and I will endeavour to answer you."
+
+"Well, then: here is my problem," said Oldroyd; "perhaps you will try
+and solve it too, Miss Alleyne.  Suppose two men set to work to perform
+a task, and the one--as you mathematicians would put it, say A, worked
+twenty hours a day for five years, while B worked eight hours a day for
+twenty years, which would do most work?"
+
+"I know," said Lucy, quickly; "the busy B, for he would do a hundred and
+sixty hours' work, while A would only do a hundred hours' work."
+
+Alleyne smiled and nodded very tenderly at his sister.
+
+"Isn't that right?" she said quickly, and her cheeks flushed.
+
+"Quite right as to proportion, Lucy," he said, "but in each case it
+would be three hundred and sixty-five times, or three hundred and
+thirteen times as much."
+
+"Of course," she said.  "How foolish of me."
+
+"Well, Mr Oldroyd, what about your problem?" continued Alleyne,
+commencing upon a fresh piece of tough mutton.
+
+"You have solved it," said Oldroyd.  "You have shown me that the
+eight-hour's man does more work than the twenty-hour's man."
+
+"Yes, but one works five years, the other twenty, according to your
+arrangement."
+
+"Not my arrangement, sir, Nature's.  The man who worked twenty hours per
+diem would be worn out mentally at the end of five years.  The man who
+worked eight hours a day, all surroundings being reasonable, would, at
+the end of twenty years, be in a condition to go on working well for
+another ten, perhaps twenty years.  Now, my dear sir, do you see my
+drift?"
+
+Moray Alleyne laid down his knife and fork, placed his elbows on either
+side of his plate, clasped his hands together, and then seemed to cover
+them with his thick, dark beard, as he rested his chin.
+
+A dead silence fell upon the little party, and, as if it were some
+chemical process going on, small round discs of congealed fat formed on
+the mutton gravy in the dish.
+
+Mrs Alleyne was about to break the silence, but she saw that her son was
+ready to answer, and she refrained, sitting very upright and motionless
+in her chair, as she watched the furrows coming and going on his brow.
+
+"That is bringing it home, doctor," he said, and there was a slight
+huskiness in his voice as he spoke.  "But you are exaggerating."
+
+"I protest, no," said Oldroyd, eagerly.  "Allow me, I have made some
+study of animal physiology, and I have learned this: Nature strengthens
+the muscles, nerves and tissues, if they are well used, up to a certain
+point.  If that mark is passed--in other words, if you trespass on the
+other side--punishment comes, the deterioration is rapid and sure."
+
+"Mother," said Alleyne, turning to her affectionately; "you have been
+setting the doctor to tell me this."
+
+"Indeed, no, my dear," she cried, "I was not aware what course our
+conversation would take; but, believe me, Moray, I am glad, for this
+must be true."
+
+"True?" cried Oldroyd.  "My dear madam, the world teems with proofs."
+
+"Yes," said Alleyne thoughtfully: and there was a far-off, dreamy look
+in his eyes as he gazed straight before him as if into space, "it is
+true--it must be true; but with so much to learn--such vast discoveries
+to make--who can pause?"
+
+"The man who wishes to win in the long race," said Oldroyd smiling, and
+again there was a minute's absolute silence, during which the young
+doctor caught a reconnaissant look from Lucy.
+
+Then Alleyne spoke again.
+
+"Yes, Mr Oldroyd, you are right," he said.  "Nature is a hard mistress."
+
+"What, for not breaking her laws?" cried Oldroyd.  "Come, come, Mr
+Alleyne, my knowledge of astronomy extends to the Great Bear, Perseus,
+Cassiopeia, and a few more constellations; but where would your science
+be if her laws were not immutable?"
+
+For answer, to the surprise of all, Moray Alleyne slowly unclasped his
+hands, and stretched one across to the young doctor.
+
+"Thank you," he said.  "You are quite right.  I give way, for I am
+beaten.  Mother, dear, I yield unwillingly, but Nature's laws are
+immutable, and I'll try to obey them.  Are you content?"
+
+"My boy!"
+
+Stern, unbending Mrs Alleyne was for the moment carried away by her
+emotion, and forgetting the doctor's presence, she left her chair to
+throw her arms round her son's neck, bend down, kiss his forehead, and
+then hurry from the room.
+
+"She loves me, Mr Oldroyd," said Alleyne simply.  "Lucy dear, bring
+mamma back.  We are behaving very badly to our guest."
+
+Lucy had already left her chair, and she, too, impulsively kissed her
+brother and then ran from the room to hide her tears.
+
+"Poor things," said Alleyne, smiling.  "I behave very badly to them,
+doctor, and worry them to death; but I am so lost in my studies that I
+neglect everything.  They have made such sacrifices for me, and I forget
+it.  I don't see them--I don't notice what they do.  It was to humour me
+that they came to live in this desolate spot, and my poor mother has
+impoverished herself to meet the outlay for my costly instruments.  It
+is too bad, but I am lost in my work, and nothing will ever take me from
+it now."
+
+"Nothing?" said Oldroyd.
+
+"Nothing," was the reply, given in all simple childlike earnestness, as
+the young doctor gazed straight into the deep full eyes that did not for
+a moment blanch.  "So you will not give me pills and draughts, doctor,"
+said Alleyne at last, smiling.
+
+"Medicine?  No.  Take exercise, man.  Go more into society.  See
+friends.  Take walks.  Garden.  Make this desert bloom with roses."
+
+"Yes--yes--yes," said Alleyne, thoughtfully.  "I must try.  Mr Oldroyd,"
+he said suddenly, "I should like to see more of you--if--if you would
+allow me."
+
+"My dear sir, nothing would give me greater pleasure.  Here, I'll come
+and garden with you, if you like."
+
+"I should be very grateful," said Alleyne.  "Give me your advice," he
+continued, earnestly, "for I--I must live--I have so much to do--endless
+labour--and if I do not husband my strength, I--you are right: a man
+must take exercise and sleep.  Mr Oldroyd, I shall take your advice,
+and--Hush, here they come."
+
+In effect, looking red-eyed, but perfectly calm now, Mrs Alleyne entered
+with Lucy, and the rest of the dinner passed off most pleasantly to
+Oldroyd, who was ready to accord that the poor, badly-cooked mutton was
+the most delicious he had ever eaten, and the vegetables as choice as
+could have been grown.  Doubtless this was due to Lucy's grateful
+glances, and the quiet, grave condescension with which Mrs Alleyne
+turned from her idol to say a few words now and then.
+
+Even Alleyne himself seemed to be making efforts to drag himself back
+from the company of the twin orbs in space, or the star-dust of the
+milky way, to chat about the ordinary things of every-day life; and at
+last, it was with quite a guilty sensation of having overstepped the
+bounds of hospitality in his stay that Oldroyd rose to go.
+
+"You will call and see us again soon, Mr Oldroyd?" said Mrs Alleyne,
+with the dignity of a reigning queen.
+
+"Professionally, madam," he said, "there is no need.  I have exhausted
+my advice at this first visit.  It is for you to play the nurse, and see
+that my suggestions are carried out."
+
+"Then as a friend," said the lady, extending her thin white hand.  "I am
+sure my son feels grateful to you, and will be glad to see you at any
+time."
+
+She glanced at Alleyne, who was seated in the sunshine, holding a pair
+of smoked glass spectacles to his eyes, and gazing up at the dazzling
+orb passing onwards towards the west.
+
+"I thank you heartily," said Oldroyd.  "Society is not so extensive here
+that one can afford to slight so kind an invitation."
+
+"Mr Oldroyd going?" said Alleyne, starting, as, in obedience to a look
+from her mother, Lucy bent over him, and, pressing the glasses down with
+one hand, whispered a few words in his ear.
+
+"Yes, I must be off now," said the young doctor.
+
+"You will come and see us again soon?" said Alleyne.  "Would you care to
+see my observatory?  It might interest you a little."
+
+"I shall be glad," said Oldroyd, "very glad--some day," and after a most
+friendly good-bye, he took his soft hat and stout stick, and, leaving
+the cheerless, sombre house, went down the steep slope, and took a short
+cut across the rough boggy land towards his patient's cottage.
+
+"Thorough lady, but she is very stiff; and she worships her son.
+Charming little girl that.  Nice and natural.  No modern young-ladyism
+in her," he muttered, as he picked his way.  "I should think it would be
+possible to be in her company a whole day without a single allusion to
+frilling, or square-cut, or trains, or the colour and shape of Miss
+Blank's last new bonnet.  Quite a sensible little girl.  Pretty flower
+growing in very uncongenial soil, but she seems happy enough."
+
+Philip Oldroyd's communings were checked by some very boggy patches,
+which had to be leaped and skirted, and otherwise avoided; but as soon
+as he was once more upon firm ground, he resumed where he had left off.
+
+"Wonderfully fond of her brother, too.  Well, I don't wonder.  He's a
+fine fellow after all.  I thought him a dullard--a book-worm; but he's
+something more than that.  Why, when he wakes up out of his dreamy
+state, he's a noble-looking fellow.  What a model he would make for an
+artist who wanted to paint a Roman senator.  Why doesn't nature give us
+all those fine massive heads, with crisp hair and beard?  Humph! lost in
+his far-seeing studies, and nothing will draw him out of them for more
+than a few hours.  Nothing would ever draw him away but one thing.  One
+thing?  No, not it, though.  He's not the sort of man.  He's
+good-looking enough, and he has a voice that, if bent to woo, would play
+mischief with a woman's heart.  He'll never take that complaint, though,
+I'll vow.  It would be all on the lady's side.  And yet, I don't know:
+man is mortal after all.  I am for one.  Very mortal indeed, and if I go
+often to The Firs, I shall be mixing Lucy Alleyne up with my
+prescriptions, and that won't do at all."
+
+Volume 1, Chapter VII.
+
+PLANETS IN OPPOSITION.
+
+Judith Hayle was busy "tidying up" the keeper's cottage, which looked
+brighter since her return home, for there were flowers in glasses set
+here and there, and she was mentally wishing that father would clean the
+captain's double gun out in the wash-house instead of bringing a pail of
+water into the living-room, to plant between his knees as he worked the
+rod up and down the barrels.
+
+The girl looked serious, for her sudden return had made her father
+stern, and she expected to be called upon for more explanation, and a
+cross-examination, which did not begin.
+
+"Who's this?" said the keeper, with a quick look through the little
+lattice.  "The missus.  Here, Judy, she hasn't come here for nothing.
+Go upstairs and let me see her first."
+
+The girl looked startled and hurriedly obeyed, while her father hastily
+wiped his hands and opened the door.
+
+Mrs Rolph was close up, and he went out into the porch to meet her,
+drawing aside quietly and gravely to let her pass.
+
+"Will you walk in, ma'am?"
+
+"Yes, Hayle, thank you," said Mrs Rolph, speaking in a distant,
+dignified way, as of a mistress about to rebuke an erring servant.
+
+She passed him, looking quickly round the room in search of Judith, and
+then, turning her eyes inquiringly upon the keeper, who drew a chair
+forward, and then stood back respectfully as Mrs Rolph sat down.
+
+"Do you know why I have come here, Hayle?" she said, striving to speak
+as one who feels herself aggrieved.
+
+"Yes, ma'am.  'Bout sending Judith home."
+
+"Your child has spoken to you?"
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+Mrs Rolph coughed faintly, to gain time.  The task did not seem so easy
+in presence of this sturdy, independent-looking Englishman, and she
+regretted the tone she had taken, and her next remark as soon as it was
+spoken.
+
+"Well, Hayle," she continued, "what have you to say to this?"
+
+"Nay, ma'am," said the keeper coldly; "it's what have you to say?"
+
+Mrs Rolph wanted to speak quietly, and make a kind of appeal to the
+keeper, but the words would not come as she wished, and she turned upon
+him, in her disappointment and anger, with the first that rose to her
+lips.
+
+"To say?  That all this is disgraceful.  I am bitterly hurt and grieved
+to find that you, an old servant of my husband, the man whom he rescued
+from disgrace, should, in return for the kindness of years and years,
+give me cause to speak as I am compelled to do now."
+
+"Indeed, ma'am!"
+
+"Yes.  Out of kindness to your poor dead wife, I took Judith, and
+clothed and educated her, treated her quite as if she had been of my own
+family, made her the companion of my niece; in short, spared nothing;
+and my reward is this: that she has set snares for my son, and caused an
+amount of unhappiness in my house that it may take years to get over,
+and which may never be forgotten.  Now, then, what excuse have you to
+offer?  What has your child to say?"
+
+The keeper looked at her and smiled.
+
+"Nay, ma'am," he said quietly, "you don't mean all this, and you would
+not speak so if you were not put out.  You know that I've got a case
+against you.  I trusted my poor lass in your hands."
+
+"Trusted, man?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, that's the word--trusted her.  You promised to be like a
+mother to her."
+
+"And I have been till she proved ungrateful."
+
+"Nay, she has not been ungrateful, ma'am, and you know it.  It's for me
+to ask you what you were doing to let your son put such ideas in my poor
+child's head."
+
+"Hayle!"
+
+"Yes, ma'am, I must speak my mind."
+
+"It is madness.  You know it is madness."
+
+"Yes, ma'am, if you call it so; but that's how we stand, and my poor
+girl is not to blame.  It is you."
+
+"How dare you!"
+
+"Because I am her father, ma'am, and my child is as much to me as your
+son is to you."
+
+"This is insolence, sir.  Have the goodness to remember who I am."
+
+"I never forget it, ma'am.  You are my missus, the old master's wife.
+But this is not a matter of mistress and servant, but of a mother and a
+father disputing about their children."
+
+Mrs Rolph drew herself up, and her eyes flashed, but the fire was
+drowned out directly by the tears of trouble and vexation, and the woman
+prevailed over the mistress directly after, as she said, in quite an
+altered tone,--
+
+"Hayle, my good man, what is to be done?"
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated the keeper; "now, ma'am, you are talking like a
+sensible woman, and we may be able to do business."
+
+"Yes, yes, Hayle, I was angry.  I could not help it.  All this comes
+nigh to breaking my heart.  It is, of course, quite impossible.  What do
+you propose to do?"
+
+"Forget it, ma'am, if I can."
+
+"And Judith?"
+
+"Hah!  That's another thing, ma'am."
+
+"But she surely is not so vain as to--to--"
+
+"My Judith is a woman, ma'am.  Is that vanity?"
+
+"Yes, of course.  No, no, Hayle.  But, once more: it is impossible."
+
+"Yes, ma'am."
+
+"Ah, that's very good and sensible of you.  Now, look here.  I have
+thought it all over as I came, and I am sorry to say what I have decided
+upon seems to be the best plan.  It will grieve me terribly, but there's
+no help for it.  You and Judith must go away.  You will agree to this,
+Hayle?"
+
+"You mean, ma'am, that we old people are to settle the matter as to what
+is best for the young folks?"
+
+"Yes, yes, that is right."
+
+"And what will the young folks say?"
+
+Mrs Rolph hesitated for a moment or two.
+
+"We cannot stop to consult them, my good man, when we are working for
+their good.  Now, look here, Hayle; of course it will put you to a good
+deal of inconvenience, for which I am sorry, and to meet that difficulty
+I went back to my room and wrote this."  She took a cheque from her
+little reticule.  "It is for fifty pounds, Hayle; it will cover all your
+expenses till you obtain another appointment.  Why, Benjamin Hayle, how
+long have you been in our service?"
+
+"A many years, ma'am," said the keeper gravely; and then he read the
+cheque over as Mrs Rolph placed it in his hands.  "Ah!  `Pay to Benjamin
+Hayle or bearer, fifty pounds.--Constantia Rolph.'  A good deal of
+money, ma'am.  And now, I think I'll call Judith down."
+
+"Yes--yes, do.  I must say a few words to her.  Poor girl, I wish her
+well."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," said the keeper quietly.
+
+"Yes: it is not all her fault."
+
+"Judith--Judith, my girl," said the keeper, opening the door at the foot
+of the stairs.  "Come down."
+
+There was the quick rustling of a dress, and Judith came down, red-eyed,
+pale and wild-looking, to lay her hand on her father's arm.
+
+"Ah, Judith, my dear," began Mrs Rolph, hastily.  "Your father and I
+have been discussing this unhappy affair, and, sorry as we are, we feel
+obliged to come to the conclusion--the same conclusion that you will, as
+a good, sensible girl, when you have well thought it out--that this
+silly flirtation cannot go on.  It is for your sake as well as my son's
+that I speak."
+
+Hayle felt his child's hand tremble on his arm.
+
+"You are too wise and too good to wish to injure my son's prospects for
+life, and so we have decided that it will be better for your father to
+leave the place, and take you right away, where all this little trouble
+will soon be forgotten."
+
+"And," interposed the keeper, "the missus has given me this, my dear--a
+cheque for fifty pounds, to pay all our expenses.  What shall I do with
+it, my dear?"
+
+"Burn it, father," said Judith, slowly.  "It is to buy us off."
+
+"Hah!" said the keeper, with a smile full of satisfaction, "that's well
+said;" and he placed the end of the cheque to the glowing ashes.  It
+burst into flame and he held it till it was nearly burned away, tossing
+the scrap he had held into the fire.
+
+"Hayle, you must be mad!" cried Mrs Rolph, astonishment having at first
+closed her lips.
+
+"Nay, ma'am, we're not mad, either of us," said the keeper, gravely.
+"There are some things money can buy, and some things it can't, ma'am.
+What you want is one of the things it can't buy.  Judith and I are going
+away from the cottage--right away, ma'am.  I'm only a keeper, but
+there's a bit of independence in me; and as for my girl here, whom you
+made a lady, she's going to act like what you have made her.  She owns
+to me, in her looks if not in words, that she loves young master, and
+she's too proud to come to you and be his wife, till you come to her,
+and beg her to.  Am I right, Judith?"
+
+The girl gave him a quick look, and then drew herself up, and clung to
+him.
+
+"Yes, father," she said, in a whisper which caused her intense suffering
+"you are right."
+
+"There, ma'am, are you satisfied?"
+
+"No," said Mrs Rolph in a husky voice, "I am not satisfied, but it
+cannot be.  My son's welfare is at stake."
+
+She rose, and tried to speak again, but unable to utter another word,
+she left the cottage, father and daughter watching her till she
+disappeared among the dark aisles of the firs.
+
+Volume 1, Chapter VIII.
+
+MARS IN THE ASCENDANT.
+
+"Better get it over," said Captain Rolph, the next day, as he indulged
+himself in what he called a short "spin" down the lane by the side of
+The Warren, and in the direction of the Alleynes' home, which stood up,
+grim and bleak, out of the sandy desert land.  "What with the old man,
+and the major, and the mater, and Madge, and--oh, hang it all!  I'm not
+going to stand any humbug from Judy, and so I tell her.  There, I'll go
+and get it over at once."
+
+He stopped running, braced himself up, and marched in regular military
+fashion, back to The Warren, to see Marjorie seated at one of the front
+windows, ready to give him a smile in response to his short nod.
+
+The next moment he stopped short, gazing sharply down the avenue at the
+broad, bent back of the keeper, who, with head down, was striding away
+toward the gate.
+
+"What's he been here for?--to see me?"
+
+Rolph entered the house, walked noisily into his study--a gun-room, for
+the study of fowling-pieces and fishing rods, with a museum-like
+collection of prize cups and belts dotted about, in company with
+trophies of the chase, heads, horns and skins.  Here he rang the bell,
+which was very promptly answered by the butler, Captain Rolph being a
+follower of the celebrated Count Shucksen, and using so much military
+drill-sergeant powder with his orders that they went home at once.
+
+"Hayle been to see me, Smith?" he asked, sharply.
+
+"No, sir.  Came to bring up your guns after my mistress had been down to
+the keeper's lodge this morning."
+
+"Brought up my guns," said Rolph, wonderingly.  "What for?"
+
+The man looked at him rather curiously in silence.
+
+"Well, idiot, why don't you speak?"
+
+"Not my business, sir.  In trouble, I suppose.  Benjamin Hayle and me
+has never been friends, and so he said nothing, on'y one word as he went
+out."
+
+"And what was that?"
+
+"Sack, sir--sack!"
+
+"That'll do."
+
+"Yes, sir--I knew it would come some day," said the butler to himself.
+"Sticking up a notorious poacher on a level with respectable servants,
+and putting his daughter over 'em, making my lady of her.  But pride
+always did have a fall."
+
+"Humph!" muttered Rolph, with a laugh, "the old girl strikes first blow
+without knowing what was coming.  All right.  Now for it.  Just as well,
+perhaps.  But he was a good keeper."
+
+He went out into the hall just in time to meet Marjorie, who was
+tripping blithely down the stairs, singing the while.
+
+"What a lovely day it is, Rob," she said.
+
+"Is it?" he said grimly.
+
+"Isn't it, dear?  Why, what's the matter?  Are you going in to see
+auntie on business?"
+
+"Yes, on that business.  Did you and my mother hatch up that dodge
+between you?"
+
+"I don't know what you mean, Rob."
+
+"Of course not, my clever little schemer.  Come in, too, and hear how
+I've flanked you both."
+
+A sudden change came over the girl's smiling countenance, with its air
+of wonder, and it was with a vindictive flash of her eyes that she
+suddenly caught Rolph by the arm.
+
+"Not married?" she said in a harsh whisper.
+
+"No; not yet."
+
+"Hah!"
+
+It was a catching sigh of relief as Rolph threw open the drawing-room
+door, and, with mock politeness, stood aside for Marjorie to enter.
+
+Mrs Rolph looked troubled and disturbed, and evidently welcomed the
+appearance of Marjorie, making a sign for the girl to come to her side,
+and then drawing herself up in her most stately way ready to receive her
+son's attack, which was not long in coming.
+
+"Why did you go to Hayle's this morning?"
+
+"On business, Rob."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"To tell him that the time had come when I required his services no
+longer, and that he must go at once."
+
+"What!  My keeper?"
+
+"Mine, Robert," said Mrs Rolph, firmly.  "You forget the terms of your
+father's will.  You have your income; I have mine, with undisturbed
+possession of everything at The Warren while I live.  You occupy the
+position of my guest when you are here."
+
+"Humph! all right.  And so you have discharged Ben, eh?  When does he
+go?"
+
+"To-day."
+
+"Sharp practice, mother; and all because poor Judy is pretty."
+
+"And all because, as I told him, I wished to save--I will speak plainly,
+even in your cousin's presence--a weak, vain girl from disgrace."
+
+"Humph! pretty plain speaking that, mother."
+
+"There are times when plain speaking is necessary, my son, and when
+strong action is required to save you from the consequences of a mad
+passion."
+
+"Rubbish!"
+
+"What!  Don't you know Ben Hayle better than that?  Do you think he is
+the man to sit down quietly when he knows the truth?  Have you not seen
+that the foolish fellow believes thoroughly what he as good as told me
+to my face this morning--that he expects to see his daughter some day
+mistress here?"
+
+"Ben Hayle's a fool," cried Rolph, angrily, "and you and Madge here are
+half-crazy.  Let's have an end of it.  Once for all, mother, I mean to
+do exactly as I like, and I have done as I liked."
+
+Mrs Rolph started forward in her chair, and Marjorie's lips tightened.
+
+"What do you mean, Rob?" cried the former.
+
+"You want to see me married, I believe?"
+
+"I want to see you prove yourself an honourable gentleman--a worthy son
+of your father, not a man for whom I should blush."
+
+"All right, then.  I've taken the right steps for settling into a quiet,
+country gentleman.  I'm going to be married."
+
+Marjorie's eyes flashed.
+
+"Rob, you will not be so mad as to marry that girl?"
+
+"Yes, I shall," he said coolly.
+
+"Then I have done with you for ever.  Judith Hayle may come here when I
+am in my grave, but till then--"
+
+"Let the churchyard alone, mother.  Do you think I'm such a fool as to
+marry a poacher's daughter?"
+
+"Rob!  Then you have repented!" cried Mrs Rolph excitedly, and Marjorie
+trembled and sank upon her knees to cling to her aunt's waist.
+
+"Oh, yes, I've repented, and I'm going to be a very good boy and get
+married soon."
+
+"Madge, my dear child!" cried Mrs Rolph, embracing the girl at her feet.
+
+"There, don't get filling her head full of false hopes, the same as you
+did Judy Hayle's mother," said Rolph brutally.  "I went yesterday and
+proposed, and have been accepted."
+
+Marjorie's breath came and went in a low hiss as she turned her wild
+eyes upon her cousin.
+
+"Proposed?  To whom?  Rob, not to that pert, penniless girl at The
+Firs?"
+
+"What, the moon-shooter's sister!" cried Rolph.  "Hah! nice, little,
+bright-eyed thing.  But no: try again."
+
+Mrs Rolph rose excitedly from her chair, and Marjorie's hands dropped
+from her waist as she crouched lower upon the carpet.
+
+"Not John Day's daughter--Glynne?"
+
+"Good guess, mother.  Glynne Day is to be my wife by-and-by.  The old
+man is agreeable and the major isn't.  So now, the sooner you go and
+call upon them and make it all right the better."
+
+Poor Marjorie dropped out of Mrs Rolph's sight.
+
+"Rob! my dear boy!" she cried as she flung her arms about her son's neck
+to kiss him fondly, while Marjorie rose slowly, looking white even to
+her lips, and with a peculiar smile dawning upon them as her eyes
+flashed upon the group before her.
+
+"I knew I could trust you, Rob," cried Mrs Rolph; and then, recollecting
+herself, "Madge, my poor child, I am very sorry, but, you see, it was
+not to be."
+
+"No, auntie dear," said the girl, with the smile growing more marked;
+"marriages are made in Heaven, you know.  I shall not mind--much.  Of
+course the great aim of all our lives was to see dear Rob happy.  Glynne
+Day is very beautiful and sweet, and a daughter of whom you will be
+quite proud.  I should be deceitful if I did not own to being grievously
+disappointed, but, as was natural, Rob's love for me has only been that
+of a brother for a sister"--she fixed Rolph's eyes as she spoke, and his
+turned shiftily away--"and if I have been a little silly, the pain will
+soon wear off.  Glynne Day.  How nice.  I'm sure I shall love her very
+much, though she is rather cold.  Isn't she, Rob?"
+
+"That is very nice of you, Madge, my dear," said Mrs Rolph, embracing
+her niece.  "And who knows how soon another prince may come, my dear."
+
+"Oh, aunt!"
+
+"And you will try to forget all this?"
+
+"Of course, aunt, dear.  It was fate," said the girl innocently.
+
+"And--and you will not mind going over to Brackley with me to call?"
+
+"I, mind?  Oh, auntie, I should be horribly disappointed if you did not
+take me.  There, Rob," she continued, with a little sigh, "that's all
+over, and I congratulate you--brother; and I shall kiss dearest Glynne
+as I kiss you now."
+
+"Humph! thought she was going to bite me," muttered Rolph.  Then aloud,
+"Well, Madge, it was a bit of a flirtation, I own.  Now, then, as you've
+behaved like a trump, so will I.  What shall it be--a pearl locket, or
+diamonds, or a bracelet?"
+
+"Oh, how good and generous you are, Rob dear.  How nice of you!" cried
+Marjorie in gushing tones.  "I have so often longed for a sapphire
+bracelet."
+
+"Then you shall have one," said Rolph, but not quite so warmly as he had
+spoken before.  "I'm off now."
+
+"Won't you stay to lunch, dear?" said Mrs Rolph.
+
+"No.  I shall have a sandwich in my room.  I'm training.  I say! can you
+go over this afternoon?"
+
+"Of course we will, dear," said Mrs Rolph, warmly; and there was a look
+of relief in her eyes.
+
+"Then that's all settled," said Rolph; and he left the room, not
+noticing the hard look in his cousin's eyes.  "Sorry about poor old Ben
+Hayle," he muttered as he went to his own room.  "But perhaps it's best.
+Going to be married, and must be a good boy now."
+
+Then a thought struck him, and he hurried back to the drawing-room, to
+surprise Marjorie upon her knees, with her face buried in Mrs Rolph's
+lap.
+
+"Oh, beg pardon," he said, hastily; "but look here, mother; don't be
+quite so hard on Ben Hayle.  I mean as to a day or two."
+
+"Leave that to me, Rob--please," said Mrs Rolph.
+
+"Oh, all right," he cried, and he went right off this time.  "Poor
+little Madge! but she won't be long before she hooks another fish.  Bet
+a sov. she tries it on with the astronomer; but I must go and smooth it
+down a bit at the lodge.  What a blessing it is to have nearly enough
+coin.  That bracelet did wonders; but Judy mustn't play quite so high,
+and, as for Ben--well he's my mother's man, and--I know; I'll let him
+keep that old gun."
+
+Volume 1, Chapter IX.
+
+ATTRACTION AND REPULSION.
+
+Rolph dined at Brackley that evening, and found Sir John in the best of
+spirits.  Glynne was bright and eager to show him the progress she had
+made with her painting, at the sight of which he started as they stood
+together in the drawing-room.
+
+"But I say, Glynne, you know, this is doosid clever and ought to go to
+the Academy; only, hang it all! you mustn't get painting fellows like
+that."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because--because--well, you see the fellow's a regular scamp--dangerous
+sort of a character, you know--been in prison for poaching, and that
+sort of thing."
+
+"But he's such a patient model."
+
+"Model, eh?  Not my idea of a model.  Look here, if you want some one to
+sit, you shall have me."
+
+The conversation changed to the visit she had received that afternoon;
+and Glynne in her new excitement was rapturous about "dear Mrs Rolph,"
+but rather lukewarm about her niece, and Rolph noticed it.
+
+"Madge nice to you?" he said.
+
+"Your cousin?  Oh, yes," replied Glynne, thoughtfully.  "She seemed
+rather shy and strange at first, but soon got over that.  We have always
+been a little distant, for I think I was too quiet for her; but of
+course we shall be like sisters now."
+
+"H'm, yes, I suppose so.  But Madge is rather a strange girl."
+
+The dinner passed off pretty well.  Rolph drinking a good deal of the
+baronet's favourite claret, and every now and then finding the major's
+eyes fixed upon him in rather a searching way which he did not like; but
+on the whole, Major Day was pleasant and gentlemanly, and rather given
+to sigh on seeing how happy and bright his niece looked.  When at last
+she rose during dessert, and Rolph opened the door for her to pass out
+to the drawing-room, he was obliged to own that they would make a
+handsome couple, and on seeing his brother's inquiring glance, he nodded
+back to him, making Sir John look pleased.
+
+"I've no right to object if they are satisfied," he said to himself;
+"but he is not the fellow I should have chosen."
+
+All the same, he shook hands warmly enough when Rolph left that night.
+
+"Jack," he said, as he sat with his brother over their last cigar, "I
+think I may as well get married now."
+
+"You think what!" cried Sir John dropping his cigar.
+
+"I think I shall get married.  I mean, when Glynne has gone."
+
+"I should like to catch you at it!" growled Sir John.  "When Glynne goes
+you've got to stop with me."
+
+"Ah, well we shall see," said the major, whose eyes were fixed on the
+dark corner of the smoking-room, where he could see a fir glade with a
+pretty, bright little figure stooping over a ring of dark-coloured
+fungi--"we shall see.  Glynne isn't married yet."
+
+The next morning, soon after breakfast, Rolph started off for a run, for
+he was training for an event, he said, the run taking him in the
+direction of the preserves about an hour later.
+
+He had gone for some distance along the path, but he leaped over a fence
+now and began to thread his way through a pine wood, where every step
+was over the thick grey needles; and as he walked he from time to time
+kicked over one of the bright red or speckled grey fungi which grew
+beneath the trees.
+
+He had about half a mile to go through this wood; the birch plantation
+and the low copse, and then through the grove in one of the openings of
+which, and surrounded by firs, stood the keeper's cottage.
+
+He pressed on through the fir wood, then across the birch plantation,
+where the partridges loved to hide, and the copse where the poachers
+knew the pheasants roosted on the uncut trees at the edge, but dared not
+go, because it was so near the keeper's cottage.
+
+Then on to Thoreby Wood, in and out among the bronze-red fir-tree
+trunks, under the dark green boughs, where the wind was always moaning,
+as if the sea shore was nigh, and the bed of needles silenced his
+footfalls, for the way was easy now.  In another minute he would be out
+of the clearing, close to the cottage--at the back.
+
+"Why, there she is," he said to himself, with his heart giving a throb
+of satisfaction, as he saw before him a girl standing where the sun
+shone down through the opening where the cottage stood, and half threw
+up the figure as it rested one hand upon a tree trunk and leaned forward
+as if gazing out from the edge of the wood at something in the opening
+beyond.
+
+Rolph stopped short, to stand gazing at her admiringly.
+
+"What is she watching?" he said to himself, then, smiling as the
+explanation came.
+
+"Been feeding the pheasants," he thought.  "She has thrown them some
+grain, and they have come out by the cottage."
+
+"Yes," he continued, "she is watching them feed, and is standing back so
+as not to scare them.  Poor beggars! what a shame it seems to go and
+murder them after they have been reared at home and fed like this."
+
+He hesitated for a few moments, and then began to walk swiftly on, with
+hushed footsteps, toward where the figure stood, a hundred yards away.
+
+When he saw her first, he was able to gaze down a narrow lane of trees,
+but a deep gully ran along there, necessitating his diverging from that
+part, and going in and out among the tall trunks, sometimes catching a
+glimpse of the watcher, sometimes for her to be hidden from his sight.
+And so it was that when at last he came out suddenly, he was not five
+yards behind her, but unheard.  He stopped short, startled and
+astonished.  For it was not Judith who stood watching there so intently.
+
+Madge! there!
+
+At that moment, as if she were impressed by his presence, Marjorie Emlin
+rose partly erect, drawing back out of the sunshine, and quite
+involuntarily turning to gaze full in Rolph's face, her own fixed in its
+expression of malignant joy, as if she had just seen something which had
+given her the most profound satisfaction.  She was laughing, her lips
+drawn away from her teeth, and her eyes, in the semi-darkness of the fir
+wood, dilated and glowing with a strange light.
+
+For a moment or two she gazed straight at Rolph, seeing him, but not
+seeming to realise his presence.  Then there was a rapid change of her
+expression, the malignant look of joy became one of shame, fear, and the
+horror of being surprised.
+
+"You here, Madge!" he said at last, in a hoarse whisper lest Judith
+should know that she was being watched.  "What does this mean?"
+
+She looked at him wildly, and began to creep away, as one might from
+some creature which fascinated and yet filled with fear.
+
+She was still shrinking away, but he had caught her wrist and held it
+firmly as she glared at him, till, with a sudden effort, she tried to
+wrest herself away.
+
+There was no struggle, for he suddenly cast her away from him, realising
+in an instant the reason of her presence and of this malignant look of
+satisfaction, for, as Madge darted away, he rushed into the opening
+where the cottage stood, in response to a wild cry for help.
+
+He reached the porch in time to catch Judith on his arm, as she was
+running from the place, and receive Caleb Kent who was in full pursuit,
+with his right fist thrown out with all his might.
+
+The impact of two bodies at speed is tremendous, and scientific people
+of a mathematical turn assure us that when such bodies do meet they fly
+off at a tangent.
+
+They may have done so here, but, according to matter-of-fact notions,
+Rolph's fist and arm flew round Judith afterwards, to help the other
+hold her trembling and throbbing to his heart; while Caleb Kent's head
+went down with a heavy, resounding bump on the tiled floor of the little
+entry.
+
+Then Judith shrank away, and Rolph in his rage planted his foot on Caleb
+Kent's chest, as the fellow lay back, apparently stunned.
+
+But there was a good deal of the wild beast about Caleb Kent.  He lay
+still for a few moments, and then, quick and active as a cat, he twisted
+himself sidewise and sprang up, his mouth cut and bleeding, his features
+distorted with passion; and, starting back, he snatched a long knife
+from his pocket, threw open the blade, and made a spring at Rolph.
+
+Judith uttered a cry of horror, but there was no occasion for her dread,
+for, quick in his action as the young poacher, Rolph struck up the
+attacking arm, and the next moment Caleb Kent was outside, with his
+opponent following him watchfully.
+
+"Keep of!" snarled Caleb, "or I'll have your blood.  All right: I see;
+but never mind, my turn will come yet.  If I wait for years, I'll make
+this straight."
+
+And then as Rolph made a rush at him, he dodged aside and darted into
+the fir wood, running so swiftly that his adversary felt it would be
+useless to pursue.
+
+Neither did he wish to, for Judith was standing there by the porch,
+looking wild-eyed and ghastly.
+
+"You--you are hurt," she faltered.
+
+"Hurt!" he cried, as he clasped her once more in his arms.  "No, no,
+tell me about yourself.  Curse him! what did he say?"
+
+"I was alone here and busy when he came.  He has followed me about from
+a child and frightened me.  To-day he walked straight in and roughly
+told me that he loved me, and that I must be his wife."
+
+She shuddered.
+
+"The insolent gaol-bird!"
+
+"He frightened me, though I tried very hard to be firm, and ordered him
+to leave the place; but he only laughed at me, and caught me in his
+arms, and tried to kiss me.  I was struggling with him for a long time,
+and no help seemed to be coming.  I screamed out, and that frightened
+him, and he left me; but, before I could fasten the door, he came back
+and spoke gently to me, but when I would not listen to him, he tried to
+seize me again, and I cried for help, and you--"
+
+She did not shrink this time, as, throbbing with passion, and uttering
+threats against the scoundrel, Rolph once more folded her in his arms.
+
+Again she struggled from him, trembling.
+
+"I am not doing right," she said firmly.  "If you love me, Rob--"
+
+"If I love you!" he said reproachfully.
+
+"I am sure you have pity for me," she said, taking his hand and raising
+it to her lips, to utter a cry of horror, for the hand was bleeding
+freely, and the ruddy current dyed her lips.
+
+"Hurt in my defence," she said with a pained smile, as she bound her own
+handkerchief about the bleeding knuckles.
+
+"I'd die in your defence," he whispered passionately; "your protector
+always, dearest."
+
+"Then protect me now," she said, "that I am weak, and let me trust in
+you.  You wish me to be your wife, Robert?"
+
+"Eh?  Yes, of course, of course," he said hurriedly.
+
+"And you won't let your mother sending me away make any difference?"
+
+"How could it, little stupid!  I'm not a boy," he said, banteringly.
+"But I must go now, and, as for Master Caleb Kent, I'll just set the
+policeman on his track."
+
+"But that will mean his being taken before the magistrates, Rob."
+
+"Yes, and a long spell for him this time, or I'll know the reason why."
+
+"No, no," cried the girl, hurriedly.  "You mustn't do that."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"Because he hates you enough as it is.  He said he'd kill you."
+
+"Will he?" muttered Rolph, between his teeth.
+
+"And I should have to go before the magistrates as a witness; and
+there's no knowing what Caleb might say."
+
+Rolph looked at her searchingly, while she clung to him till he promised
+to let the matter rest.
+
+"But suppose he comes again?"
+
+"Father will take care of that," she said confidently.  "But do mind
+yourself as you go.  Caleb may be hiding, and waiting for you."
+
+"To come back here," he said sharply.
+
+"If he does, he'll find the door locked," said Judith quietly.  "Must
+you go now?"
+
+"Yes: your father may come back."
+
+"But that doesn't matter now, Rob, does it?  Why not tell him we're
+engaged?"
+
+"No, no: not yet.  Leave that to me.  Good-bye, now."
+
+He drew the clinging arms from about his neck rather roughly, gave the
+girl's lips a hasty kiss, and hurried out and across the clearing,
+turning back twice as he went to see Judith looking after him, with her
+face shadowed by tears, and then, as their eyes encountered, beaming
+with sunshine.  And again, after he had passed out of sight, he stole
+back through the trees to find that she was still wistfully gazing at
+the spot where she saw him last.
+
+And, as unseen he watched her, his thoughts were many upon her
+unprotected state, and as to whether he ought not to stay until her
+father's return.
+
+"No," he said, "the beggar will not dare to come back!" and, after
+making a circuit of the place, and searching in all directions, he
+walked thoughtfully away, thinking of what must be done with regard to
+Caleb Kent, and then about his cousin, against whom his indignation grew
+hotter the more he thought of what he had seen.
+
+"She must have known that Caleb was in the cottage insulting Judith, and
+she was glorying in it and would not stir a step to save her, when her
+presence would have been enough to drive the beggar away.  Oh, it seems
+impossible that a woman could be so spiteful.  Hang it!  Madge has got
+hold of that now.  It's like being at her mercy.  Phew!  I'm getting
+myself in a devil of a mess.  I meant to fight shy of her now
+altogether, but of course no fellow could help running to save a woman
+in distress."
+
+He stopped short, for a sudden thought struck him.
+
+"Then Judy hasn't heard about Glynne yet.  Confound it all! what a
+tangle I'm getting in."
+
+He took out and lit a cigar.  Then smoking rapidly, he felt better.
+
+"All right," he muttered; "the old woman sets that square, and the
+sooner they're off the estate the better for everybody.  But there's no
+mistake about it, Judy is deuced nice after all."
+
+"Day, sir," said a sharp voice, and Rolph started round to find himself
+face to face with Hayle.
+
+"Ah, Ben!--you!"
+
+"Yes, sir, me it is," said the keeper, sternly.  "Down, dogs!"
+
+This to the animals which began to play about the captain.
+
+"Oh, let 'em be," said Rolph, patting one of the setters on the head.
+
+"Never mind the dogs, sir.  I've got something more serious to think
+about.  I suppose you know as the missus has sacked me, and we're off?"
+
+"Yes, Ben, I know; but it was no doing of mine."
+
+"I never thought it was, sir; but me and Judy's to go at once--anywhere,
+for aught she cares.  She'd like me to emigrate, I think."
+
+"No, don't do that, Ben.  England's big enough."
+
+"For some people, sir.  I don't know as it is for me.  Well, sir, I'm
+sacked, and I dare say it will be a long time before anyone will take me
+on.  My character usen't to be of the best, and the reasons for going
+'ll be again me.  Of course you know why it is."
+
+"Well--er--I suppose--"
+
+"That'll do, sir.  You know well enough, it's about you and my Judy."
+
+The captain laughed.
+
+"There, sir, you needn't shuffle with me.  I'm my gal's father, and we
+may as well understand one another."
+
+"My good fellow, recollect whom you are talking to," said the captain,
+haughtily.
+
+"I do, sir.  My late missus's son; and I recollect that I'm nobody's
+servant now, only an Englishman as can speak out free like.  So I say
+this out plain.  Of course, after what's been going on, you mean to
+marry my Judith?"
+
+"Marry her?  Well--er--Ben--"
+
+"No, you don't," said the keeper fiercely, "so don't tell me no lies,
+because I know you've been and got yourself engaged to young Miss Glynne
+over at Brackley."
+
+"Well, sir, and if I have, what then?" said Rolph haughtily.
+
+"This, sir," cried the keeper, with his eyes flashing, "that you've been
+playing a damned cowardly mean part to Miss Glynne and to my Judith.
+You've led my gal on to believe that you meant to marry her, and then
+you've thrown her over and took up with Sir John Day's gal.  And I tell
+you this; if my Judith hadn't been what she is, and any harm had come of
+it, you might have said your prayers, for as sure as there's two charges
+o' shot in this here gun, I'd put one through you."
+
+"What?"
+
+"You heared what I said, sir, and you know I'm a man of my word.  And
+now, look here: you've been to the lodge to see Judith, for the last
+time, of course, for if ever you speak to her again, look out.  Now,
+don't deny it, my lad.  You've been to my cottage, for it is mine till
+to-night."
+
+"Yes, I have been to the lodge, Hayle," said Rolph, who was thoroughly
+cowed by the keeper's fierce manner.  "I was going through the wood
+when, just as I drew near the cottage, I heard a cry for help."
+
+"What?" roared Hayle.
+
+"I ran to the porch just as a man was after Miss Hayle--Steady there."
+
+The sound was startling, for involuntarily the keeper had cocked both
+barrels of his gun; and, as he stood there with his eyes flashing, and
+the weapon trembling in the air, the three dogs looked as if turned to
+stone, their necks outstretched, heads down, and their long feathery
+tails rigid, waiting for the double report they felt must follow.
+
+"And--and--what did you do?" cried the keeper in a slow, hoarse voice,
+which, taken in conjunction with the rapid cocking of the gun, made
+Rolph think that, if it had been the father who had come upon that
+scene, there might have been a tragedy in Thoreby Wood that day.
+
+"I say, what did you do?" said the keeper again, in a voice full of
+suppressed passion.
+
+"That!" said Rolph, slowly raising his right hand to unwind from it
+Judith's soft white handkerchief, now all stained with blood, and
+display his knuckles denuded of skin.
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated the keeper, as his eyes flashed.  "God bless you for
+that, sir.  You knocked him down?"
+
+"Of course."
+
+"Yes--yes?"
+
+"And he jumped up and drew his knife and struck at me."
+
+"But he didn't hit you, sir; he didn't hit you?" cried the keeper,
+forgetting everything in his excitement as he clutched the young man's
+arm.
+
+"No; I was too quick for him; and then he ran off into the wood."
+
+"Damn him!" roared the keeper.  "If I had only been there this would
+have caught him," he cried, patting the stock of his gun.  "I'd have set
+the dogs on him after I'd given him a couple of charges of shot; I
+would, sir, so help me God."
+
+The veins were standing out all over the keeper's brow, as he ground his
+teeth and shook his great heavy fist.
+
+"But wait a bit.  It won't be long before we meet."
+
+"I am very glad you were not there, Hayle," said Rolph, after watching
+the play of the father's features for a few moments.
+
+"Why, sir, why?"
+
+"Because I don't want to have you take your trial for manslaughter."
+
+"No, no; I had enough of that over the breaking of Jack Harris's head,
+sir; but--"
+
+"Yes, but," said Rolph, quickly, "I wanted to talk to you about that."
+
+"It was Caleb Kent," said the keeper, with sudden excitement.
+
+"Yes, it was Caleb Kent."
+
+"I might have known it; he was always for following her about.  Curse
+him!  But talking's no good, sir; and, perhaps, it's as well I wasn't
+there.  Thankye, sir, for that.  It makes us something more like quits.
+As for Caleb Kent, perhaps I shall have a talk to him before I go.  But
+mind you don't speak to my Judy again."
+
+He shouldered his gun, gave Rolph a nod, and then walked swiftly away,
+the dogs hesitating for a few moments, and then dashing off, to follow
+close at his heels.
+
+Rolph stood watching the keeper for a few minutes till he disappeared.
+
+"Well out of that trouble then," he muttered.  "Not pleasant for a
+fellow; it makes one feel so small.  Poor little Judy! she'll be
+horribly wild when she comes to know.  What a lot of misery our marriage
+laws do cause in this precious world."
+
+"Now then for home," he said, after walking swiftly for a few minutes,
+and, "putting on a spurt" as he termed it, he reached the house and went
+straight to the library.
+
+He had entered and closed the door to sit down and have a good think
+about how he could "square Madge," when he became aware that the lady in
+his thoughts was seated in one of the great arm-chairs with a book in
+her hand, which she pretended to read.  She cowered as her cousin
+started, and stood gazing down at her with a frowning brow, and a look
+of utter disgust and contempt about his lips which made her bosom rise
+and fall rapidly.
+
+"Do you want this room, Rob?" she said, breaking an awkward silence.
+
+"Well, yes, after what took place this morning, you do make the place
+seem unpleasant," he said coolly.
+
+"Oh, this is too much," cried Madge, her face, the moment before deadly
+pale, now flushing scarlet, as she threw down the book she had held, and
+stood before him, biting her lips with rage.
+
+"Yes, too much."
+
+"And have we been to the cottage to see the fair idol?  Pray explain,"
+said Marjorie, who was beside herself with rage and jealousy.  "I
+thought gentlemen who were engaged always made an end of their vulgar
+amours."
+
+"Quite right," said Rolph, meaningly.  "I did begin, as you know."
+
+She winced, and her eyes darted an angry flash at him.
+
+"You mean me," she said, with her lips turning white.
+
+"I did not say so."
+
+"But would it not have been better, now we are engaged to Glynne Day--I
+don't understand these things, of course--but would it not have been
+better for a gentleman, now that he is engaged, to cease visiting that
+creature, and, above all, to keep away when he was not wanted?"
+
+"What do you mean?--not wanted?"
+
+"I mean when she was engaged with her lover, who was visiting her in her
+father's absence."
+
+"The scoundrel!" cried Rolph, fiercely.
+
+"Yes; a miserable, contemptible wretch, I suppose, but an old flame of
+hers."
+
+"Look here, Madge; you're saying all this to make me wild," cried Rolph,
+"but it won't do.  You know it's a lie."
+
+Madge laughed unpleasantly.
+
+"It's true.  He was always after her.  She told me so herself, and how
+glad she was that the wretch had been sent to prison--of course, because
+he was in the way just then."
+
+"Go on," growled Rolph.  "A jealous woman will say anything."
+
+"Jealous?--I?--Pah!--Only angry with myself because I was so weak as to
+listen to you."
+
+"And I was so weak as to say anything to a malicious, deceitful cat of a
+girl, who is spiteful enough to do anything."
+
+"I, spiteful?--Pah!"
+
+"Well, malicious then."
+
+"Perhaps I shall be.  I wonder what dear Glynne would say about this
+business.  Suppose I told her that our honourable and gallant friend, as
+they call it in parliament, had been on a visit to that shameless
+creature whom poor auntie had been compelled to turn away from the
+house, and in his honourable and gallant visit arrived just in time to
+witness the end of a lover's quarrel; perhaps you joined in for ought I
+know, and--I can't help laughing--Poor fellow!  You did.  You have been
+fighting with your rival, and bruised your knuckles.  Did he beat you
+much, Rob, and win?"
+
+Robert Rolph was dense and brutal enough, and his cousin's words made
+him wince, but he looked at the speaker in disgust as the malevolence of
+her nature forced itself upon him more and more.
+
+"Well," he cried at last, "I've seen some women in my time, but I never
+met one yet who could stand by and glory in seeing one whom she had
+looked upon as a sister insulted like poor Judy was."
+
+"A sister!" cried Marjorie, contemptuously.  "Absurd!--a low-born
+trull!"
+
+"Whom you called dear, and kissed often enough till you thought I liked
+her, and then--Hang it all, Madge, are you utterly without shame!"
+
+She shrank from him as if his words were thongs which cut into her
+flesh, but as he ceased speaking, with a passionate sob, she flung her
+arms about his neck, and clung tightly there.
+
+"Rob!  Don't, I can't bear it," she cried.  "You don't know what I have
+suffered--what agony all this has caused."
+
+"There, there, that will do," he said contemptuously.  "I am engaged, my
+dear."
+
+She sprang from him, and a fierce light burned in her eyes for a moment,
+but disappointment and her despair were too much for her, and she flung
+herself upon his breast.
+
+"No, no, Rob, dear, it isn't true.  I couldn't help hating Judith or any
+woman who came between us.  You don't mean all this, and it is only to
+try me.  You cannot--you shall not marry Glynne; and as to Judith, it is
+impossible now."
+
+"Give over," he said roughly, as he tried to free himself from her arms.
+
+"No, you sha'n't go.  I must tell you," she whispered hoarsely amidst
+her sobs.  "I hate Judith, but she is nothing--not worthy of a thought I
+will never mention her name to you again, dear."
+
+"Don't pray," he cried sarcastically.  "If you do, I shall always be
+seeing you gloating over her trouble as I saw you this morning."
+
+"It was because I loved you so, Rob," she murmured as she nestled to
+him.  "It was because I felt that you were mine and mine only, after the
+past; and all that was forcing her away from you."
+
+"Bah!" he cried savagely.  "Madge!  Don't be a fool!  Will you loosen
+your hands before I hurt you."
+
+But she clung to him still.
+
+"No, not yet," she whispered.  "You made me love you, Rob, and I forget
+everything in that.  Promise me first that you will break all that off
+about Glynne Day."
+
+"I promise you that I'll get your aunt to place you in a private
+asylum," he cried brutally, "if you don't leave go."
+
+There was a slight struggle, and he tore himself free, holding her
+wrists together in his powerful grasp and keeping her at arm's length.
+
+"There!  Idiot!" he cried.  "Must I hold you till you come to your
+senses."
+
+"If you wish--brute!" she cried through her little white teeth as her
+lips were drawn away.  "Kill me if you like now.  I don't care a bit:
+you can't hurt me more than you have."
+
+"If I hurt you, it serves you right.  A nice, ladylike creature, 'pon my
+soul.  Pity my mother hasn't been here to see the kind of woman she
+wanted me to marry."
+
+"Go on," she whispered, "go on.  Insult me: you have a right.  Go on."
+
+"I'm going off," he said roughly.  "There, go up to your room, and have
+a good hysterical cry and a wash, and come back to your senses.  If you
+will have it you shall, and the whole truth too.  I never cared a bit
+for you.  It was all your own doing, leading me on.  Want to go."
+
+"Loose my hands, brute."
+
+"For you to scratch my face, my red-haired pussy.  Not such a fool.  I
+know your sweet temper of old.  If I let go, will you be quiet?"
+
+Marjorie made no reply, but she ceased to struggle and stood there with
+her wrists held, the white skin growing black--a prisoner--till, with a
+contemptuous laugh, he threw the little arms from him.
+
+"Go and tell Glynne everything you know--everything you have seen, if
+you like," he said harshly, "only tell everything about yourself too,
+and then come back to me to be loved, my sweet, amiable, little
+white-faced tigress.  I'm not afraid though, Madge.  You can't open
+those pretty lips of yours, can you?  It might make others speak in
+their defence."
+
+"Brute," she whispered as she gazed at him defiantly and held out her
+bruised wrists.
+
+"Brute, am I?  Well, let sleeping brutes lie.  Don't try to rouse them
+up for fear they should bite.  Go to your room and bathe your pretty red
+eyes after having a good cry, and then come and tell me that you think
+it is best to cry truce, and forget all the past."
+
+"Never, Rob, dear," she said with a curious smile.  "Go on; but mind
+this: you shall never marry Glynne Day."
+
+"Sha'n't I?  We shall see.  I think I can pull that off," he cried with
+a mocking laugh.  "But if I don't, whom shall I marry?"
+
+She turned from him slowly, and then faced round again as she reached
+the door.
+
+"Me," she said quietly; and the next minute Robert Rolph was alone.
+
+Volume 1, Chapter X.
+
+A CLOUDY SKY.
+
+"Oh, father, I'm so glad you've come."
+
+This was Ben Hayle's greeting as he reached the keeper's lodge.
+
+"Eh?  Are you?" he said, with an assumed look of ignorance; but the
+corners of his eyes were twitching, and he was asking himself how he was
+to tell his child matters that would nearly break her heart, as he
+yielded his hand to hers, and let her press him back into his windsor
+arm-chair.  "Nothing the matter, is there?"
+
+She knelt at his feet, and told him all that had passed, and the strong
+man's muscles jerked, and his grasp of her arm grew at times painful.
+As she went on, he interjected a savage word from time to time.
+
+"Good girl, good girl.  It has hurt you, my darling, but it was right to
+tell me all, and keep nothing back."
+
+Then he laid his hand softly on her glossy hair, and sat staring
+straight before him at the window, the moments being steadily marked off
+by the _tick-tack_ of the old eight-day clock in the corner, and no
+other sound was heard in the room.
+
+Outside, the silence of the fir wood was broken by the cheery lay of a
+robin in one of the apple-trees of the garden, and once there came the
+low, soft cooing of a dove, which the soft, sunny autumn day had deluded
+into the belief that it was spring.
+
+Then all was again silent for a time, and it seemed to Judith, as she
+looked up into the stern, thoughtful face, with its dark, fierce eyes,
+that the heavy throbbing of her heart drowned the beat of the clock; at
+other times the regular _tick-tack_ grew louder, and she could hear
+nothing else.
+
+"You're not cross with me, father?" she said at last.
+
+"No, it was no fault of yours.  Ah, Judy, my girl, I was so proud of
+your bonny face, but it seems as if it is like to be a curse to you--to
+us both."
+
+"Father!"
+
+"Yes, my lass; and I don't know which of they two we ought to be most
+scared of--Caleb Kent or the captain."
+
+"Oh! father!" cried Judith; and she let her head fall upon his knee, as
+she sobbed wildly.
+
+"I need hardly ask you, then, my girl," he said, as with tender, loving
+hands, he took her head and bent over it, with his dark, fierce eyes
+softening.  "You like him, then?"
+
+She looked up proudly.
+
+"He loves me, father."
+
+"Ay, and you, my lassie?"
+
+"Yes, father.  I have tried very hard not to think about him, but--Yes,
+I do love him very dearly, and I'm going to be his wife.  He said he
+would speak to you."
+
+"Yes, my dear, and he has spoken to me."
+
+"Oh!" she cried, as she reached up to lay her hands upon the keeper's
+shoulders, and gaze inquiringly in his eyes.
+
+"It was all one big blunder, my dear," he said; "you ought never to have
+gone up to the house, and learned things to make you above your station.
+I used to think so, as I sat here o' night's and smoked my pipe, and
+say to myself, `She'll never care for the poor old cottage again.'"
+
+Judith looked up quickly, and her arm stole round her father's neck.
+
+"And then," she whispered, "you said to yourself, `It is not true, for
+she'll never forget the old home.'"
+
+"You're a witch, Judy," he cried, drawing her to him, with his face
+brightening a little.  "I did.  And if it could have been that you'd wed
+the captain, and gone up to the house among the grand folk, you would
+have had me there; you would not have been ashamed of the old man--would
+you?"
+
+"Why do you ask me that, dear?" said Judith, with her lips quivering.
+"You know--you know."
+
+"Yes," he said, "I know.  But we shall have to go away from the old
+place, Judy, for it can't never be."
+
+"Oh, father!"
+
+"No, my dear, it won't do.  It's all been a muddle, and I ought to have
+known better, instead of being a proud old fool, pleased as could be to
+see my lassie growing into a lady.  There, I may as well tell you the
+truth, lass, at once."
+
+"The truth, father?" she said sharply.
+
+"Yes, my dear, though it goes again me to hurt your poor little soft
+heart."
+
+"What do you mean, father?" she cried, startled now by the keeper's
+looks.
+
+"It must come, Judy; but I wish you'd found it out for yourself.  Young
+Robert isn't the man his dead father was.  He's a liar and a scoundrel,
+girl, and--"
+
+She sprang from him with her eyes flashing, and a look of angry
+indignation convulsing her features.
+
+"It's true, my girl.  He never meant to marry you, only to make you his
+plaything because he liked your pretty face."
+
+"It isn't true," said the girl harshly; and the indignation in her
+breast against her father made her wonderfully like him now.
+
+"It is true, Judy, my pretty.  I wouldn't lie to you, and half break
+your heart.  You've got to face it along with me.  We're sent away
+because the captain is going to marry."
+
+"It isn't true, father; he wouldn't marry Madge Emlin, with her cruel,
+deceitful heart."
+
+"No, my lass; he's chucked her over too.  He's going to marry Sir John
+Day's gal, over at Brackley Hall--her who came here and painted your
+face in the sun bonnet, when you were home those few days the time I had
+rheumatiz."
+
+"Is this true, father?"
+
+"As true as gospel, lass."
+
+She gave him a long, searching look, as if reading his very soul, and
+then crept back to a low chair, sank down, and buried her face in her
+hands.
+
+"Hah!" he said to himself, "she takes it better than I thought for.
+Thank God, it wasn't too late."
+
+He stood thinking for a few minutes.
+
+"Where am I to get a cottage, Judy, my lass?" he said at last.  "One of
+those at Lindham might do for the present, out there by your
+grandmother's, if there's one empty.  Mother Wattley would know.  I'll
+go and see her.  Let's get out of this.  Poor old place, though," he
+said, as he looked round.  "It seems rather hard."
+
+Judith had raised her head, and sat gazing straight before her, right
+into the future, but she did not speak.
+
+Volume 1, Chapter XI.
+
+IN A MIST.
+
+Glynne Day was seated in her favourite place--a bright, cheerful-looking
+room connected with her bedchamber on the first floor at Brackley, and
+turned by her into a pleasant nest; for the French windows opened into a
+tiny conservatory over a broad bay window of the dining-room, where were
+displayed the choicest floral gems that Jones, the head gardener, could
+raise, all being duly tended by her own hands.
+
+The gardener shook his head, and said that "the plahnts wiltered" for
+want of light, and wanted to cut away the greater part of the
+tendril-like stems of the huge wistaria, which twisted itself into
+cables, and formed loops and sprays all over the top glass; but Glynne
+looked at him in horror, and forbade him to cut a stem.  Consequently,
+in the spring-time, great lavender racemes of the lovely flowers
+clustered about the broad window at which the mistress of the Hall loved
+to sit and sketch "bits" of the beautiful landscape around, and make
+study after study of the precipitous pine-crowned hill a mile away,
+behind whose dark trees the sun would set, and give her opportunities to
+paint in gorgeous hues the tints of the western sky.
+
+Here Lucy Alleyne would be brought after their walks, to sit and read,
+while Glynne filled in sketches she had made; and many a pleasant hour
+was passed by the two girls, while the soft breezes of the sunny country
+waved the long wistaria strands.
+
+"It's no use for me to speak, Mr Morris," said the gardener one day.
+"It 'most breaks my heart, for all about there, and under the little
+glass house is the untidiest bit about my garden.  I told Sir John about
+it, and he said, `Why don't you cut it then, booby?' and when I told him
+why, and ast him to speak to Miss Glynne, he said, `Be off, and leave it
+alone.'"
+
+"And of course you did," said Morris, the butler.
+
+"Sack's the word if I hadn't, sir.  But you mark my words: one of these
+days--I mean nights--them London burglars 'll give us a visit, and they
+won't want no ladder to get up to the first-floor windows.  A baby could
+climb up them great glycene ropes and get in at that window; and then
+away goes my young lady's jewels."
+
+"Well, they won't get my plate," said Morris with a chuckle.  "I've two
+loaded pistols in my pantry for anyone who comes, so let 'em look out;
+and if I shout for help, the major's got his loaded too."
+
+Glynne Day was seated one afternoon in her conservatory, bending over
+her last water-colour sketch by the open window, when a loud,
+reverberating bang echoed along the corridor, making the windows rattle
+outside her room.  Starting up, knowing from old experience that it was
+only an earthquake, one of the social kind which affected Brackley from
+time to time, she hurried into her little study, and out into the
+passage, to go to the end, and tap sharply at the door facing her.
+
+"Come in," was shouted in the same tones as he who uttered the order had
+cried "wheel into line!" and Glynne entered to find the major with his
+hair looking knotted, his moustache bristling, and his eyes rolling in
+their sockets.
+
+"What is the matter, uncle?"
+
+"Matter?" cried the major, who was purple with rage.  "Matter?  He's
+your father, Glynne, and he's my brother, but if--if I could only feel
+that it wasn't wicked to cut him down with the sword I used at
+Chillianwallah, I'd be thankful."
+
+"Now, uncle, dear, you don't feel anything of the kind," said Glynne,
+leaning upon the old gentleman's arm.
+
+"I do feel it, and I mean it this time.  Now, girl, look here!  Why am I
+such an old idiot--"
+
+"Oh, uncle!"
+
+"--As to stop here, and let that bullying, farm-labouring, overbearing
+bumpkin--I beg your pardon, my dear, but he is--father of yours, ride
+rough-shod over me?"
+
+"But, uncle, dear--"
+
+"But, niece, dear, he does; and how I can be such an idiot as to stop
+here, I don't know.  If I were his dependent, it couldn't be worse."
+
+"But, uncle, dear, I'm afraid you do show a little temper sometimes."
+
+"Temper!  I show temper!  Nothing of the kind," cried the old fellow,
+angrily, and his grey curls seemed to stand out wildly from his head.
+"Only decision--just so much decision as a military man should show--
+nothing more.  Temper, indeed!"
+
+"But you are hasty, dear, and papa so soon gets warm."
+
+"Warm?  Red hot.  White hot.  He has a temper that would irritate a
+saint, and heaven knows I am no saint."
+
+"It does seem such a pity for you and papa to quarrel."
+
+"Pity?  It's abominable, my child, when we might live together as
+peaceably as pigeons.  But he shall have it his own way now.  I've done.
+I'll have no more of it I'm not a child."
+
+"What are you going to do, uncle?"
+
+"Do?  Pack up and go, this very day.  Then he may come to my chambers
+and beg till all's blue, but he'll never persuade me to come out here
+again."
+
+"Oh, uncle!  It will be so dull if you go away."
+
+"No, no, not it, my dear.  You've got your captain; and there'll be
+peace in the house then till he finds someone else to bully.  Why, I
+might be one of his farm labourers; that I might.  But there's an end of
+it now."
+
+"But, uncle!" cried Glynne, looking perplexed and troubled, "come back
+with me into the library.  I'm sure, if papa was in the wrong, he'll be
+sorry."
+
+"If he was in the wrong!  He _was_ in the wrong.  Me go to him?  Not I.
+My mind's made up.  I'll not have my old age embittered by his
+abominable temper.  Don't stop me, girl.  I'm going, and nothing shall
+stay me now."
+
+"How tiresome it is!" said Glynne, softly, as her broad, white forehead
+grew full of wrinkles.  "Dear uncle; he must not go.  I must do
+something," and then, with a smile dawning upon her perplexed face, she
+descended the stairs, and went softly to the library door, opened it
+gently, and found Sir John tramping up and down the Turkey carpet, like
+some wild beast in its cage.
+
+"Who's that?  How dare you enter without--Oh, it's you, Glynne."
+
+"Yes, papa.  Uncle has gone upstairs and banged his door."
+
+"I'm glad of it; I'm very glad of it," cried Sir John, "and I hope it's
+for the last time."
+
+"What has been the matter, papa?" said Glynne, laying her hands upon his
+shoulders.  "Sit down, dear, and tell me."
+
+"No, no, my dear, don't bother me.  I don't want to sit down, Glynne."
+
+"Yes, yes, dear, and tell me all about it."
+
+Fighting against it all the while, the choleric baronet allowed himself
+to be pressed down into one of the easy-chairs, Glynne drawing a
+footstool to his side, sitting at his feet, and clasping and resting her
+hands upon his knees.
+
+"Well, there, now; are you satisfied?" he said, half laughing, half
+angry.
+
+"No, papa.  I want to know why you and uncle quarrelled."
+
+"Oh, the old reason," said Sir John, colouring.  "He will be as
+obstinate as a mule, and the more you try to reason with him, the more
+he turns to you his hind legs and kicks."
+
+"Did you try to reason with Uncle James, papa?"
+
+"Did I try to reason with him?  Why, of course I did, but you might as
+well try to reason with a stone trough."
+
+"What was it about?" said Glynne, quietly.
+
+"What was it about?  Oh, about the--about the--bless my soul, what did
+it begin about?  Some, some, some--dear me, how absurd, Glynne.  He
+upset me so that it has completely gone out of my head.  What do you
+mean?  What do you mean by shaking your head like that?  Confound it
+all, Glynne, are you going to turn against me?"
+
+"Oh, papa, papa, how sad it is," said Glynne, gently.  "You have upset
+poor uncle like this all about some trifle of so little consequence that
+you have even forgotten what it was."
+
+"I beg your pardon, madam," cried Sir John, trying to rise, but Glynne
+laid her hand upon his chest and kept him back.  "It was no trifle, and
+it is no joke for your Uncle James to launch out in his confounded
+haughty, military way, and try to take the reins from my hands.  I'm
+master here.  I remember now; it was about Rob."
+
+"Indeed, papa!" said Glynne, with a sad tone in her voice.
+
+"Yes, finding fault about his training.  I don't want him to go about
+like some confounded foot-racing fellow, but he's my son-in-law elect,
+and he shall do as he pleases.  What next, I wonder?  Your uncle will be
+wanting to manage my farm."
+
+Glynne remained very thoughtful and silent for a few minutes, during
+which time her father continued to fume, and utter expressions of
+annoyance, till Glynne said suddenly as she looked up in his face,--
+
+"You were wrong, papa, dear.  You should not quarrel with Uncle James."
+
+"Wrong?  Wrong?  Why, the girl's mad," cried Sir John.  "Do you approve
+of his taking your future husband to task over his amusements?"
+
+"I don't know," said Glynne slowly, as she turned her great,
+frank-looking eyes upon her father.  "I don't know, papa, dear.  I don't
+think I do; but Uncle James is so good and wise, and I know he loves me
+very much."
+
+"Of course he does; so does everybody else," cried the baronet,
+excitedly.  "I should like to see the man who did not.  But I will not
+have his interference here, and I'm very glad--very glad indeed--that he
+is going."
+
+"Uncle James meant it for the best, I'm sure, papa," said Glynne,
+thoughtfully, "and it was wrong of you to quarrel with him."
+
+"I tell you I did not quarrel with him, Glynne; he quarrelled with me,"
+roared Sir John.
+
+"And you ought to go and apologise to him."
+
+"I'd go and hang myself sooner.  I'd sooner go and commit suicide in my
+new patent thrashing-machine."
+
+"Nonsense, papa, dear," said Glynne quietly.  "You ought to go and
+apologise.  If you don't, Uncle James will leave us."
+
+"Let him."
+
+"And then you will be very much put out and grieved."
+
+"And a good job too.  I mean a good job if he'd leave, for then we
+should have peace in the place."
+
+"Now, papa!"
+
+"I tell you I'd be very glad of it; a confounded peppery old Nero,
+talking to me as if I were a private under him.  Bully me, indeed!  I
+won't stand it.  There!"
+
+"Papa, dear, go upstairs and apologise to Uncle James."
+
+"I won't, Glynne.  There's an end of it now.  Just because he can't have
+everything his own way.  He has never forgiven me for being the eldest
+son and taking the baronetcy.  Was it my fault that I was born first?"
+
+"Now, papa, dear, that's talking at random; I don't believe Uncle James
+ever envied you for having the title."
+
+"Then he shouldn't act as if he did.  Confound him!"
+
+"Then you'll go up and speak to him.  Come, dear, don't let's have this
+cloud over the house!"
+
+"Cloud?  I'll make it a regular tempest," cried Sir John, furiously.
+"I'll go upstairs and see that he does go, and at once.  See if I ferret
+him out of his nasty, dark, stuffy, dismal chambers again.  Brought him
+down here, and made a healthy, hearty man of him, and this is my
+reward."
+
+"Is that you talking, papa?" said Glynne, rising with him, for he made a
+rush now out of his seat, and she smiled in his face as she put her arms
+round his neck and kissed him.
+
+"Bah!  Get out!  Pst!  Puss!" cried Sir John, and swinging round, he
+strode out of the library, and banged the door as if he had caught his
+brother's habit.
+
+Glynne stood looking after him, smiling as she listened to his steps on
+the polished oak floor of the hall, and then seemed quite satisfied as
+she detected the fact that he had gone upstairs.  Then it was that a
+dreamy, strange look came into her eyes, and she stood there, with one
+hand resting upon the table, thinking--thinking--thinking of the cause
+of the quarrel, of the words her uncle had spoken regarding Rolph; and
+it seemed to her that there was a mist before her, stretching out
+farther and farther, and hiding the future.
+
+For the major was always so gentle and kind to her.  He never spoke to
+her about Rolph as he had spoken to her father; but she had noticed that
+he was a little cold and sarcastic sometimes towards her lover.
+
+Was there trouble coming?  Did she love Robert as dearly as she should?
+
+She wanted answers to these questions, and the responses were hidden in
+the mist ahead.  Then, as she gazed, it seemed to her that her future
+was like the vast space into which she had looked from her window by
+night; and though for a time it was brightened with dazzling, hopeful
+points, these again became clouded over, and all was misty and dull once
+more.
+
+Volume 1, Chapter XII.
+
+THE PROFESSOR IN COMPANY.
+
+Sir John went upstairs furiously, taking three steps at a time--twice.
+Then he finished that flight two at a time; walked fast up the first
+half of the second flight, one step at a time; slowly up the second
+half; paused on the landing, and then went deliberately along the
+corridor, with its row of painted ancestors watching him from one side,
+as if wondering when he was coming to join them there.
+
+Sir John Day was a man who soon made up his mind, whether it was about
+turning an arable field into pasture, or the setting of a new kind of
+corn.  He settled in five minutes to have steam upon the farm, and did
+not ponder upon Glynne's engagement for more than ten; so that he was
+able to make his plans very well in the sixty feet that he had to
+traverse before he reached his brother's door, upon whose panel he gave
+a tremendous thump, and then entered at once.
+
+The major was in his shirt-sleeves, apparently turning himself into a
+jack-in-the-box, for he was standing in an old bullock trunk, one which
+had journeyed with him pretty well all over India; and as Sir John
+entered the room sharply, and closed the door behind him, the major
+started up, looking fiercely and angrily at the intruder.
+
+"Oh, you're packing, then?" said Sir John, in the most uncompromising
+tone.
+
+"Yes, sir, I am packing," said the major, getting out of the trunk, and
+slamming down the lid; "and I think, sir, that I might be permitted to
+do that in peace and quietness."
+
+"Peace?  Yes, of course you may," said Sir John, sharply, "only you will
+make it war."
+
+"I was not aware," said the major, "that it was necessary for me to lock
+my door--I beg your pardon--your door.  And now, may I ask the object of
+this intrusion?  If it is to resume the quarrel, you may spare yourself
+the pains."
+
+"Indeed!" said Sir John shortly.
+
+"Well," continued the major, "why have you come?"
+
+"You are going, then?"
+
+"Of course I am, sir."
+
+"Well, I came to tell you I'm very glad of it," cried Sir John, clapping
+his brother on the shoulder; and then--"I say, Jem, I wish I hadn't such
+a peppery temper."
+
+"No, no, Jack, no, no," cried the major, excitedly; "it was I who was to
+blame."
+
+"Wrong, Jem.  I contradicted you--very offensively, too, and I am
+confoundedly in the wrong.  I didn't know it till Glynne came and pulled
+me up short.  I say, it's a great pity for us to quarrel, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," said the major, laying his hands upon his brother's shoulders,
+"it is--it is, indeed, Jack, and I can't help thinking that I shall be
+doing wisely in going back to my old chambers, for this projected
+wedding worries me.  We'll see one another more seldom, and we won't
+have words together then.  You see--no; stop a moment!  Let me speak.
+You see, I feel my old wound now and then, and it makes me irritable,
+and then the climate has touched up my liver a bit.  Yes, I had better
+go."
+
+"Don't be a fool, Jem," cried Sir John.  "Go, indeed!  Why, what the
+dickens do you suppose I should do without you here?  Tchah! tush! you
+go!  Absurd.  There, get dressed, man, and come down to dinner.  No:
+come along down with me first, and we'll get a bottle or two out of the
+number six bin.  There'll just be time."
+
+The major shook his head, as he looked at the bullock trunk and a very
+much bruised and battered old portmanteau waiting to be filled.
+
+"Now, Jem, old fellow, don't let's quarrel again," cried Sir John,
+pathetically.
+
+"No, no, certainly not, my dear Jack.  No more quarrelling, but I think
+this time I'll hold to my word."
+
+"Now, my dear old fellow," cried Sir John, gripping his brother's
+shoulders more tightly, and shaking him to and fro, "do be reasonable.
+Look here: I've asked little Lucy Alleyne to come _sans facon_, and--"
+
+"Is she coming?" cried the major, eagerly.
+
+"Yes, and you can talk toadstools as long as you like."
+
+The major seemed to be hesitating, and he looked curiously at his
+brother.
+
+"Is Alleyne coming?"
+
+"I asked him, but he is very doubtful; perhaps he is glued to the end of
+his telescope for the next twelve hours.  Here, have that confounded
+baggage put away."
+
+The major looked a little more thoughtful.  He was hesitating, and
+thinking of Glynne, who just then tapped softly at the door.
+
+"Come in," roared Sir John; and she entered, looked quickly from one to
+the other, and then went up to her uncle, and kissed him affectionately.
+
+"There," cried Sir John, looking half-pleased, half-annoyed; "it's
+enough to make a man wish you would go, Jem."
+
+"No, it isn't," said the major, drawing his niece closer to him.
+"There, there, my dear, you were quite right.  I'm a terrible old
+capsicum, am I not?"
+
+"No, uncle," said Glynne, nestling to him; "but hadn't we better forget
+all this?"
+
+"Right, my dear, right," cried Sir John.  "There, come along, and let
+your uncle dress for dinner.  Where's Rob?"
+
+"I think he went for a long walk, papa."
+
+"Humph!  I hope he'll be in training at last," said Sir John,
+good-humouredly.  "You're a lucky girl, Glynne, to have a man wanting to
+make himself perfect before he marries you.  You ought to go and do
+likewise."
+
+"Don't try, Glynne, my dear," said her uncle affectionately.  "A perfect
+woman would be a horror.  You are just right as you are."
+
+"Well, you are not, Jem," said Sir John, laughing, "so make haste, and
+come down.  Come along, Glynne."
+
+He led the way, and, as he passed through the door, Glynne turned to
+look back at her uncle, their eyes meeting in a peculiarly wistful,
+inquiring look, that seemed to suggest a mutual desire to know the
+other's thoughts.
+
+Then the door closed, and in the most matter-of-fact way, the major
+proceeded to dress for dinner as if he had never quarrelled with his
+brother in his life.
+
+When he descended, it was to find Alleyne in the drawing-room with his
+sister.  Glynne was entertaining them, for Sir John had, on leaving his
+brother, gone down into the cellar for the special bottle of port, and,
+after its selection, found so much satisfaction in the mildewy,
+sawdusty, damp-smelling place that he stopped for some twenty minutes,
+poking his bedroom candlestick into dark corners and archways where the
+bottoms of bottles could be seen resting as they had rested for many
+years past--each bin having a little history of its own, so full of
+recollections that the baronet had at last to drag himself away, and
+hurry up to dress.
+
+Rolph was also late--so much so that he had encountered Sir John on the
+stairs, and the party in the drawing-room had a good quarter of an
+hour's chat in the twilight, before the candles were lit.
+
+"And you think it possible that it is caused by another planet?"  Glynne
+was saying as the major entered the room; and he paused for a moment or
+two noting the change that had come over his niece.  There was an eager
+look in her eyes; her face was more animated as she sat in the window
+catching the last reflections of the western glow, listening the while
+to Alleyne, who, with his back to the light, was talking in a low, deep
+voice of some problem in his favourite pursuit.
+
+"Yes; just as happened over Neptune.  That appears to be the only
+solution of the difficulty," he replied.
+
+"Then why not direct your glass exactly at the place where you feel this
+planet must be?"
+
+Alleyne smiled as he spoke next.
+
+"I did not explain to you," he said, "that if such a planet does exist
+it must be, comparatively, very small, and so surrounded by the intense
+light of the sun that no glass we have yet made would render it
+visible."
+
+"How strange!" said Glynne, thoughtfully; and her eyes vaguely wandered
+over the evening sky, and then back to rest in a rapt, dreamy way upon
+the quiet, absorbed face of the visitor.
+
+"I was looking at Jupiter last night," she said, suddenly, "trying to
+see his moons."
+
+"Yes?"
+
+"But our glass is not sufficiently powerful.  I could only distinguish
+two."
+
+"Perhaps it was not the fault of your glass," said Alleyne, smiling.  "A
+glass of a very low power will show them.  I have often watched them
+through a good binocular."
+
+"I'm afraid ours is a very bad one," said Glynne.
+
+"No, I should be more disposed to think it a good one, Miss Day.  The
+reason you did not see them is this; one was eclipsed by the planet--in
+other words, behind it--while the others are passing across its body,
+whose brightness almost hides them--in fact, does hide them to such an
+extent that they would not be seen by you."
+
+There was a few minutes' silence here, broken at last by Glynne, as she
+said in a low, thoughtful voice,--
+
+"How much you know.  How grand it must be."
+
+Alleyne laughed softly before replying.
+
+"How much I know!" he said, in a voice full of regret.  "My dear madam,
+I know just enough to see what a very little I have learned; how
+pitifully small in such a science as astronomy is all that a life
+devoted to its depths would be."
+
+"For shame, Moray," cried Lucy, warmly.  "You know that people say you
+are very clever indeed."
+
+"Yes," he replied, "I know what they say; but that is only their
+judgment.  I know how trifling are the things I have learned compared
+with what there is to acquire."
+
+"What a goose Glynne is," said the major to himself, as he stood
+listening to the conversation.  "Why, this man is worth a dozen Rolphs."
+
+"But, Mr Alleyne," said Glynne, eagerly, "is it possible--could I--I
+mean, should you think I was asking too much if I expressed a wish to
+see something of these wonders of which you have been speaking?"
+
+"Oh, no, Moray would show you everything he could.  He's the most
+unselfish, patient fellow in the world," cried Lucy.
+
+Glynne turned from her almost impatiently to Alleyne, who said, with a
+grave smile upon his face,--
+
+"You have no brother, Miss Day.  If you had, I hope you would not do all
+you could, by flattery and spoiling, to make him weak and conceited."
+
+"Indeed I don't do anything of the kind, Moray," said Lucy, indignantly;
+"and now, for that, I'll tell the truth, Glynne; he's a regular bat, an
+owl, a recluse, and we're obliged to drag him out into the light of day,
+or he'd stop in his room till he grew mouldy, that he would.  Why, he
+goes in spirit right away to the moon sometimes, and it only seems as if
+his body was left behind."
+
+"What, do you mean to say he's moonstruck?" said the major, merrily, and
+looking half-surprised at the quick, indignant look darted at him by
+Glynne.
+
+"I'm afraid that Lucy here is quite right," said Alleyne, smiling as he
+took his sister's hand in his and patted it.  "I do get so intent upon
+my studies that all every-day life affairs are regularly forgotten.  But
+I do not work half so hard now.  They fetched a doctor to me, and it is
+forbidden.  In fact, I have plenty of time now, and if Miss Day will pay
+my my poor observatory a visit, I will show her everything that lies in
+my power."
+
+"Oh, Mr Alleyne, I should be so glad," cried Glynne eagerly, and to
+Lucy's great delight.  "I want to see Saturn's rings, and the seas and
+continents in Mars, and the twin stars."
+
+"Well, you needn't trouble Mr Alleyne," said Rolph, who had just
+entered.  "There's a fellow at Hyde Park corner, with a big glass, lets
+people look through for a penny.  He'd be glad enough to come down for a
+half-crown or two."
+
+"Why, how absurd, Robert," said Glynne, turning upon him
+good-humouredly.  "I want to see and learn about these things from
+someone who is an astronomer."
+
+"Oh," said Rolph, "do you?  Well, I see no reason why you shouldn't go
+and have a peep or two through Mr Alleyne's glass.  I'll come with you."
+
+"Here, I'm very sorry, Alleyne.  Miss Alleyne, I don't know what sort of
+a host you'll think me for being so late," cried Sir John, bustling in.
+"I hope Glynne has been playing my part well."
+
+"Admirably, Sir John," replied Alleyne.  "We have been talking upon my
+favourite topic, and the time soon glides by when one is engaged upon
+questions regarding the planets."
+
+"But I say, you know, Mr Alleyne," said Rolph, who, with all the
+confidence of one in his own house and proprietary rights over the lady,
+came and seated himself upon the elbow of the easy-chair in which Glynne
+reclined, and laid his arm behind her on the back, "I want to know
+what's the good of a fellow sacrificing his health, and shutting himself
+up from society, for the study of these abstruse scientific matters.
+'Pon my word, I can't see what difference it makes to us whether Jupiter
+has got one moon, or ten moons, or a hundred.  He's such a precious long
+way off."
+
+Glynne looked up at him with a good-humoured air of pain, but only to
+turn back and listen to Alleyne.
+
+"It requires study, Captain Rolph," he said thoughtfully, "and time to
+appreciate the value of the results achieved in astronomy.  Perhaps we
+have nothing to show that is of direct utility to man, but everything in
+nature is so grand--there is so much to be learned, that, for my part, I
+wonder why everybody does not thirst for knowledge."
+
+"Yes," said Glynne, thoughtfully, and below her breath.
+
+"Oh, we all dabble in science, more or less," said Rolph, glancing at
+Sir John with a look that seemed to say, "You see how I'll trot him
+out."  "Here's the major goes in for toadstools, and Sir John for big
+muttons and portly pigs."
+
+"And Captain Rolph for exhibitions of endurance, to prove that a man is
+stronger than a horse," said the major, drily.
+
+"Yes, and not a bad thing, either, eh, Sir John?"
+
+"Oh, every man to his taste," said the host; "but I believe in a man
+feeding himself up, and not starving himself down."
+
+"Oilcake and turnips, eh?"
+
+"Yes, both good things in their way, but I like the chemical components
+to have taken other forms, Rob, my boy; good Highland Scots beef and
+Southdown mutton."
+
+"I hope you will be able to indulge in a good dinner, Rolph?" said the
+major, looking at the young officer as if he amused him.
+
+"Trust me for that, major," replied the young man loudly.  "I'm not bad
+at table."
+
+"I thought, perhaps," said the major sarcastically, "that you might be
+in training, and forbidden to eat anything but raw steak and dry
+biscuit."
+
+"Oh, dear, no," said Rolph seriously.  "Quite free now, major, quite
+free."
+
+"That's a blessing," muttered Sir John, who looked annoyed and fidgety.
+"Hah, dinner at last."
+
+"Walking makes me hungry and impatient, Miss Alleyne.  Come along, you
+are my property.  First lady."
+
+He held out his arm, and, as Lucy laid her little hand upon it, he went
+out of the drawing-room chatting merrily; and, as he did so, Rolph
+leaped from his seat, and drew himself upright as if to display the
+breadth of his chest and the size of his muscles.
+
+"Glad of it," he said.  "I'm sharp set.  Come along, Glynne."
+
+Alleyne gazed at them intently with a strange feeling of depression
+coming over his spirit, and so lost to other surroundings that he did
+not reply to the major, who came up to him, moved by a desire to be
+polite to a man whom he was beginning to esteem.
+
+Then Major Day drew back and his keen eyes brightened, for Glynne said
+quietly,--
+
+"You forget.  Go on in with uncle."
+
+"Eh?" said the young officer, looking puzzled.
+
+"Go on in with my uncle," said Glynne quietly.
+
+And she crossed to where Alleyne was standing, and, in the character of
+hostess, laid her hand upon his arm.
+
+"There, you're dismissed for to-night, Rolph," said the major, who could
+hardly conceal his satisfaction at this trifling incident.
+
+Then, thrusting his arm through that of the athlete, he marched him to
+the dining-room, the young man's face growing dark and full of annoyance
+at having to give way in this case of ordinary etiquette.
+
+"Confound the fellow!  I wish they wouldn't ask him here," he muttered.
+
+"Mind seems to be taking the lead over muscles to-day," said the major
+to himself, as he walked beside the young officer to the dining-room,
+while Glynne came more slowly behind, her eyes growing deeper and very
+thoughtful as she listened to Alleyne's words.
+
+Volume 1, Chapter XIII.
+
+MARS MAKES A MISTAKE.
+
+The dinner, with its pleasant surroundings of flowers and glittering
+plate and glass, with the finest and whitest of linen, was delightful to
+Lucy, though to her it was as if there was something wanting, in spite
+of her position as principal guest.  This resulted in her receiving
+endless little attentions from Sir John; but more than once she felt
+quite irritated with her brother, who seemed to find no more pleasure in
+the carefully cooked viands than in the homely joints at The Firs.  He
+ate a little of what was handed to him, almost mechanically, and drank
+sparingly of the baronet's choice wines; but his mind was busy upon
+nothing else than the subject upon which Glynne was asking him
+questions.
+
+The major had plenty to say to Lucy, but he kept noticing the increase
+of animation in Glynne.  For she had been awakened from her ordinary,
+placid, dreamy state to an intense interest in the subject under
+discussion.
+
+Major Day did not know why he did it, but three times as that dinner
+progressed, he laid down his knife and fork, thrust his hands beneath
+the table, and rubbed them softly.
+
+"Muscles is out in the cold to-night," he muttered.  "He'll have to go
+in training for exercising his patience.  Bring him to his senses."
+
+Possibly it was very weak of the major, but he had fresh in his memory,
+several little pieces of bitter ridicule directed at him by the captain,
+respecting the botanical pursuit in which he engaged.
+
+Now, it so happened that early in the day the major had been out for a
+long walk, and had come upon a magnificent cluster of a fungus that he
+had not yet tried for its edible qualities.  It was the peculiar
+grey-brown, scaly-topped mushroom, called by botanists _Amanita
+Rubescens_, and said to be of admirable culinary value.
+
+"We'll have a dish of these to-night," thought the major, picking a fair
+quantity of the choicest specimens, which he took home and gave to the
+butler, with instructions to hand them to the cook for a dish in the
+second course.
+
+Morris, the butler, put the basket down upon the hall table, and went to
+see to the drawing down of a window blind; and no sooner had he gone
+than Rolph, who had heard the order, came from the billiard-room into
+the hall to get his hat and stick preparatory to starting for a walk.
+
+He was passing the major's basket where it stood upon the hall table,
+when an idea flashed across his brain, and he stopped, glanced round,
+grinned, and then, as no one was near, took up the creel, walked swiftly
+across the hall out into the garden, dived into the plantation, ran
+rapidly down the long walk out of sight of the house, and turned into
+the pheasant preserve.  Here, throwing out the major's fungi, he looked
+sharply about and soon collected an equal quantity of the first
+specimens he encountered, and then turned back.
+
+"A sarcastic old humbug," he muttered; "let him have a dish of these,
+and if any of them disagree with him, it will be a lesson for the old
+wretch.  He experimented upon me once with his confounded _boleti_, as
+he called them; now, I'll experimentalise upon him."
+
+As a rule such an act as this could not have been performed unseen, but
+fate favoured the captain upon this occasion, and he reached the hall
+without being noticed, replaced the creel upon the table from which he
+had taken it, and then went for a walk.
+
+Now, it so happened that Morris, the butler, had crossed the hall since,
+but the creel not being where he had placed it, he did not recall his
+orders; but going to answer a bell half-an-hour afterwards, he caught
+sight of the basket, remembered what he had been told, and, on his
+return, took the fungi into the kitchen.
+
+"Here, cook," he said, "you're to dress these for the second course."
+
+In due time cook, who was a very slow-moving, thoughtful woman, found
+herself by the basket which she opened, and then turned the fungi out
+upon a dish.
+
+"Well," she exclaimed, "of all the trash!  Mrs Mason, do, for goodness'
+sake, look at these."
+
+Glynne's maid, who was performing some mystic kind of cooking on her own
+account, to wit, stirring up a saucepan full of thin blue starch with a
+tallow candle, turned and looked at the basket of fungi, and said,--
+
+"Oh, the idea!  What are they for?"
+
+"To cook, because them star-gazing folks are coming.  Morris says Miss
+Glynne's always talking about finding the focus now."
+
+"But these things are poison."
+
+"Of course they are.  I wouldn't give them to a pig;" and with all the
+autocratic determination of a lady in her position, she took the dish,
+and threw its contents behind her big roasting fire.  "There, that's the
+place for them!  Mary, go and tell Jones I want him."
+
+Jones was cook's mortal enemy; and in the capacity of supplier of fruit
+and vegetables for kitchen use, he had daily skirmishes with the lady,
+whom he openly accused of spoiling his choice productions, and sending
+them to table unfit for use, while she retaliated by telling him often
+that he could not grow a bit of garden-stuff fit to be seen--that his
+potatoes were watery, his beetroot pink, his cauliflowers masses of
+caterpillars and slugs.
+
+Under these circumstances, Jones tied the string of his blue serge apron
+a little more tightly, twisted the said serge into a tail, which he
+tucked round his waist, and leaving the forcing-house, where he was
+busy, set his teeth, pushed his hat down over his nose, and, quite
+prepared for a serious quarrel, walked heavily into the kitchen.  But
+only to be disarmed, for there was a plate on the white table,
+containing a splendid wedge of raised pie, with a piece of bread, and a
+jug of ale beside a horn.
+
+Jones looked at cook, and she nodded and smiled; she also condescended
+to put her lips first to the freshly-filled horn, and then folded her
+arms and leaned against the table, while the gardener ate his "snack,"
+feeling that after all, though she had her bit of temper, cook was
+really what he called "a good sort."
+
+"Ah," he said at last, with a sigh, after a little current chat, "I must
+be off now.  Let's see; you've got in all you want for to-night?"
+
+"Yes, everything," said cook, smiling, "and I must get to work, too.
+You haven't any mushrooms, I suppose?"
+
+"Haven't got any mushrooms?" said Jones, reproachfully.  "Why, I've a
+bed just coming on."
+
+"Then I should like to make a dish to-day, and use a few in one of my
+sauces," said cook; and half-an-hour later Jones returned with a
+basketful, which he deposited upon the table with a thrill of pride.
+
+The presence of Moray Alleyne, and the way in which he was taken up, as
+the captain called it, by Glynne, so filled the mind of Rolph, that
+there was no room for anything else, and as the dinner went on, his
+annoyance so sharpened his appetite that he ate very heartily of the two
+_entrees_ and the joint.  It was not until the second course was in
+progress that a dish was handed round, to which, after a telegraphic
+glance between the major and Lucy, that young lady helped herself.
+Glynne took some mechanically, to the major's great delight, and, like
+Lucy, went on eating.  Then the dish was handed to Rolph, who fixed his
+glass in his eye, and started slightly as he suddenly recalled the trick
+he had played in the hall.
+
+"What's this?" he said in an undertone to the butler.
+
+"_Sham pinions ho nateral_, sir."
+
+"Humph! no.  Take the dish to Mr Alleyne."
+
+The man took the dish round to the guest, who, talking the while to
+Glynne, helped himself liberally, and went on eating.
+
+"Won't you have some, Rolph?" said the major, helping himself in turn.
+
+"I!  No.  Don't care for such dishes."
+
+"Seems to be very good," said the major.  "Smells delicious, and
+everyone's eating it."
+
+"Not the ladies?" whispered Rolph.
+
+"Yes; they're revelling."
+
+"Good heavens!" muttered Rolph; and he turned cold and damp, the
+perspiration standing upon his brow.
+
+"Nothing worse in this world than prejudice," said the major, taking a
+mouthful of the delicate dish.
+
+"Ah, yes: superb.  Jack, old fellow, try some of these fungi."
+
+"Get out!" said Sir John, sipping his wine.
+
+"But, my dear boy, they are simply magnificent," cried the major.
+"Here, take the dish to your master."
+
+The mushrooms were handed, and Sir John tried a little, recalled the
+dish, and had some more, while Rolph sat perfectly still, not daring to
+speak, though he saw everyone at the table partaking of the stew.
+
+"What are these?" said Sir John.  "They're very good."
+
+"_Agaricus Rubescens_, my boy.  Tons of them rot every year, because
+there is no one to pick them but Miss Lucy Alleyne and your humble
+servant here."
+
+"Well, don't let's have any more go rotten," cried Sir John.  "They're
+delicious, eh, Mr Alleyne?"
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the visitor, looking up.
+
+"These fungi," said the host, "uncommonly good."
+
+"Yes, admirable," said Alleyne, who had finished his, and had not the
+most remote recollection of their quality.
+
+"I don't believe he tasted them," said Sir John to himself.
+
+"These are the fungi, Morris, that I gave you to-day to take into the
+kitchen?" said the major.
+
+"Yes, sir," said Morris, and the major finished his with great gusto.
+
+"Uncommonly delicious!" he said.
+
+"Capital, Jem," cried Sir John; "but I hope they won't poison us."
+
+"Trust me for that.  They've been well tested, and are perfectly
+wholesome.  Splendid dish."
+
+"They'll all be in agonies before long," thought Rolph.  "I hope poor
+Glynne won't be very bad.  A bit of an attack would serve her right,
+though, for going on like that with the star-gazer.  Phew! how hot the
+room is."
+
+"I give you credit, Jem," cried the host.  "What do you say, Miss
+Alleyne?  It's of no use to ask these people; they are off on comets or
+something else."
+
+"Oh, I'm growing a confirmed fungus-eater, Sir John," said Lucy.  "I am
+Major Day's disciple.  I think them delicious."
+
+"You're a very charming little lassie, and I like you immensely,"
+thought Sir John, gazing at Lucy curiously and thoughtfully; "but I hope
+Jem has too much common sense to be making a fool of himself over you.
+He likes you, I know, but fungus-hunting is one thing and wife-hunting
+another.  No, I won't think it of you.  You wouldn't lead him on, and
+he's too full of sound sense."
+
+"I shall have to leave the table," said Rolph to himself.  "I never felt
+so uncomfortable in my life.  Ought I to go and get a doctor here?  D--n
+the toadstools!  I only meant the major to taste them.  Who'd ever have
+thought that they'd all go in for them.  Phew! how hot the room is.
+Champagne."
+
+The butler filled up his glass, and Rolph, in his excitement, tossed it
+off, with the result that the next time Morris went round, he filled the
+captain's glass again.
+
+"The thought of it all makes me feel ill," said Rolph to himself.
+
+"I've got a splendid pupil in Miss Alleyne," said the major, sipping his
+wine.  "I've given Glynne up.  She can't tell an agaric from one of the
+polypori.  Mr Alleyne, if you're trying to teach her star-names, you may
+give it up as a bad job."
+
+"Don't interrupt, uncle," said Glynne, shaking her finger at him,
+playfully.
+
+"How pale the poor girl looks," thought Rolph, who was now in an agony
+of apprehension.  "Phew! this room is warm!" and he gulped down his
+glass of wine.
+
+"Jack," said the major, "I couldn't have believed those fungi would be
+so delicious; cook has won the _cordon bleu_.  Here, Morris, you are
+sure these are the same fungi?"
+
+"Certain, sir," replied the butler.  "I took them into the kitchen
+myself."
+
+"And were they all used?"
+
+"I think so, sir; part for the ontries in the first course."
+
+"What!" roared Rolph, who had been horribly guilty over that dish; and
+he turned white as he clutched the seat of his chair.
+
+"_Salmy of poulay ho sham pinions_, sir," said Morris, politely; and he
+picked a _menu_ from the table and laid it before the captain, who
+refixed the glass in his eye and glared at the card.
+
+"Do you mean to say that the hashed chicken and the other dish was made
+up with those con--those toadstools that were--were in that basket?"
+
+"Yes, sir, the basket Major Day brought in, sir," said Morris.
+
+Sir John chuckled.  The major burst into a regular roar.
+
+"Are--are you sure, Morris?" gasped Rolph, turning a sickly yellow.
+
+"Yes, sir; quite sure."
+
+"My dear fellow," cried the major, wiping his eyes, "what is the
+matter?"
+
+"I've--I've eaten a great many of them," panted Rolph.
+
+"Well, so we all have, and delicious they were.  Why, hang it, man, they
+won't poison you."
+
+"Don't!" gasped Rolph, with a wild look in his eyes; and, clutching at
+the decanter, he poured a quantity of sherry into a tumbler and gulped
+it down.
+
+"I say, Rob, are you ill?" said Sir John, kindly.
+
+"Yes--no--I don't know," gasped the captain, gazing wildly from one to
+the other, in search of a fresh victim to the poison.
+
+"Would you like to leave the table?" said Sir John.  "Here, Morris, give
+Captain Rolph a liqueur of brandy."
+
+The butler hurriedly filled a wine glass, and the captain tossed it off
+as if it had been water, gazing dizzily round at the anxious faces at
+the table.
+
+"Do you feel very bad, Robert?" said Glynne, rising and going round to
+his side to speak with great sympathy, as she softly laid her hand upon
+his broad shoulder.
+
+"Horribly," whispered the captain, who was fast losing his nerve.
+"Don't you?"
+
+"I?  No.  I am quite well."
+
+"It was those cursed toadstools," cried Rolph, savagely.
+
+"Nonsense, my dear sir," said the major, firmly.  "We have all eaten
+them, and they were delicious."
+
+"Give me your arm, some one," groaned Rolph, rising from his chair; and
+the major caught him, and helped him from the room, Alleyne and Sir John
+following, after begging Lucy and Glynne to remain seated.
+
+"Send for a doctor--quick--I'm poisoned," said Rolph--"quick!"
+
+"Here, send to the town," cried Sir John.  "Let a groom gallop over.
+No; there's Mr Oldroyd in the village.  Here, you, James, run across the
+park, you'll be there in ten minutes."
+
+"Telegraph--physician," gasped Rolph.
+
+"Poor fellow!  He seems bad."
+
+"I think," said Alleyne, quietly, "that a good deal of it is nervous
+dread."
+
+Rolph looked daggers at him, and then closed his eyes and groaned, as he
+lay back on a sofa in the library.
+
+"Have--have you telegraphed--sent a telegram?" said Rolph, after lying
+back with his eyes closed for a few minutes.
+
+"I have sent for Mr Oldroyd," said Sir John, "and we will go by his
+advice.  It would take a man half an hour to gallop to the station.  We
+shall have the doctor here long before that."
+
+Rolph looked round, partly for help, partly to see who was to be the
+next man attacked, and then closed his eyes, and lay breathing heavily.
+
+"I wish you wouldn't bring in those confounded--eh?  Who's there?" said
+Sir John.  "Oh, you, my dear.  No, you can't do any good.  Go and talk
+to Miss Alleyne.  Fit of indigestion coming on the top of a lot of
+physical exertion--training and that sort of thing.  He'll be better
+soon."
+
+Glynne, who had come to the door, closed it and went away, while Rolph
+uttered a groan.
+
+"I was saying," continued Sir John, "I wish you wouldn't bring those
+confounded things into the house.  You will be poisoning us some day."
+
+"What nonsense, Jack!" cried the major.  "I tell you the fungi were
+perfectly good.  You ate some of them yourself.  How do you feel?"
+
+"Oh, I'm all right."
+
+"So is Mr Alleyne; so are the girls; so am I.  It is not the mushrooms,
+I'm sure.  More likely your wine.  We are all as well as can be."
+
+"Attack you suddenly," groaned Rolph, piteously.
+
+"Ah, well if it does," said the major, "I won't make such a fuss over
+it.  Why, when we had the cholera among us at Darjeebad, the men did not
+make more trouble."
+
+Rolph squeezed his eyes together very closely, and bit his lips, wishing
+mentally that a fit would seize the major, while he upbraided Fortune
+for playing him such a prank as this; and then he lay tolerably still,
+waiting for nearly half an hour, during which notes were compared by the
+others, one and all of whom declared that they never felt better.
+Glynne came twice to ask if she could be of any service, and to say that
+Lucy was eager to help; and then there were steps in the hall, and,
+directly after, Oldroyd was shown in, looking perfectly cool and
+business-like, in spite of his hurried scamper across the park.
+
+"Your man says that Captain Rolph has been poisoned by eating bad
+mushrooms," said the young doctor.  "Is this so?"
+
+"He has had some of the same dish as all the rest," said Sir John; "and
+my brother declares they were perfectly safe."
+
+"Humph!" ejaculated Oldroyd, who had seated himself by his patient, and
+was questioning and examining him.
+
+"Better get him to bed," he said, after a pause; "and, while he is
+undressing, I will run home and get him something."
+
+He started directly, and was back just as Rolph sank upon his pillow.
+
+"There, sir, drink that," said Oldroyd, in a quiet decisive tone; and,
+after displaying a disposition to refuse, the young officer drank what
+was offered to him, and soon after sank into a heavy sleep.
+
+"I'll come back about twelve, Sir John," said the doctor.  "I don't
+think he will be any worse.  In fact, I believe he'll be all right in
+the morning."
+
+"But what is it?" said Sir John, in a whisper.  "If it is the mushrooms,
+why are we not all ill?"
+
+"Well, as far as I can make out," said Oldroyd, "there is nothing the
+matter with him but a nervous fit, and an indication of too much
+stimulant.  It seems to me that he has frightened himself into the
+belief that he has been poisoned.  But I'll come in again about twelve."
+
+"No, no; pray stay, Mr Oldroyd," cried Sir John.  "Come down into the
+drawing-room, and have a cup of tea and a chat.  You don't think we need
+telegraph for further advice?"
+
+"Really, Sir John, I fail to see why you should," said Oldroyd.  "Your
+friend is certainly, as far as my knowledge goes, not seriously ill."
+
+"Then come and sit down till you want to see him again," said Sir John.
+"I'm very glad to know you, Mr Oldroyd.  You do know my brother?  Yes,
+and Mr Alleyne?  That's well.  Now come and see Miss Day and her
+friend.--Oh, my dears," cried the baronet, in his hearty tones, "here is
+Mr Oldroyd come to cheer you with the best of news.  Mr Oldroyd, my
+daughter--Well, Morris, what is it?"
+
+"If you please.  Sir John, cook says, Sir John, she's very sorry that
+there should be any unpleasant feeling about the mushrooms; but she had
+an accident with the ones Major Day sent to be cooked, and those you had
+for dinner were Jones's own growing in the pits."
+
+"I could have sworn they had the regular mushroom flavour," cried the
+major.
+
+"Then we needn't fidget about our dinner," said Sir John, laughing.
+"Doctor, you're right.  Morris, that will do."
+
+Somehow from that minute the evening brightened very pleasantly at
+Brackley.  Lucy thought it charming, and Glynne was an attentive
+listener to every astronomical word that fell from Alleyne's lips.
+Twice over Oldroyd went up to see his patient, and each time came back
+with the information that he was sleeping heavily, and that there was
+not the slightest cause for alarm.
+
+After that, no one was uneasy, and Rolph was almost forgotten.  Alleyne
+left with his sister about eleven, the two being sent home in the
+brougham.  Glynne needed no persuasion to go to bed, and Oldroyd sat and
+smoked a cigar with the major and Sir John in the library till twelve,
+when he went and had another look at his patient.
+
+"Well," said the baronet, on his return, "what news?"
+
+"Sleeping like a baby," replied Oldroyd.  "I think I'll go now."
+
+"Anybody sitting up for you, Mr Oldroyd?"
+
+"Oh, no."
+
+"Then there's no one to be uneasy about your absence?"
+
+"Certainly not."
+
+"Then would you oblige me by stopping here to-night, in case you are
+wanted?"
+
+Oldroyd was perfectly willing to oblige, and he was shown to a spare
+bedroom, where he slept heartily till eight, and then rose and went to
+the patient, whom he found dressing for his morning walk, while his
+self-issued bulletin was that he was better.
+
+He would not believe the cook.
+
+Volume 1, Chapter XIV.
+
+TERRESTRIAL TRIALS.
+
+"I think it was very foolish of your brother to invite them, Lucy," said
+Mrs Alleyne, austerely.  "All these preparations are not made without
+money; and when they are made, we have the bitterness of feeling that
+what is luxury to us is to them contemptible and mean."
+
+"Oh, but, mamma, you don't know Glynne, or you would not talk like that.
+She is as simple in her tastes as can be, and thinks nothing of the
+luxury in which they live."
+
+"She would think a great deal of it, my dear, if, by any misfortune in
+life, it should all pass from her."
+
+"No, mamma, I don't think she would," said Lucy.  "She is a strange
+girl."
+
+"For my part," said Mrs Alleyne, very sternly, "I don't think we are
+doing wisely in keeping up this intimacy."
+
+"Oh, mamma!"
+
+"I have said it.  Look at the expense I have been put to in
+preparations.  In the constant struggle which I go through day after
+day, paring and contriving to make our little income last out; any
+addition of this kind is a weariness and a care.  Of what good, pray, is
+this visit but to satisfy the curiosity of a few heartless people?"
+
+"Oh, mamma, don't say that.  Glynne is the kindest and most amiable of
+girls, and nobody could be nicer to me than the major and Sir John."
+
+"Of course they are nice to you--to my daughter," said Mrs Alleyne,
+pulling up her mittens--a very dingy black pair that had lain by till
+they were specked with a few grey spots of mildew.
+
+"And the major thinks very highly of Moray."
+
+"It is only natural that he should," said Mrs Alleyne, haughtily.  "But
+I repeat, I see no advantage of a social nature to be gained by this
+intimacy, even if we wished it."
+
+"But you forget about Moray, mamma, dear."
+
+"I forget nothing about your brother, Lucy.  But pray, what do you mean
+by this allusion?"
+
+"His need of change.  He has certainly been better lately."
+
+"Decidedly not," replied Mrs Alleyne, making a fresh effort to cover a
+very large and unpleasantly prominent vein that ran from the back of her
+hand above her wrist.  "I have noticed that Moray is more quiet and
+thoughtful than ever."
+
+"But Mr Oldroyd said yesterday, mamma, that he was better."
+
+"Mr Oldroyd gave his opinion, my dear, but it was only the opinion of
+one man.  Mr Oldroyd may be mistaken."
+
+"But, mamma, he seems so clever, and to know so much about Moray's
+case."
+
+"Yes, my child--seems; but these young medical men often jump at
+conclusions, and are ready to take for granted that they understand
+matters which are completely sealed."
+
+Lucy coloured slightly, and remained silent.
+
+"For my part," continued Mrs Alleyne, "I do not feel at all easy
+respecting Moray's state, and his health is too serious a thing to be
+trifled with."
+
+Lucy's colour deepened as Mrs Alleyne swept out of the room.
+
+"I'm sure he's clever, and I'm sure he was quite right about Moray," she
+said.  "It's a shame to say so, but I wish mamma would not be so
+prejudiced.  She will not be, though, when she knows Glynne better."
+
+There was a pause here, and Lucy sat looking very intently before her,
+the intent gaze in her face being precisely similar to that seen in her
+brother's countenance when he was watching a far-off planet, and
+striving to learn from it something of its mysteries and ways.
+
+But Lucy was not studying some far-off planet, though her task was
+perhaps as hard, for she was trying to read the future, and to discover
+what there was in store for her brother and herself.  She could not
+think of Moray being always engaged studying stars, nor of herself as
+continually at home with her mother leading that secluded life in the
+sombre brick mansion, finding it cheerless and dull in summer, cold and
+bleak in winter when the wind roared in the pine trees, till it was as
+if the sea were beating the shore hard by.
+
+"There is sure to be some change," she said, brightening up.  "I know
+it, but I hope it will not bring trouble."
+
+No further allusions were made to the coming visit of the family from
+Brackley, but the next day and the next, to use Lucy's words, mamma led
+her such a life that she wished--and yet she did not wish--that the
+visit was not coming off, so troublesome did the preparations grow.
+
+Mrs Alleyne was going about her blank, chilly house one morning, looking
+very much troubled; and now and then she stopped to wring her hands, but
+it was generally in a cupboard or in a drawer, when there was not the
+slightest likelihood of her being seen.  Her forehead was deeply lined,
+and there was a peculiar drawing down about the corners of her lips that
+indicated care.
+
+It was the old story--money.  She had been up to town only the week
+before to sell out a sum in Government Stock, to pay for an astronomical
+instrument her son required--a tremendously costly piece of mechanism,
+thus leaving herself poorer than ever; and now her idol had been putting
+her to fresh expense.
+
+"So thoughtless of him," she moaned, with her face in the linen
+closet--"so foolish.  He seems to have no idea whatever of the value of
+money, and I don't know what I shall do."
+
+But all the same there was the same glow of satisfaction in Mrs
+Alleyne's breast that she used to feel when she had bought the idol a
+wooden horse, or a toy waggon full of sacks, or one of those instruments
+of torture upon wheels, which, when a child draws it across the floor,
+emits a series of wire-born notes of a most discordant kind.
+
+Mrs Alleyne turned over three or four clean tablecloths, opening them
+out and looking wistfully at darns and frayings, and places where the
+clothes pegs had torn away the hems when they had been hung out to dry.
+These she refolded with a sigh, and put back.
+
+"Oh, my boy, my boy, if you only thought a little more about this world
+as well as the other worlds!" she sighed, as she closed the door, and,
+with her brow growing more wrinkled, wrung her hands over the pantry
+sink.
+
+It was not that she had washed them, for the tap was dry, no water being
+ever pumped into the upper cistern, and the pantry was devoted to the
+reception of Mrs Alleyne's meagre stores.
+
+There were cupboards here that held glass and china--good old china and
+glass; but in the one, there were marks of mendings and rivets, and in
+the other chips and, worse troubles, cracks, and odd glasses without
+feet, or whose feet were upon the next shelf.
+
+"I don't know how we shall manage," sighed Mrs Alleyne, wringing her
+hands once more.  "It was very, very thoughtless of him.  The knives are
+worst of all."
+
+She unrolled a packet or two, which contained nothing but table knives
+that had once been remarkably good, but which had done their work in
+company with hard usage, and some of which had shed their ivory handles,
+while others were thin and double edged, others again being bent at the
+points, or worn down by cleaning until they were about two-thirds of
+their original length.
+
+"Dear me--dear me! how things do wear out!" sighed Mrs Alleyne; and,
+raising her eyes, she saw her face reflected in a little square glass
+hanging upon the wall--"even ourselves," she added, sadly.
+
+Just then Lucy came in hurriedly.
+
+"Oh, mamma," she cried, "I'm sure I don't know what we shall do.  The
+more I look up things, the worse they seem.  It is dreadful; it is
+horrible.  I shall blush for shame."
+
+"And why, may I ask?" said Mrs Alleyne, sternly.
+
+"Because people will do nothing but spy out the poverty of the land.
+Moray has no sense at all, or he would never have been so foolish as to
+ask them."
+
+"Your brother had his own good reasons for asking Sir John Day, his
+brother, and his daughter, and I beg that you will not speak in that
+disrespectful way of your brother's plans."
+
+"But you don't see, mamma."
+
+"I see everything, my child," said Mrs Alleyne, stiffly.
+
+"But you don't think how awkward it will be."
+
+"Yes, I have thought of all that."
+
+"But Moray never does.  How are we to entertain people who are
+accustomed to live in luxury, and who have abundance of plate and china
+and glass, and servants to wait upon them?  Oh, we shall look
+ridiculous."
+
+"Lucy!"
+
+"I don't care, mamma, I can't help it.  I've been working away to see if
+I could not get things in proper trim to do us justice, but it is
+horrible.  Moray must write and tell them they are not to come."
+
+"My son shall do nothing of the kind, Lucy, and I desire that you do the
+best you can, so that Moray may be content."
+
+"But, mamma, we have no flowers, no fruit for dessert, no pretty glass
+and vases; and I know the dinner will be horrible."
+
+"Moray asked the Days to come and see us, not our household
+arrangements, and we must give them some dinner before they go up into
+the observatory."
+
+"Oh, very well, mamma," said Lucy, "I have protested.  You and Moray
+must have it your own way."
+
+"Of course," said Mrs Alleyne, composedly; "and I beg that you will find
+no more fault with your brother's arrangements."
+
+"No, mamma: I have done."
+
+"I dare say Captain Rolph very often dines far worse at his mess than we
+shall dine to-morrow."
+
+"But surely he is not coming, mamma," cried Lucy in horror; "he will be
+jeering at everything."
+
+"If he is so extremely ungentlemanly, it is no fault of ours.  Yes, he
+is coming; and, by the way, I did not tell you, I have just asked Mr
+Oldroyd to join us."
+
+"Mamma!" cried Lucy, turning scarlet.
+
+"Now don't exclaim against that, my dear," said Mrs Alleyne.  "I am sure
+it will be almost a charity to have him here.  He cannot be too grand
+for our simple ways."
+
+Poor Lucy shrank away looking very thoughtful, and, resigning herself to
+fate, went busily about the house, working like a little slave, and
+arranging the place to the best advantage; but only to break down at
+last, with a piteous burst of tears, as she saw how miserable a result
+she had achieved, and compared her home with that of Glynne.
+
+Mrs Alleyne was not in much better spirits, indulging herself as she did
+in various wringings of the hands in closets and corners, but all in the
+most furtive way, as she too thought of the barrenness of the house.
+
+The next morning the preparations for the little dinner were in hurried
+progress, Lucy busily working with gloomy resignation, and the kitchen
+given over to the woman who had come to cook.  Then the large covered
+cart from Brackley drew up to the gate, and upon Eliza going down, the
+man who drove helped her to unbar the great gates, and led his horse in
+and right round to the kitchen door.
+
+He was the bearer of a note for Mrs Alleyne, and while Eliza had taken
+it in, and the recipient was reading it, to afterwards hand it over to
+Lucy, Sir John's man began unloading the cart in the most matter-of-fact
+way, and arranging things upon the kitchen dresser.
+
+"What does he say, that he begs your pardon, and knowing that we have no
+garden, would we accept a few trifles of flowers and a little fruit?"
+
+Mrs Alleyne frowned, and the shadow on her countenance deepened after
+Sir John's man had departed with the cart, for the trifles sent over
+were a magnificent collection of cut flowers, with grapes, a pine,
+hot-house peaches, and nectarines and plums.
+
+Lucy coloured with pleasure, for all was most thoughtfully contrived.
+Even choice leaves in a neat bunch were included, ready for decorating
+the fruit in the dessert dishes.  But directly after she could not help
+sharing her mother's annoyance--it seemed so like looking upon them as
+poor.
+
+"It is almost an insult," said Mrs Alleyne at last.
+
+Lucy looked up at her wistfully, with the cloud now crossing her own
+bright little face.
+
+"It is because we live in so humble a manner," cried Mrs Alleyne,
+angrily.  "It is cruel--a display of arrogance--because I choose to live
+quietly that Moray may proceed with his great discoveries in science."
+
+Lucy gazed at her mother's face, in which she could read the growing
+anger and mortification.
+
+"Oh, I wish Moray had not been so ready to invite them," she said to
+herself.
+
+"The things shall go back," exclaimed Mrs Alleyne at last.
+
+"Oh, mamma," whispered Lucy, clinging to her and trying to calm her
+anger, "don't--pray don't say that.  It is only a present of fruit and
+flowers, after all."
+
+"You will not send the things back, mamma."
+
+Mrs Alleyne was silent for a few moments, and then said huskily,--
+
+"No: they shall remain, but Moray must not know; and mind this, Lucy,
+when they come there is sure to be an offer for the man-servant to stop
+and wait.  This must be declined."
+
+"Oh, yes, mamma," cried Lucy, excitedly, as she began to imagine Sir
+John's footman being witness of the shifts made in re-washing plates,
+and forks, and spoons.
+
+"We must submit to the insult, I suppose.  I cannot resent it for
+Moray's sake.  They are his guests, and must be treated with respect."
+
+In due time Sir John and Glynne, with Rolph and the major, arrived, and
+were heartily welcomed by Moray, who seemed to have thrown off his quiet
+thoughtfulness of manner, and to be striving to set the visitors at
+their ease.  So warm and hearty, too, were Sir John and the major, that
+Lucy brightened; and had Rolph taken another tone, and Mrs Alleyne been
+satisfied with doing all that lay in her power to make her visitors
+welcome, leaving the rest, all would have gone well.  But, in face of
+the stern, calm dignity of mien which she displayed, it was impossible
+for Sir John to adopt his easy-going sociability.  In fact, between
+them, Mrs Alleyne and Rolph spoiled the dinner.
+
+It was not by any means the greatest mistake that Mrs Alleyne had ever
+made in her life, but it was a serious one all the same, to attempt a
+regular society dinner in the face of so many difficulties.  Poor woman:
+she felt that it was her duty to show Sir John that she was a lady, and
+understood the social amenities of life.
+
+The consequence was that, having attempted too much, all went wrong:
+Eliza got into the most horrible tangles, and half-a-dozen times over,
+Sir John wished they had had a good Southdown leg of mutton, vegetables,
+and a pudding, and nothing else.
+
+But he did not have his wish--for there was soup that was not good;
+soles that had become torn and tattered in the extraction from the
+frying-pan; veal cutlets, whose golden egging and crumbing had been in
+vain, for this coating had dissolved apparently into the sauce.  The
+other _entree_ emitted an odour which made the major hungry, being a
+curried chicken; but, alas! the rice was in the condition known by
+schoolboys as "mosh-posh."  Then came a sirloin of beef and a pair of
+boiled fowls, with an intervening tongue and white sauce--at least the
+sauce should have been white, and the chickens should have been young--
+while what kind of conscience the butcher possessed who defrauded Mrs
+Alleyne by sending her in that sirloin of beef, with the announcement
+that it was prime, it is impossible to say.
+
+The table looked bright and pretty with its fine white cloth, bright
+flowers and fruit, but the dinner itself was a series of miserable
+failures, through all of which Mrs Alleyne sat, stern, and with a fixed
+smile upon her countenance.  Moray and Glynne were serenely unconscious,
+eating what was before them, but with their thoughts and conversation
+far away amongst the stars.  Sir John and the major, with the most
+chivalrous courtesy, ignored everything, and kept up the heartiest of
+conversation; while Rolph, who was in a furious temper at having been
+obliged to come, fixed his glass in his eye and stolidly stared when he
+did not sneer.
+
+It was poor Lucy upon whom the burden of the dinner cares fell, and she
+suffered a martyrdom.  Oldroyd saw that she was troubled, but did not
+fully realise the cause, while the poor girl shivered and shrank, and
+turned now hot, now cold, as she read Rolph's contempt for the miserable
+fare.
+
+"Yes," said the Major to himself, "it's a mistake.  She meant well, poor
+woman, but if she had given us a well-cooked steak how much better it
+would have been."
+
+Mrs Alleyne, behind her mask of smiles, also noted how Rolph's eye-glass
+was directed at the various dishes, and how his plate went away, time
+after time, with the viands scarcely tasted.  She hated him with a
+bitter hatred, and felt full of rejoicing to see his annoyance with
+Glynne, whose calm, handsome face lit up and grew animated when Alleyne
+spoke to her, answering questions, questioning her in return, and
+telling her of his work during the past few days.
+
+The meal went on very slowly, and such success as attended it was due to
+Sir John and the major, the former devoting himself to his hostess,
+while the latter relieved poor little Lucy's breast of some of its
+burden of trouble.
+
+"Ah," he said once, out of sheer kindness, just after Rolph had laughed
+silently at a grievous mistake made by Eliza, who, in a violent
+perspiration with work and excitement, had dropped a dish in the second
+course, breaking it, and spreading a too tremulous cabinet pudding and
+its sauce upon the well--worn carpet.  "Ah, a capital dinner, Miss
+Alleyne, only wanted one dish to have made it complete."
+
+"How can you be so unkind, Major Day!" said Lucy, in a low, choking
+voice; "the poor girl is so unused to company, and she could not help
+it."
+
+Major Day looked petrified.  He had advanced his remark like a squadron
+to cover the rout of the cabinet pudding, and he was astounded by Lucy's
+flank movement, as she took his remark to refer to the maid.
+
+"My dear child," he stammered, "you mistake me."
+
+Poor Lucy could not contain herself.  The vexations of the whole dinner
+which had been gathering within her now burst forth; and though she
+spoke to him in an undertone, her face was crimson, and it was all she
+could do to keep from bursting into a flood of tears.
+
+"It is so unkind of you," continued Lucy; "we are not used to having
+company.  Moray did not think how difficult it would be for us to make
+proper preparations, and it is not our fault that everything is so bad."
+
+"My dear child!" whispered the major again.
+
+"You need not have added to my misery by calling it a capital dinner,
+and alluding to the dish."
+
+Fortunately Sir John was chatting loudly to Mrs Alleyne, Oldroyd was in
+a warm argument with Rolph on the subject of training, and Alleyne was
+holding Glynne's attention by describing to her the theory that the
+stars were in all probability suns with planets revolving round them, as
+we do about our own giver of warmth and light.  Hence, then, the major's
+little interlude with Lucy was unnoticed, and Eliza was able to remove
+the evidences of the disaster with a dustpan and brush.
+
+"My dear Miss Alleyne, give me credit for being an officer and a
+gentleman," said the major, quietly; "the dish I alluded to was one of
+some choice fungi, such as we discover for ourselves in the woods and
+fields.  I meant nothing else--believe me."
+
+Lucy darted a grateful look in his eyes, and followed it up with a
+smile, which sent a peculiar little sting into Oldroyd's breast.
+
+"For," the latter argued with himself, "elderly gentlemen do sometimes
+manage to exercise a great deal of influence over the susceptible hearts
+of maidens, and Major Day is a smart, attractive, old man."
+
+His attention was, however, taken up directly by Rolph, who, in a
+half-haughty, condescending tone asked him if he had studied training
+from its medical and surgical side, nettling him by his manner, and
+putting him upon his mettle to demolish his adversary in argument.
+
+"Thank you, major," whispered Lucy.  "I might have known--I ought to
+have known better."
+
+And then, with the ice broken between herself and her old botanical
+tutor and friend, she seemed to jump with girlish eagerness at the
+opportunity for lightening her burdened heart.
+
+"Everything has gone so dreadfully," she whispered.  "I have been
+sitting upon thorns ever since you all came.  It has been heartbreaking,
+and I shall be so glad when it is all over, and you are gone."
+
+"Tut--tut! you inhospitable little creature," said the major.  "For
+shame.  I shall not.  Why, surely my little pupil does not think we came
+over here for the sake of the dinner.  Fie!--fie!--fie!  Brother John,
+there, enjoys a crust of bread and cheese and a glass of ale better than
+anything; while I, an old campaigner, used, when I was on service, to
+think myself very lucky if I got a biscuit and a slice of melon, or a
+handful of dates, for a meal."
+
+"But Sir John said you were so particular, and that was why he sent the
+fruit."
+
+"My brother John is a gentleman," said the major, smiling.  "But there,
+there, let me see my little pupil smiling, and at her ease again.  Why,
+we've come over this evening to feast upon stars and planets, when the
+proper time comes.  I say, look at Glynne, how bright and eager she
+looks.  She is not troubling herself about the dinner; nor your brother
+neither."
+
+"Moray?" replied Lucy.  "Oh, no; nothing troubles him.  Poor fellow!  If
+you gave him only some bran he would eat it and never say a word.  It's
+throwing nice things away to make them for him."
+
+At last the dessert plates had been placed upon the table, and the fruit
+handed round by Eliza, who, in spite of several nods and frowns from Mrs
+Alleyne, insisted upon staying to the very last, by way of salving her
+conscience for the pudding lapse.  Then she finally departed to look
+after the coffee; the ladies rose and left the room, and the gentlemen
+drew closer together to discuss their wine.
+
+Some cups of capital coffee were brought in, its quality being due to
+the fact that Lucy had slipped into the kitchen to make it herself; and
+after these had been enjoyed, Sir John drew attention to the object of
+their visit.  Rolph yawned, and made up his mind to remain behind, to go
+into the garden and have a cigar, and Alleyne led the way into the
+drawing-room, Glynne rising directly to come and meet them, all
+eagerness to enjoy the promised inspection of the observatory.
+
+Volume 1, Chapter XV.
+
+GLYNNE LOOKS AT THE MOON, THE PROFESSOR AT HIS HEART.
+
+The secret of the poverty of Mrs Alleyne's home was read by the major
+and Sir John, as they followed their host and Glynne along a bare
+passage and through two green-baized doors, into the great dome-covered
+chambers where Alleyne pursued his studies, for on all sides were
+arranged astronomical instruments of the newest invention and costliest
+kind.  The outlay had been slow--a hundred now and a hundred then; but
+the result had been thousands of pounds spent upon the various pieces of
+intricate mechanism, and their mounting upon solid iron pillars, resting
+on massive piers of cement or stone.
+
+Glynne uttered a faint cry of surprise and delight as she saw the long
+tubes with their wheels and pivots arranged so that the reclining
+observer could turn his glass in any direction; gazed in the great
+trough that seemed to have a bottom covered with looking-glass, but
+which was half full of quicksilver; noted that there were sliding
+shutters in the roof, and various pieces of mechanism, whose uses she
+longed to have explained.
+
+It was all old to Lucy, who felt a new pleasure, though, in her friend's
+eagerness, while Mrs Alleyne, who had suffered torments all the evening
+in mortified pride, felt, as she saw the looks of wonder of the guests,
+and their appreciation of her son's magnificent observatory, that she
+was now reaping her reward.
+
+"Bless my soul!" cried Sir John, "I am astounded.  I did not think there
+was such a place outside Greenwich."
+
+Mrs Alleyne bowed and smiled; and then, as Sir John began eagerly
+inspecting the various objects and arrangements around, and the major
+chatted to Lucy, she gave a curious look at her son, who was bending
+over Glynne, explaining to her the use of the quicksilver trough, and
+arranging a glass afterwards, so that she might see how it was brought
+to bear upon a reflected star.
+
+As Mrs Alleyne glanced round she saw that Oldroyd was also watching her
+son and Glynne, and her eyes directly after met those of the young
+doctor, whose thoughts she tried to read--perhaps with success.
+
+For the next half-hour, Glynne was being initiated in the mysteries of
+the transit instrument, and had the pleasure of seeing star after star
+cross the zenith, after which, the moon having risen well above the
+refracting and magnifying mists of earth, the largest reflector was
+brought to bear upon its surface.
+
+Ejaculations of delight kept escaping from Glynne's lips as she gazed at
+the bright tops of the various volcanoes, searched the dark shadows and
+craters, and literally revelled in the glories of the brightly embossed
+silver crescent.  She had a hundred questions to ask, with all the eager
+curiosity and animation of a child, and with the advantage of having one
+as patient as he was learned, ready to respond upon the instant.
+
+"I feel so terribly selfish," cried Glynne, at last.  "Oh, papa, you
+must come and look.  Uncle, it is wonderful."
+
+"We'll have a look another time," said Sir John, good-humouredly; "only
+don't wear out Mr Alleyne's patience."
+
+"Oh, I hope he will not think me tiresome," cried Glynne, whose eye was
+directed to the glass again on the instant, "but it is so wonderful.  I
+could watch the moon all night.  Now, Mr Alleyne, just a little way from
+the left edge, low down, there is a brilliant ring of light--no, not
+quite a ring; it is as if a portion of it had been torn away, and--Oh!
+Robert! how you startled me."
+
+The spell was broken, for Rolph had entered the observatory, having
+finished his cigar.  He had been standing at the door for a few moments,
+watching the scene before him, and a frown came over his forehead as he
+heard the eagerness of his betrothed's words, and saw the impressive way
+in which Alleyne was bending towards her, and answering her questions.
+Directly after, the young officer crossed the observatory, laid his hand
+almost rudely upon Alleyne's shoulder, and nodded to him as if to say,
+"Stand on one side."
+
+Alleyne started, coloured, and then drew back, with the major watching
+him intently, while Rolph laid his hand playfully upon Glynne's
+forehead, and slipped it before her eyes.
+
+"Now then, have you found the focus.  What is it?  A penny a peep?
+Here, Mr Alleyne, do you take the money?"
+
+A dead silence fell upon the group till the major hastened to break it
+by saying a few words of praise of the place to Mrs Alleyne.
+
+Soon afterwards they went back to the drawing-room and partook of tea,
+the carriage arriving directly after, and everyone thinking it time to
+leave, for a curious chill had come over the party, Glynne having
+subsided into her old, silent, inanimate way, and no effort of the major
+or Sir John producing anything more than a temporary glow.
+
+"Why, how quiet you are, Glynne," said Rolph, as they were on their way
+home.
+
+"I was thinking," she replied, quietly.
+
+"What about?"
+
+"About?--Oh, the wonders of--of what I have seen to-night."
+
+------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+"Are you satisfied, my son?" said Mrs Alleyne, when she kissed him that
+night.
+
+"Yes, dear mother, thoroughly," he said to her; and then to
+himself--"No."
+
+END OF VOLUME ONE.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter I.
+
+AFTER A LAPSE.
+
+It was about a mile from the Alleynes' where the sandy lane, going
+north, led by an eminence, rugged, scarped, and crowned with great
+columnar firs that must have sprung from seeds a couple of hundred years
+ago.  By day, when the sun shone in from the east at his rising, or from
+the west at his going down, the great towering trunks that ran up
+seventy or eighty feet without a branch looked as if cast in ruddy
+bronze, while overhead the thick, dark, boughs interlaced and shut out
+the sky.
+
+It was a gloomy enough spot by day amidst the maze of tall columns, with
+the ground beneath slippery from the dense carpeting of pine needles; by
+night, whether a soft breeze was overhead whispering in imitation of the
+surging waves, or it was a storm, there was ever that never-ending sound
+of the sea upon the shore, making the place in keeping with the spirit
+of him who sought for change and relief from troublous thoughts.
+
+Moray Alleyne's brain was full of trouble, of imperious thoughts that
+would not be kept back, and one night, to calm his disturbed spirit, he
+went out from the observatory, bare-headed, to walk for a few minutes up
+and down the garden.
+
+But there was no rest there, and, feeling confined and cribbed within
+fence and hedge, he glanced for a moment or two at the tall window with
+its undrawn blinds, through which he could see Mrs Alleyne, seated stiff
+and with an uncompromising look upon her face, busy stitching at a piece
+of linen in which she was making rows of the finest nature, in
+preparation for a garment to be worn by her son.
+
+Lucy was at the other side of the table, also working, but, as the
+lamplight fell upon her face, Alleyne could see that it was unruffled
+and full of content.
+
+He sighed as he turned away, and thought of the past, when his thoughts
+went solely to his absorbing work--when this strange attraction, as he
+termed it, had not come upon him and drawn him, as it were, out of his
+course.
+
+Only a short time back, and he went on in his matter-of-fact, mundane
+orbit, slowly working out problems, sometimes failing, but always
+returning to the task with the same calm peaceful serenity of spirit,
+waiting patiently for the triumph of science that sooner or later came
+for his reward.
+
+How calm and unruffled all this had been.  No fever of the soul, no
+tempest of spirit to disturb the even surface of his life.  But now all
+was changed.  They had torn him amongst them from the happy, placid
+life, to give him rage, and bitterness and pain.
+
+His brow grew rugged and his hands clenched as he walked rapidly out on
+to the wild heath, heedless of the bushes and the inequalities of the
+ground, until he fell heavily, and leaped up again, to turn back.  Then,
+giving up the wide waste of moor which he had instinctively chosen as
+being in accord with his frame of mind, he made straight for the next
+desolate spot, where it seemed to him that he could be alone with his
+thoughts, and perhaps school them into subjection.
+
+"Cool down this madness," he once said aloud, laughing bitterly the
+while; and the sound of his strange voice made him start and hurry on
+along the shady lane, as if to escape from the unseen monitor who had
+reminded him of his suffering.
+
+"Yes, it is madness," he muttered, "I could not have believed it true.
+But, discipline, patience, I shall conquer yet."
+
+He walked on, with the beads of perspiration coming softly out upon his
+brow; then, from being like a fine dew, they began to join one with the
+other, till they stood out in great drops unheeded, as he went swiftly
+on, and almost blindly at last turned rapidly up the steep ascent,
+climbing at times, and avoiding the pine trunks by a kind of blind
+instinct.  He toiled on farther and farther, till he stood at the
+highest part of the great natural temple, with its windswept roof hidden
+in the darkness overhead, and two huge pines bending over to each other,
+like the sides of some huge east window, at the precipitous broken edge
+of the hill.  Through this he could look straight away over the
+intervening billowy estate, to where Brackley Hall stood surrounded by
+trees, and with its lights shining softly against a vast background of
+darkness.
+
+And now as he rested a hand upon a trunk, his vivid imagination pictured
+Glynne as being there, behind one or other of the softly-illumined
+panes.
+
+Here he stopped and stood motionless for a time, gazing straight before
+him through the dimly-seen vista of the trunks, breathing in the soft,
+cool night air, dry and invigorating at that height.  All was so still
+and silent, that, obeying his blind instinct, he seemed to have come
+there to find calmness and repose.
+
+But they were not present; neither was the place dark--to him.  For, as
+he stood there, with knotted brow, and teeth and hands clenched, turn
+which way he would there was light, and within that light, gazing at him
+with its intense, rapt expression--as if living and breathing upon his
+words--the one face that always haunted him now.
+
+It had been so strange at first--that look of thoughtful veneration,
+that air of belief.  Then, from being half-pleased, half-flattered, had
+come the time when it had created a want in his life--the desire to be
+master and go on teaching this obedient disciple who dwelt upon his
+words, took them so faithfully to heart, and waited patiently for fresh
+utterances from his lips.
+
+It was not love on her part.  He knew that.  He was sure of it.  At
+least it was the love of the science that he strove to teach--the
+thirsting of a spirit to know more and more of the wonders of infinite
+space.  She liked to be in his society, to listen to his words.  He knew
+he was gauging Glynne Day's heart, when, with a sensation of misery that
+swept over him like some icy wave, he went over the hours they had spent
+together.  But, when he tried to gauge his own he trembled, and asked
+himself why this madness had come upon him, robbing him of his peace and
+rest--making him so unfit for his daily work.
+
+He strode on to and fro, winding in and out amongst the tall pillars of
+this darkened nature-temple, fighting his mental fight and praying from
+time to time for help to crush down the madness that had assailed him
+where he had thought himself so strong.
+
+Strive how he would, though, there was Glynne's face ever gazing up into
+his; and beside it, half-mockingly, in its calm, satisfied content, was
+Rolph's; and as he met the eyes, there was the cool, contemptuous,
+pitying look, such as he had seen upon the young officer's face again
+and again, mingled with the arrogant air of dislike that he made so
+little effort to conceal.
+
+For a time Alleyne had been growing calmer; his determined efforts to
+master himself had seemed as if about to be attended with success; but
+as in fancy he had seen Rolph's face beside that of Glynne, a feeling of
+rage--of envious rage--that mastered him in turn held sway.
+
+But it was not for long; the power of a well-disciplined brain was
+brought to bear, and Moray Alleyne stood at last with his arms folded,
+leaning against a tree, thinking that after this mad ebullition of
+passion, he had gained the victory, and that henceforth all this was
+going to be as a bygone dream.
+
+It must have been by some occult law of attraction that deals with human
+beings as inanimate objects are drawn together upon the surface of a
+pond, that Rolph, in contemptuous scorn of the sedative tea that would
+be on the way in Sir John's drawing-room, and holding himself free for a
+little self-indulgence, took three cigars from his future
+father-in-law's cabinet in the smoking-room, secured a box of matches,
+and, after putting on a light overcoat and soft hat, strolled out on to
+the lawn.
+
+"Been on duty with her all day," he said, with a half laugh, "and a
+fellow can't quite give himself up to petticoat government--not hers.
+If it wasn't for Aldershot being so near, it would be awful."
+
+Glynne was seated alone in the drawing-room, where the shaded lamp stood
+on the side-table, deep in a book that she was reading with avidity; and
+as Rolph, with his hands in his pockets, strolled round the house, he,
+too, stopped to look in at the window.
+
+"There's no nonsense about it," he said, "she is pretty--I might say
+beautiful, and there isn't a girl in the regiment who comes near her."
+
+"Humph! what a chance.  The old boys are snoring in the dining-room,
+each with a handkerchief over his head, and for the next two hours I
+dare say we should be alone, and--drink tea!" he said with an air of
+disgust.  "I hope she won't be so confoundedly fond of tea when we're
+married.  It's rather too much of a good thing sometimes.  And a man
+wants change."
+
+He thrust his hands deeply into his coat pockets, where one of them came
+in contact with a cigar, which he took out, bit off the end
+mechanically, and stood rolling it to and fro between his lips.
+
+"Shall I go in?" he asked himself.  "Hang it, no!  If one's too much
+with a girl she'll grow tired of you before marriage.  Better keep her
+off a little, and not spoil her too soon.  Yes, she really is a very
+handsome girl.  Just fancy her in one of the smartest dresses a tip-top
+place could turn out, and sitting beside a fellow on a four-in-hand--
+Ascot, say, or to some big meet.  There won't be many who will put us--
+her, I mean"--he added, with a dash of modesty--"in the shade.  Here,
+I'll go and have a talk to her.  No, I won't.  I sha'n't get my cigar if
+I do.  We shall have plenty of _tete-a-tetes_, I dare say.  And I
+promised to-night--What's she reading, I wonder?  Last new novel, I
+suppose.  Puzzles me," he said to himself, as he swung round, "how a
+woman can go on reading novels at the rate some of them do.  Such stuff!
+It's only about one in a hundred that is written by anybody who knows
+what life really is--about horses and dogs--and sport," he added after a
+little thought.  "Poor little Glynne.  It pleases her, though, and I
+sha'n't interfere, but she might cultivate subjects more that agree with
+my tastes--say the hunt--and the field."
+
+He gave one glance over his shoulder at the picture of the reading girl
+in the drawing-room and then went off across the lawn, to be stopped by
+the wire fence, against which he paused as if measuring its height.
+Then going back for a dozen yards or so he took a sharp run, meaning to
+leap it, but stopped short close to the wire.
+
+"Won't do," he muttered; "too dark."
+
+He then stepped over it, bending the top wire down and making it give a
+loud twang when released, as he walked on sharply towards the footway
+that crossed the path and led away to the fir woods, whistling the
+while.
+
+Perhaps if he had known that the book Glynne was reading with such
+eagerness did not happen to be a novel, but a study of the heavens, by
+one, Mr Lockyer, the ideas that coursed through his mind would not have
+been of quite so complacent a character--that is to say, if the strain
+upon his nature to supply him with muscles and endurance had left him
+wit enough to put that and that together, and judge by the result.
+
+"It's getting precious dull here, and home's horrid," said Rolph, as he
+stopped in the shadow of a tree, whose huge trunk offered shelter from
+the breeze.
+
+Here he proceeded, in the quiet deliberate fashion of a man who makes a
+study of such matters, and who would not on any consideration let a
+cigar burn sidewise, to light the roll he held in his teeth.  He struck
+a match, coquetted with the flame, holding it near and drawing it away,
+till the leaf was well alight, when he placed his hands in his pockets,
+and walked on, puffing complacently, for a short distance at a moderate
+pace, but, finding the path easy and smooth, his mind began to turn to
+athletics, and, taking his hands from his pockets, he stopped short and
+doubled his fists.
+
+"Won't do to get out of condition with this domestic spaniel life," he
+said, with a laugh, and, drawing a long breath, he set off walking,
+taking long, regular strides, and getting over the ground at a
+tremendous pace for about half a mile, when he stopped short to smile
+complacently.
+
+"Not bad that," he said aloud, "put out my cigar though;" and, again
+sheltering himself behind a tree, he struck a match and relit the roll
+of tobacco.
+
+"I must do a little more of this early of a morning," he said, as he
+regained his breath, and cooled down gradually by slowly walking on, and
+as fate arranged it, entering the great fir clump on the side farthest
+from the lane.
+
+"They say the smell of the fir is healthy, and does a man good," said
+Rolph.  "I'll have a good sniff or two."
+
+There was more of the odour of tobacco, though, than of the pines, as
+with his footsteps deadened by the soft, half-decayed vegetable matter,
+he threaded his way amongst the tall trunks.
+
+"Humph! moon rising! see the gates!" said Rolph, with a satisfied air,
+as if the great yellow orb, slowly rising above the wood and darting
+horizontal rays through the pines, were illumining the path for his
+special benefit.  Then he looked at his watch.  "Ten minutes too soon.
+But I dare say she's waiting.  If this place were mine I should have all
+these trees cut down for timber and firewood.  Fetch a lot!"
+
+The wondrous effects of black velvety darkness and golden lines of light
+were thrown away upon the young baronet, who saw in the pale gilding of
+the tree-trunks only so much to avoid.
+
+All at once his thoughts took a turn in another direction, and
+unwittingly he began to ponder upon the intimacy that had grown up
+between the people at the Hall and the Alleynes.
+
+"It's a great mistake, and I don't like it," Rolph said to himself.
+"That fellow hangs about after Glynne like some great dog.  I shall have
+to speak to the old man about it.  Glynne doesn't see it, of course, and
+I don't mean that she should, but it gets to be confoundedly unpleasant
+to a--to a thoughtful man--to a man of the world.  Wiser, perhaps, to
+have a few words with the fellow himself, and tell him what I think of
+his conduct.  I will too," he said, after a pause.  "He is simply
+ignorant of the common decencies of society, or he wouldn't do it.  I
+shall--What the devil's he doing here--come to watch?"
+
+Rolph stopped short, completely astounded upon seeing, not two yards
+away, the statue-like figure of Alleyne, with arms folded, leaning
+against a tree, thoroughly intent upon his thoughts.
+
+For some time neither Rolph nor Alleyne spoke, the latter being
+profoundly ignorant of the presence of the former.
+
+The shadows of the fir wood, as well as those of Alleyne's mind, were to
+blame for this, for where Rolph had paused the moonbeams had not
+touched, and though Alleyne's eyes were turned in that direction, they
+were filmed by the black darkness of the future, a deep shadow that he
+could not pierce.  But by degrees, as the great golden shield, whose
+every light or speck was as familiar to him as his daily life, swept
+slowly on, a broad bar of darkness passed to his left, revealing first a
+part, then the whole of Sir Robert Rolph's figure, as he stood scowling
+there, his hands in his pockets, and puff after puff of smoke coming
+from his lips.
+
+Some few moments glided by before Alleyne realised the truth.  He had
+been thinking so deeply--so bitterly of his rival, that it seemed as if
+his imagination had evoked this figure, and that his nerves had been so
+overstrained that this was some waking dream.
+
+Then came the reaction, making him start violently, as Rolph emitted a
+tremendous cloud of smoke, and then said shortly, without taking his
+cigar from his lips,--
+
+"How do?"
+
+"Captain Rolph!" cried Alleyne, finding speech at last.  "That's me.
+Well, what is it?"  There was another pause, for what appeared to be an
+interminable time.  Alleyne wished to speak, but his lips were sealed.
+Years of quiet, thoughtful life had made him, save when led on by some
+object in which he took deep interest, slow of speech, while now the
+dislike, more than the disgust this man caused him, seemed to have
+robbed him of all power of reply.
+
+"Confounded cad!" thought Rolph; "he is watching;" and then, aloud,
+"Star-gazing and mooning?"
+
+The bitterly contemptuous tone in which this was said stung Alleyne to
+the quick, and he replied, promptly,--
+
+"No."
+
+There was something in that tone that startled Rolph for the moment, but
+he was of too blunt and heavy a nature to detect the subtle meaning a
+tone of voice might convey, and, seizing the opportunity that had come
+to him, he ran at it with the clumsiness of a bull at some object that
+offends its eye.
+
+"Hang the cad, there couldn't be a better chance," he said to himself;
+and, adopting the attitude popular with cavalry officers not largely
+addicted to brains, he straddled as if on horseback, and setting his
+feet down as though he expected each heel to make the rowel of a spur to
+ring, he walked straight up to Alleyne, smoking furiously, and puffed a
+cloud almost into his face.
+
+"Look here, Mr--Mr--er--Alleyne," he said, loudly, "I wanted to talk to
+you, and present time seems as suitable as any other time."
+
+Alleyne had recovered himself, and bowed coldly.
+
+"I was not aware that Captain Rolph had any communication to make to
+me," he said quietly.
+
+"S'pose not," replied Rolph, offensively; "people of your class never
+do.--Hang the cad!  He is spying so as to get a pull on me," he muttered
+to himself.
+
+"I'm just in the humour, and for two pins I'd give him as good a
+thrashing as I really could."
+
+"Will you proceed," said Alleyne, in whose pale cheeks a couple of spots
+were coming, for it was impossible not to read the meaning of the
+other's words and tone.
+
+"When I please," said Rolph, in the tone of voice he would have adopted
+towards some groom, or to one of the privates of his troop.
+
+Alleyne bowed his head and stood waiting, for he said to himself--"I am
+in the wrong--I am bitterly to blame.  Whatever he says, I will bear
+without a word."
+
+A deep silence followed, for, though Rolph pleased to speak, he could
+not quite make up his mind what to say.  He did not wish to blurt out
+anything, he told himself, that should compromise his dignity, nor yet
+to let Alleyne off too easily.  Hence, being unprepared, he was puzzled.
+
+"Look here, you know," he said at last, and angrily; for he was enraged
+with himself for his want of words, "you come a good deal to Sir
+John's."
+
+"Yes, I am invited," said Alleyne, quietly.
+
+Rolph's rehearsal was gone.
+
+"I'll let him have it," he muttered; "I'm not going to fence and spar.
+Yes," he cried aloud, "I know you are.  Sir John's foolishly liberal in
+that way; but you know, Mr Allen, or Alleyne, or whatever your name is,
+I'm not blind."
+
+Alleyne remained silent; and, being now wound up, Rolph swaggered and
+straddled about with an imaginary horse between his legs.
+
+"Look here, you know, I don't want to be hard on a man who is ready to
+own that he is in the wrong, and apologises, and keeps out of the way
+for the future; but this sort of thing won't do.  By Jove, no, it
+sha'n't do, you know.  I won't have it.  Do you hear?  I won't have it."
+
+Something seemed to rise to Moray Alleyne's throat--some vital force to
+run through his nerves and muscles, making them twitch and quiver, as
+the young officer went on in an increasingly bullying tone.  For some
+moments Alleyne, of the calm, peaceful existence, did not realise what
+it meant--what this sensation was; but at last it forced itself upon him
+that it was the madness of anger, the fierce desire of a furious man to
+seize an enemy and struggle with him till he is beaten down, crushed
+beneath the feet.
+
+As he realised all this he wondered and shrank within himself, gazing
+straight before him with knitted brows and half-closed eyes.
+
+"You see," continued Rolph, "I always have my eyes open--make a point of
+keeping my eyes open, and it's time you understood that, because Miss--"
+
+"Silence!" cried Alleyne fiercely.  "What!  What do you mean?" cried
+Rolph, as if he was addressing some delinquent in his regiment.
+
+"Confound it all!  How dare you, sir!  How dare you speak to me like
+that?"
+
+"Say what you like, speak what you will to me," said Alleyne, excitedly,
+"but let that name be held sacred.  It must not be drawn into this
+quarrel."
+
+"How dare you, sir!  How dare you!" roared Rolph.  "What do you mean in
+dictating to me what I should say?  Name held sacred?  Drawn into this--
+what do you say--quarrel.  Do you think I should stoop to quarrel with
+you?"
+
+Alleyne raised one hand deprecatingly.  "I'd have you to know, sir, that
+I am telling you that I am not blind,"--he repeated this as if to mend
+his observations--"I tell you to keep away from the Hall, and to
+recollect that because a certain lady has condescended to speak to you
+in the innocency of her heart--yes, innocency of her heart," he
+repeated, for it was a phrase that pleased him, and sounded well--"it is
+not for you to dare to presume to talk to her as you do--to look at her
+as you do--or to come to the Hall as you do.  I've watched you, and I've
+seen your looks and ways--confound your insolence!  And now, look here,
+if ever you dare to presume to speak to Miss--to the lady, I mean, as
+you have addressed her before, I'll take you, sir, and horsewhip you
+till you cannot stand.  Do you hear, sir; do you hear?  Till you cannot
+stand."
+
+Alleyne stood there without speaking, while this brutal tirade was going
+on.  His breast heaved, and his breath was drawn heavily; but he gave no
+sign, and presuming upon the success that had attended his speaking,
+Rolph continued with all the offensiveness of tone and manner that he
+had acquired from his colonel, a rough, overbearing martinet of the old
+school.
+
+"I cannot understand your presumption," continued Rolph.  "I cannot
+understand of what you have been thinking, coming cringing over to the
+Hall, day after day, forcing your contemptible twaddle about stars and
+comets, and such far-fetched nonsense upon unwilling ears.  Good
+heavens, sir! are you mad, or a fool?--I say, do you hear me--what are
+you, mad or a fool?"
+
+Still Alleyne did not reply, but listened to his rival's words with so
+bitter a feeling of anguish at his heart, that it took all his
+self-command to keep him from groaning aloud.
+
+And still Rolph went on, for, naturally sluggish of mind, it took some
+time to bring that mind, as he would have termed it, into action.  Once
+started, however, he found abundance of words of a sort, and he kept on
+loudly, evidently pleased with what he was saying, till once more he
+completed the circle in which he had been galloping, and ended with,--
+
+"You hear me--thrash you as I would a dog."
+
+Rolph had run down, and, coughing to clear away the huskiness of his
+throat, he muttered to himself,--
+
+"Cigar's out."
+
+Hastily taking another from his pocket, he bit off the end, lit up, gave
+a few puffs, scowling at Alleyne the while, and then said loudly,--
+
+"And now you understand, I think, sir?"
+
+There were spurs imaginary jingling at Rolph's heels, and the steel
+scabbard of a sabre banging about his legs, as he turned and strode
+away, whistling.
+
+And then there was silence amidst the tall columnar pines, which looked
+as if carved out of black marble, save where the moonlight streamed
+through, cutting them sharply as it were, leaving some with bright
+patches of light, and dividing others into sections of light and
+darkness.  There was not even a sigh now in the dark branches overhead,
+not a sound but the heavy, hoarse breathing of Moray Alleyne, as he
+stood there fighting against the terrible emotion that made him quiver.
+
+He had listened to the coarsely brutal language of this man of
+athleticism, borne his taunts, his insults, as beneath him to notice,
+for there was another and a greater mental pain whose contemplation
+seemed to madden him till his sufferings were greater than he could
+bear.
+
+If it had been some bright, talented man--officer, civilian, cleric,
+anything, so that he had been worthy and great, he could have borne it;
+but for Glynne, whose sweet eyes seemed day by day to be growing fuller
+of wisdom, whose animated countenance was brightening over with a keener
+intelligence that told of the workings of a mind whose latent powers
+were beginning to dawn, to be pledged to this overbearing brutal man of
+thews and sinews, it was a sacrilege; and, after standing there,
+forgetful of his own wrongs, the insults that he had borne unmoved, he
+suddenly seemed to awaken to his agony; and, uttering a bitter cry, he
+flung himself face downwards upon the earth.
+
+"Glynne, my darling--my own love!"
+
+There was none to hear, none to heed, as he lay there clutching at the
+soft loose pine needles for a time, and then lying motionless, lost to
+everything--to time, to all but his own misery and despair.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter II.
+
+ATTRACTION.
+
+A few moments later there was a faint rustling noise as of some one
+hurrying over the fir needles, and a lightly-cloaked figure came for an
+instant into the moonlight, but shrank back in among the tree-trunks.
+
+"Rob!" was whispered--"Rob, are you there?"  Alleyne started up on one
+elbow, and listened as the voice continued,--
+
+"Don't play with me, dear.  I couldn't help being late.  Father seemed
+as if he would never go out."
+
+There was a faint murmur among the heads of the pines, and the voice
+resumed.
+
+"Rob, dear, don't--pray don't.  I'm so nervous and frightened.  Father
+might be watching me.  I know you're there, for I heard you whistle."
+
+Alleyne remained motionless.  He wanted to speak but no words came; and
+he waited as the new-comer seemed to be listening till a faintly-heard
+whistling of an air came on the still night air from somewhere below in
+the sandy lane.
+
+"Ah!" came from out of the darkness, sounding like an eager cry of joy;
+and she who uttered the cry darted off with all the quickness of one
+accustomed to the woods, taking almost instinctively the road pursued by
+Rolph, and overtaking him at the end of a few minutes.
+
+"Rob--Rob!" she panted.
+
+"Hush, stupid!" he growled.  "You've come then at last.  See any one
+among the trees?"
+
+"No, dear, not a soul.  Oh, Rob, I thought I should never be able to
+come to-night."
+
+"Humph!  Didn't want to, I suppose."
+
+"Rob!"
+
+Only one word, but the tone of reproach sounded piteous.
+
+"Why weren't you waiting, then?--You were not up yonder, were you?" he
+added sharply.
+
+"No, dear.  I've only just got here.  Father seemed as if he would never
+go out to-night, and it is a very, very long way to come."
+
+"Hullo!  How your heart beats.  Why, Judy, you must go into training.
+You are out of condition.  I can feel it thump."
+
+"Don't, Rob, pray.  I want to talk to you.  It's dreadfully serious."
+
+"Then I don't want to hear it."
+
+"But you must, dear.  Remember all you've said.  Listen to me, pray."
+
+"Well, go on.  What is it?"
+
+"Rob, dear, I'm in misery--in agony always.  You're staying again at
+Brackley, and after all you said."
+
+"Man can't do as he likes, stupid little goose; not in society.  I must
+break it off gently."
+
+There was a low moan out of the darkness where the two figures stood,
+and, added to the mysterious aspect of the lane where all was black
+below, but silvered above by the moonbeams.
+
+"What a sigh," whispered Rolph.
+
+"Rob, dear, pray.  Be serious now.  I want you to listen.  You must
+break all that off."
+
+"Of course.  It's breaking itself off.  Society flirtation, little
+goose; and if you'll only be good, all will come right."
+
+"Oh, Rob, if you only knew!"
+
+"Well, it was your fault.  If you hadn't been so cold and stand-offish,
+I shouldn't have gone and proposed to her.  Now, it must have time."
+
+"You're deceiving me, dear; and it is cruel to one who makes every
+sacrifice for your sake."
+
+"Are you going to preach like this for long?  Because if so, I'm off."
+
+"Rob!" in a piteous tone.  "I've no one to turn to but you, and I'm in
+such trouble.  What can I do if you forsake me.  I came to-night because
+I want your help and counsel."
+
+"Well, what is it?"
+
+"Father would kill me if he knew I'd come."
+
+"Ben Hayle's a fool.  I thought he was fond of you."
+
+"He is, dear.  He worships me; but you've made me love you, Rob, and
+though I want to obey him I can't forget you.  I can't keep away."
+
+"Of course you can't.  It's nature, little one."
+
+"Rob, will you listen to me?"
+
+"Yes.  Be sharp then."
+
+"Pray break that off then at once at Brackley, and come to father and
+ask him to let us be married directly."
+
+"No hurry."
+
+"No hurry?--If you knew what I'm suffering."
+
+"There, there; don't worry, little one.  It's all right, I tell you.  Do
+you think I'm such a brute as to throw you over?  See how I chucked
+Madge for your sake."
+
+"Yes, dear, yes; I do believe in you," came with a sob, "in spite of
+all; and I have tried, and will try so hard, Rob, to make myself a lady
+worthy of you.  I'd do anything sooner than you should be ashamed of me.
+But, Rob, dear--father--"
+
+"Hang father!"
+
+"Don't trifle, dear.  You can't imagine what I have suffered, and what
+he suffers.  All those two long weary months since we left the lodge it
+has been dreadful.  He keeps on advertising and trying, but no one will
+engage him.  It is as if some one always whispered to gentlemen that he
+was once a poacher, and it makes him mad."
+
+"Well, I couldn't help my mother turning him off."
+
+"Couldn't help it, dear!  Oh, Rob!"
+
+"There you go again.  Now, come, be sensible.  I must get back soon."
+
+"To her!" cried Judith, wildly.
+
+"Nonsense.  Don't be silly.  She's like a cold fish to me.  It will all
+come right."
+
+"Yes, if you will come and speak to my father."
+
+"Can't."
+
+"Rob, dear," cried Judith in a sharp whisper; "you must, or it will be
+father's ruin.  He has begun to utter threats."
+
+"Threats?  He'd better not."
+
+"It's in his despair, dear.  He says it's your fault if he, in spite of
+his trying to be honest, is driven back to poaching."
+
+"He'd better take to it!  Bah!  Let him threaten.  He knows better.
+Nice prospect for me to marry a poacher's daughter."
+
+"Oh, Rob, how can you be so cruel.  You don't know."
+
+"Know what?  Does he threaten anything else?"
+
+"Yes," came with a suppressed sob.
+
+"What?"
+
+"I dare not tell you.  Yes, I must.  I came on purpose to-night.  Just
+when I felt that I would stay by him and not break his heart by doing
+what he does not want."
+
+"Talk sense, silly.  People's hearts don't break.  Only horses', if you
+ride them too hard."
+
+Judith uttered a low sob.
+
+"Well, what does he say?"
+
+"That you are the cause of all his trouble, and that you shall make
+amends, or--"
+
+"Or what?"
+
+"I dare not tell you," sobbed the girl, passionately.  "But, Rob, you
+will have pity on him--on me, dear, and make him happy again."
+
+"Look here," said Rolph, roughly.  "Ben Hayle had better mind what he is
+about.  Men have been sent out of the country for less than that, or--
+well, something of the kind.  I'm not the man to be bullied by my
+mother's keeper, so let's have no more of that.  Now, that's enough for
+one meeting.  You wrote to Aldershot for me to meet you, and the letter
+was sent to me at Brackley, of course.  So I came expecting to find you
+pretty and loving, instead of which your head's full of cock-and-bull
+nonsense, and you're either finding fault or telling me about your
+father's bullying.  Let him bully.  I shall keep my promise to you when
+I find it convenient.  Nice tramp for me to come at this time of night."
+
+"It's a long walk from Lindham here in the dark, Rob, dear," said the
+girl.
+
+"Oh, yes, but you've nothing to do.  There, I'll think about Ben Hayle
+and his getting a place, but I don't want you to be far away, Judy.--
+Now, don't be absurd.--What are you struggling about?--Hang the girl,
+it's like trying to hold a deer.  Judy!  You're not gone.  Come here.  I
+can see you by that tree."
+
+There was a distant rustling, and Captain Rolph uttered an oath.
+
+"Why, she has gone!"
+
+It was quite true.  Judith was running fast in the direction of the
+cottages miles away in the wild common land of Lindham, and Rolph turned
+upon his heel and strode back toward Brackley.
+
+"Time I had one of the old man's brandy-and-sodas," he growled.  "Better
+have stopped and talked to my saint.  Ben Hayle going back to poaching!
+Threaten me with mischief if I don't marry her!  I wish he would take to
+it again."
+
+Rolph walked on faster, getting excited by his thoughts, and, after
+hurrying along for a few hundred yards, he said aloud,--
+
+"And get caught."
+
+"Now for a run," he added, a minute later.  "This has been a pleasant
+evening and no mistake.  Ah, well, all comes right in the end."
+
+Volume 2, Chapter III.
+
+A SEARCH.
+
+About a couple of hours earlier there was a ring at the gaunt-looking
+gate at the Firs, and that ring caused Mrs Alleyne's Eliza to start as
+if galvanised, and to draw her feet sharply over the sanded floor, and
+beneath her chair.
+
+Otherwise Eliza did not move.  She had been darning black stockings, and
+as her feet went under her chair, she sat there with the light--a yellow
+and dim tallow dip, set up in a great tin candlestick--staring before
+her, lips and eyes wide open, one hand and arm covered with a black
+worsted stocking, the fingers belonging to the other arm holding up a
+stocking needle, motionless, as if she were so much stone.
+
+Anon, the bell, which hid in a little pent-house of its own high up on
+the ivied wall, jangled again, and a shock of terror ran through Eliza's
+body once more, but only for her to relapse into the former cataleptic
+state.
+
+Then came a third brazen clanging; and this time the kitchen door
+opened, and Eliza uttered a squeal.
+
+"Why, Eliza," cried Lucy, "were you asleep?  The gate bell has rung
+three times.  Go and see who it is."
+
+"Oh, please, miss, I dursn't," said Eliza with a shiver.
+
+"Oh, how can you be so foolish!" cried Lucy.  "There, bring the light,
+and I'll come with you."
+
+"There--there was a poor girl murdered once, miss," stammered Eliza, "at
+a gate.  Please, miss, I dursn't go."
+
+"Then I must go myself," cried Lucy.  "Don't be so silly.  Mamma will be
+dreadfully cross if you don't come."
+
+Eliza seemed to think that it would be better to risk being murdered at
+the gate than encounter Mrs Alleyne's anger, so she started up, caught
+at the tin candlestick with trembling hand, and then unbolted the
+kitchen door loudly, just as the bell was about to be pulled for the
+fourth time.
+
+"You speak, please, miss," whispered the girl.  "I dursn't.  Pray say
+something before you open the gate."
+
+"Who's there," cried Lucy.
+
+"Only me, Miss Alleyne," said a well-known voice.  "I was coming across
+the common, and thought I'd call and see how your brother is."
+
+Lucy eagerly began to unfasten the great gate, but for some reason,
+probably best known to herself, she stopped suddenly, coloured a little,
+and said--almost sharply,--
+
+"Quick, Eliza, why don't you open the gate?"
+
+Thus adjured, the maiden unfastened the ponderous lock, and admitted
+Philip Oldroyd, who shook hands warmly with Lucy, and then seemed as if
+he were about to change her hand over to his left, and feel her pulse
+with his right.
+
+"We always have the gate locked at dusk," said Lucy, "the place stands
+so lonely, and--"
+
+"You feel a little nervous," said Oldroyd, smiling, as they walked up to
+the house.
+
+"Oh, no!" said Lucy, eagerly; "I never think there is anything to mind,
+but the maid is terribly alarmed lest we should be attacked by night.
+My brother is out," she hastened to say, to fill up a rather awkward
+pause.  "He is taking one of your prescriptions," she added, archly.
+
+"Wise man," cried Oldroyd, as they passed round to the front door and
+went in.  "I suppose he will not be long?"
+
+"Oh, no!" said Lucy, eagerly; "if you will come in and wait, he is sure
+to be back soon."
+
+Then she hesitated, and hastened to speak again, feeling quite
+uncomfortable and guilty, as if she had been saying something
+unmaidenly--as if she had been displaying an eagerness for the young
+doctor to stop--when all the time she told herself, it was perfectly
+immaterial, and she did not care in the least.
+
+"Of course I can't be sure," she added, growing a little quicker of
+speech; "but I think he will not be long.  He has gone round by the pine
+wood."
+
+"Then I should meet him if I went that way," said Oldroyd, who had also
+become rather awkward and hesitant.
+
+"Oh, yes; I think you would be sure to meet him," cried Lucy eagerly.
+
+"Thanks," said Oldroyd, who felt rather vexed that she should be eager
+to get rid of him; "then perhaps I had better go."
+
+"But of course I can't tell which way he will come back," cried Lucy,
+hastily; "and you might miss him."
+
+"To be sure, yes," said Oldroyd, taking heart again; "so I might, and
+then not see him at all."  And he looked anxiously at Lucy's troubled
+face over the tin candlestick, ornamented with drops of tallow that had
+fallen upon its sides, while Eliza slowly closed the front door, and
+gazed with her lips apart from one to the other.
+
+Lucy was all repentance again, for in a flash her conscience had told
+her that she had seemed eager, and pressed the doctor to stay.
+
+An awkward pause ensued, one which neither the visitor nor Lucy seemed
+able to break.  Each tried very hard to find something to say, but in
+vain.
+
+"How stupid of me!" thought Lucy, angrily.
+
+"What's come to me?" thought Oldroyd; the only idea beside being that he
+ought to ask Lucy about her health, only he could not, for it would seem
+so professional.  So he looked helplessly at her, and she returned his
+look half indignantly, while the candle was held on one side, and Eliza
+gaped at them wonderingly.
+
+Mrs Alleyne ended the awkward pause by opening the dining-room door, and
+standing there framed like a silhouette.
+
+"Oh, is it you, Mr Oldroyd?" she said, quietly.
+
+"Yes, good evening," exclaimed the young doctor, quickly, like one
+released from a spell; "as I told Miss Alleyne here, I was coming close
+by, and I thought I would call and see how Mr Alleyne is."
+
+"We are very glad to see you," said Mrs Alleyne, with grave courtesy.
+"Pray come in, Mr Oldroyd," and Lucy uttered a low sigh of satisfaction.
+
+"Of course this is not a professional visit, Mrs Alleyne," said Oldroyd;
+and then he wished he had not said it, for Mrs Alleyne's face showed the
+lines a little more deeply, and there was a slight twitching about her
+lips.
+
+"I am sorry that Mr Alleyne has not yet returned," she said, and as soon
+as they were seated, she smiled, and tried to remove the restraint that
+had fallen upon them in the dreary room.
+
+"I am very grateful to you, Mr Oldroyd," she said; "my son is
+wonderfully better."
+
+"And would be in a position to laugh all doctors in the face, if he
+would carry out my prescriptions a little more fully," said Oldroyd.
+"But we must not be too hard upon him.  I think it is a great thing to
+wean him from his studies as we have."
+
+"You dreadfully conceited man," thought Lucy.  "How dare you have the
+shamelessness to think you have done all this!  I know better.  No man
+could have done it--there."
+
+"Did you speak, Miss Alleyne?" said Oldroyd, looking round suddenly, and
+finding Lucy's eyes intent upon him.
+
+"I?  No," cried Lucy, flushing; and then biting her lips with annoyance,
+because her cheeks burned, "I was listening to you and mamma."
+
+"It is quite time Moray returned," said Mrs Alleyne, anxiously glancing
+towards the closed window.
+
+"Yes, mamma; we shall hear his step directly," said Lucy.
+
+"He does not generally stay so long," continued Mrs Alleyne, going to
+the window to draw aside the curtain and look out.  "Did he say which
+way he would go, Lucy?"
+
+"Yes, mamma.  I asked him, and he said as far as the fir wood."
+
+"Ah, yes," responded Mrs Alleyne; "he says he can think so much more
+easily among the great trees--that his mind seems able to plunge into
+the depths of the vast abysses of the heavens."
+
+"I don't believe he does think about stars at all," thought Lucy.  "I
+believe he goes there to stare across the park, and think about Glynne."
+
+A feeling of elation made the girl's heart glow, and her eyes sparkle,
+as she more and more began to nurse this, one of the greatest ideas of
+her heart.  It was an exceedingly immoral proceeding on her part, for
+she knew that Glynne was engaged to be married to Captain Rolph; but him
+she utterly detested, she told herself, and that it was an entire
+mistake; in fact, she assured herself that it would be an act of the
+greatest benevolence, and one for which she would receive the thanks of
+both parties all through her lifetime--if she could succeed in breaking
+off the engagement and marrying Glynne to her brother.
+
+The conversation went on, but it was checked from time to time by Mrs
+Alleyne again rising to go to the window, and this movement on her part
+always had the effect of making Lucy's eyes drop immediately upon her
+work; and, though she had been the minute before frankly meeting
+Oldroyd's gaze in conversation, such remarks as he addressed to her now
+were answered with her look averted, as she busied herself over her
+sewing.
+
+"Moray never stayed so late as this before," said Mrs Alleyne, suddenly,
+turning her pale face on those who were so wrapped in their own thoughts
+that they had almost forgotten the absentee.
+
+"No, mamma," cried Lucy, reproaching herself for her want of interest;
+"he is an hour later."
+
+"It is getting on towards two hours beyond his time," cried Mrs Alleyne,
+in despairing tones.  "I am very uneasy."
+
+"Oh, but he has only gone a little farther than usual, mamma, dear,"
+cried Lucy; "pray don't be uneasy."
+
+"I cannot help it, my child," cried Mrs Alleyne; "he who is so punctual
+in all his habits would never stay away like this.  Is he likely to meet
+poachers?"
+
+"Let me go and try if I can meet him," said Oldroyd, jumping up.
+"Poachers wouldn't touch him."
+
+"Yes, do, Mr Oldroyd.  I will go with you," cried Lucy, forgetting in
+her excitement that such a proposal was hardly etiquette.  But neither
+mother nor daughter, in their anxiety, seemed to have the slightest idea
+of there being anything extraordinary at such a time.
+
+"It won't do," Oldroyd had been saying to himself, "even if it should
+prove that I'm not a conceited ass to think such things, and she--bless
+her sweet, bright little face--ever willing to think anything of me, I
+should be a complete scoundrel to try and win her.  Let me see, what did
+I make last year by my practice?  Twenty-eight pounds fifteen, and nine
+pounds of it still owing, and likely to be owing, for I shall never get
+a _sou_.  Then this year, what shall I take?  Well, perhaps another five
+pounds on account of her brother's illness.  I must be mad."
+
+"Yes," he said, after a pause, "I must be mad, and must have been worse
+to come down here to this out-of-the-way place, where there is not the
+most remote chance of my getting together a practice.  No, it won't do,
+I must play misogynist, and be as cold towards the bright little thing
+as if I were a monk."
+
+As these thoughts ran through his mind, others came to crowd them out--
+thoughts of a snug little home, made bright by a sweet face looking out
+from door or window to see him coming back after a long, tiring round.
+What was enough for one was enough for two--so people argued.  That was
+right enough as regarded a house, but doubtful when it came to food, and
+absurd if you went as far as clothing.
+
+"No, it would never do," he said to himself, "I could not take her from
+her home to my poor, shabby place."
+
+But as he thought this he involuntarily looked round Mrs Alleyne's
+dining-room, that lady being at the window, and he could not help
+thinking that, after all, his cottage-like home was infinitely
+preferable to this great, gaunt, dingy place, where anything suggestive
+of any comfort was out of the question.
+
+"Yes, she would be more comfortable," he muttered; "and--there, I'm
+going mad again.  I will not think such things."
+
+Just then Lucy came in ready for starting, and all Philip Oldroyd's good
+intentions might have been dressed for departure as well.  Certainly,
+they all took flight, as he followed the eager little maiden into the
+hall.
+
+"Pray--pray let me have news of him directly you find him, Mr Oldroyd,"
+cried Mrs Alleyne, piteously.  "Run back yourself.  You cannot tell what
+I suffer.  Something must have happened."
+
+"You shall know about him directly, Mrs Alleyne," replied Oldroyd.  "But
+pray make your mind easy, nothing can have happened to him here.  The
+worst is that he may have gone to the Hall."
+
+"No, he would not have gone there without first letting me know."
+
+"Don't come to the gate, mamma," cried Lucy.  "There, go in; Mr Oldroyd
+will take care of me, and we'll soon bring the truant back, only pray be
+satisfied.  Come, Mr Oldroyd, let us run."
+
+The next minute they were outside the gate, and hurrying down the slope
+to the common, over whose rugged surface Lucy walked so fast that
+Oldroyd had to step out boldly.  Here the sandy road was reached, and
+they went on, saying but little, wanting to say but little, for, in
+spite of all, there was a strange new ecstatic feeling in Lucy's bosom;
+while, in spite of his honesty something kept whispering to Oldroyd that
+it would be very pleasant if they were unable to find Alleyne for hours
+to come.
+
+He was not to be gratified in this, though, for at the end of a quarter
+of an hour's walking, when they came opposite to the big clump of pines,
+Lucy proposed that they should go up there.
+
+"I know how fond he is of this place," she said, rather excitedly; "and
+as its clearer now, I should not be at all surprised to find him here
+watching the moon, or the rising of some of the stars."
+
+"We'll go if you wish it," said Oldroyd, "but it seems a very unlikely
+place at a time like this."
+
+"Ah, but my brother is very curious about such things," said Lucy, as
+she left the road, and together they climbed up till all at once she
+uttered a faint cry--
+
+"Look! there--there he is!"
+
+"Why, Alleyne!  Is that you?" cried Oldroyd, as in the full moonlight
+they saw a dark figure rise from the foot of a pine, and then come
+slowly towards them silently, and in the same vacant fashion as one in a
+dream.
+
+"Moray, why don't you speak?" cried Lucy, piteously.  "Why, you've not
+been to sleep, have you?" and she caught his arm.
+
+"Sleep?" he said, in a strangely absent manner.
+
+"Yes, asleep?  Poor mamma has been fretting herself to death about you,
+and thinking I don't know what.  Make haste."
+
+"Are you unwell, Alleyne?" said Oldroyd, quietly; and the other looked
+at him wistfully.
+
+"No--no," he said at length; "quite well--quite well.  I have been
+thinking--that is all.  Let us make haste back."
+
+Lucy and Oldroyd exchanged meaning glances, and then the former bit her
+lip, angry at having seemed to take the young doctor into her
+confidence; and after that but little was said till they reached The
+Firs, where Mrs Alleyne was pacing the hall, ready to fling her long,
+thin arms round her son's neck, and hold him in her embrace as she
+tenderly reproached him for the anxiety he had caused.
+
+"She doesn't seem to trouble much about little Lucy," thought the
+doctor.  "Well, so much the more easy for any one who wanted her for a
+wife."
+
+"That couldn't be me," he said, at the end of a few minutes, and then--
+
+"I wonder what all this means about Alleyne.  He must have been having
+an interview with someone in that Grove.  Miss Day, for a hundred.
+Humph!  She must have said something he did not like, or he would not
+look like this."
+
+Then, to the great satisfaction of all, the doctor took his leave, and
+walked home declaring he would not think of Lucy any more, with the
+result that the more he strove, the more her pleasant little face made
+itself plain before him, her eyes looking into his, and illustrating the
+book he tried to read on every page with a most remarkable sameness, but
+a repetition that did not tire him in the least.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter IV.
+
+A COLLISION.
+
+Mrs Rolph did not see much of her son, who divided his time between
+Brackley and Aldershot, when he was not away to attend some athletic
+meeting.  But she was quite content, and paid her calls upon Glynne in
+company with Marjorie, who sat and beamed upon Sir John's daughter, and
+lost not an opportunity for getting her arm about the waist of her
+cousin's betrothed, being so intensely affectionate that Glynne stared
+at her wonderingly at times, and then tried to reciprocate the love
+bestowed upon her, failed dismally, and often asked Lucy whether she
+liked Miss Emlin? to receive a short, sharp shake of the head in return.
+
+"Sha'n't say," Lucy replied one day.  "If I do, you'll think I'm
+jealous."
+
+Rolph was not aware of the fact, for Marjorie generally avoided him, and
+behaved as if she were putting the past farther back; but all the same,
+she watched her cousin furtively on every possible occasion whenever he
+was at home or staying at Brackley; and to cover her proceedings, she
+developed an intense love for botany, and more than once encountered
+Major Day with Lucy and Glynne, and compared notes.  But the major never
+displayed any great desire to impart information, or to induce the young
+lady to take up his particular branch.
+
+"Pity Rolph didn't marry her," muttered the old man.  "Foxy doesn't like
+Glynne at all."
+
+Madge's botanical studies had a good deal to do with the _gynias_, and
+with watching Rolph, who was not aware that his pleasant vices were
+making of themselves the proverbial rods to scourge him, and
+unfortunately injure others as well.  For Marjorie's brain was busy; and
+as she watched him, she made herself acquainted with every movement,
+noting when he rode over to Brackley or took a walk out into the woods--
+walks which made her writhe, for she gave her cousin the credit of
+making his way toward Lindham, out by the solitary collection of houses
+on the road to nowhere, the spot where Ben Hayle had made his new home.
+
+At these times Marjorie hung upon the tenterhooks of agony and suspense
+till he returned, when there was a warm glow of satisfaction in her
+breast if his looks showed that his visit had been unsuccessful.
+
+Sometimes though, she was stung by her jealousy into believing that he
+obtained interviews with Judith, for he would come back looking more
+satisfied and content.
+
+She watched him one day, and saw him take the path down through the
+wood, and she also watched his return.
+
+In a few days he went again in the same direction, and on the next
+morning she started off before he had left the house, and turned down
+through the woods to an opening miles away, where, in happier days, she
+had been wont to gather blackberries; and here she knew she could easily
+hide in the sandy hollows, and see anyone going toward Lindham--herself
+unseen.
+
+It was a lonely nook, where, in bygone days, a number of the firs had
+been cut down, and a sandpit, or rather sand-pits had been formed.
+These had become disused, the rabbits had taken possession, and, as sun
+and air penetrated freely, a new growth of furze, heather and broom grew
+up among the hollows and knolls.
+
+What her plans were she kept hidden, but a looker-on would have said
+that she had carefully prepared a mine, and that some day, she would
+spring that mine upon her cousin with a result that would completely
+overturn his projects, but whether to her own advantage remained to be
+seen.
+
+As Marjorie approached, the rabbits took flight, and their white tails
+could be seen disappearing into their burrows, a certain sign that no
+one had been by before her; and in a few minutes she was safely
+ensconced in a deep hollow surrounded by brambles, after she had taken
+the precaution to lay a few fern leaves in the bottom of a little
+basket, and rapidly pick a few weeds to give colour to her presence
+there.
+
+The time glided on, and all was so still that a stone-chat came and sat
+upon a twig close at hand, watching her curiously.  Then the rabbits
+stole out one by one from their burrows, and began to race here and
+there, indulging in playful bounds as if under the impression that it
+was evening; but though Marjorie strained her ears to listen, there was
+no sound of approaching steps, and at last she sat there with her brow
+full of lines, and her eyes staring angrily from beneath her contracted
+brows.
+
+"He will not come to-day," she muttered.  "What shall I do?"
+
+"Oh!" she cried, in a harsh whisper, after a long pause, as she crushed
+together the nearest tuft of leaves, "I could kill her."
+
+She winced slightly, and then glanced contemptuously at her glove, which
+was torn, and in three places her white palm was pierced, scratched and
+bleeding, for she had grasped a twig or two of bramble.
+
+The blood on her hand seemed to have a peculiar fascination for her, and
+she sat there with her eyes half-shut, watching the long red lines made
+by snatching her hand away, and at the two tiny beads, which gradually
+increased till she touched them in turn with the tip of her glove, and
+then carelessly wiped them away.
+
+"`He cometh not,'" she said to herself, with a curious laugh.
+
+_Rap_!  And then, from different parts of the hollow, came the same
+sharp, clear sound, as rabbit after rabbit struck the ground with its
+foot, giving the alarm and sending all within hearing scuttling into
+their holes.
+
+Marjorie had been long enough in the country to know the meaning of that
+noise, and, with her eyes now wide and wild-looking, she listened for
+the step which had startled the little animals--one plain to them before
+it grew clear to her.
+
+No step.  Not a sound, and her face was a study, could it have been
+seen, in its intense eagerness for what seemed, in the silence, minutes,
+while she retained her breath.
+
+"Hah!"
+
+One long, weary exclamation, and a bitter look of disappointment crossed
+her eager face.
+
+The next moment it was strained again, and her eyes flashed like those
+of some wild animal whose life depends upon the acuteness of its
+perceptions.
+
+There was a faint rustle.
+
+Then silence.
+
+Then a faintly-heard scratching noise, as of a thorn passing over a
+garment.
+
+"He's coming," thought Marjorie, "coming, and this way;" and she leaned
+forward in time to see a figure, bent down so low that it seemed to be
+going on all fours, dart silently from behind one clump of brambles away
+to her left, and glide into the shelter of another.
+
+So silently was this act performed that for the moment the watcher asked
+herself if she had not been deceived.
+
+The answer came directly in the re-appearance of the figure, gliding
+into sight and creeping on till it was in shelter, hiding not a dozen
+yards from where she crouched; and she shrank back with her heart
+beginning to beat heavily, while she knew that the blood was coming and
+going in her cheeks.
+
+"No; I'm not afraid of Caleb Kent," she thought to herself; and her eyes
+flashed again, and in imagination she seemed to see once more the
+opening where the lodge stood.  Her face grew pale, and a curious
+shrinking sensation attacked her as she recalled Rolph's face, his eyes
+searching hers with such a bitter look of contempt and scorn.
+
+Then instantly she seemed to be gazing at herself in the library,
+clinging to her cousin, till he violently wrenched himself from her,
+leaving her hopeless and crushed; and she longed bitterly for the
+opportunity to make some one suffer for this.
+
+"No," she said to herself, "I am not afraid of Caleb Kent;" and she
+crouched there, seeing every movement, and in a few moments realised
+that some one must be coming, for, with the activity of a cat, the young
+half-gipsy, half-poacher, began to move softly back, as if to keep the
+clump of brambles between him and whoever it was that was passing.
+
+Marjorie knew directly after that this must be the case, for she could
+hear the dull sound of a step, and she strained forward a little to try
+and see, but shrank back again with her heart beginning to beat rapidly,
+as she realised that, all intent upon the person passing in front, Caleb
+Kent had no thought for what might be behind, and he had begun to back
+rapidly away from the clump which had hidden him, to hide in the safer
+refuge already occupied.
+
+She knew that the step must be her cousin's, and that he was going over
+to Lindham to seek Judith.
+
+"Suppose," she asked herself, "he should come nearer and see her
+hiding--apparently in company with Caleb Kent--what would he say?"
+
+She quivered with rage and mortification, and for the moment felt
+disposed to spring up and walk away, but refrained, for she knew that it
+would then seem as if she had been keeping an appointment with this man,
+and had been frightened into showing herself by her cousin's coming.
+
+The situation was horrible, and she knew that all she could do was to
+wait in the hope that, as soon as Rolph had gone by, Caleb would glide
+after him.
+
+"What for?" she asked herself; and she turned cold at the answering
+thought.
+
+He seemed to have no stout bludgeon, though.  Perhaps he was only acting
+the spy; and as soon as Rolph had been to the cottage and returned,
+Caleb himself might have some intention of going there.
+
+Marjorie's eyes glittered again as thought after thought came, boding
+ill to those she hated now with the bitterness of a jealous woman; and
+all at once, like a flash, a thought flooded her brain which sent the
+blood thrilling through every artery and vein.
+
+"No," she thought, and she crouched there, compressing her nether lip
+between her white teeth.  Then,--"Why not?  What is she that she should
+rob me of my happiness, and of all I hold dear?  But if--"
+
+She drew in her breath with a faint hiss that was almost inaudible, but
+it was sufficient to make the poacher pause and look sharply to right
+and left, as he still crept backwards till he was beneath the shelter of
+the clump in the hollow which hid Marjorie, and within a few yards of
+where she was seated.
+
+The sounds of passing steps were very near now.  Then there was a faint
+cough, and Marjorie knew that her cousin was so close that, if he looked
+about him, he must see her in hiding with this vagabond of the village;
+and again the girl's veins tingled with the nervous sensation of anger
+and mortification.
+
+She would have given ten years of her life to have been back at home;
+but she had brought all this upon herself, and she could only hope that
+Rolph would pass them without turning his head.
+
+"Yes, go on," said a low, harsh voice, hardly above a whisper, and
+Marjorie started as she found herself an involuntary listener to the
+man's outspoken thoughts.  "Only wait," he continued, and he, too, drew
+in his breath with a low, hissing sound.
+
+The footsteps died completely away, and Marjorie sat there trembling.
+The thoughts which had seemed to electrify her, she felt now that she
+dare not foster; and she was longing for the man to go, when, as if he
+were influenced by her presence, he turned round suddenly to the right
+as in search of some one, then to the left, and, not satisfied, faced
+right about, his countenance full of wonderment and dread, which passed
+away directly, and he uttered a low, mocking laugh.
+
+Marjorie shrank away for the moment, but, feeling that she must show no
+dread of this man who had surprised her in a situation which it would be
+vain to explain, she rose to go, but Caleb seized her tightly by the
+arm.
+
+"He did not come to meet you," the man said, with a look of malicious
+enjoyment, as if it was a pleasure to inflict some of the pain from
+which he suffered.
+
+"What do you mean?" she cried imperiously, as she sought to release her
+wrist.
+
+"Call to him to come back and help you," whispered Caleb.--"Why don't
+you?"
+
+He laughed again as he drew himself up into a kneeling position, still
+holding her tightly,
+
+"How dare you!" cried the girl, indignantly.  "Loose my arm, fellow!"
+
+"Why?  Not I.  You will not call out for fear the captain there should
+think you were watching to see him go to Hayle's cottage and pretty
+Judith."
+
+He began his speech in a light, bantering way, but as he finished his
+face was flushed and angry, and his breath came thick and fast, while,
+still clutching the arm he held, he wrenched his head round and knelt
+there, gazing in the direction taken by Rolph.
+
+The thought which had held possession of Marjorie's breast twice, now
+came back with renewed power, and, casting all feeling of dread to the
+winds as she read her companion's face, she snatched at the opportunity.
+
+That Caleb hated Rolph was plain enough; there was a scar upon his lip
+now that had been made by the hand of one whom he feared as well as
+hated; and above all, after his fashion, Marjorie knew that he loved
+Judith.
+
+Here was the instrument to her hand.  Why had she not thought of making
+use of it before?
+
+It was as if she were for the moment possessed, as, without trying now
+to release herself, she leaned forward and whispered in the young man's
+ear,--
+
+"You coward!"
+
+He turned upon her in astonishment.
+
+"I say you are a coward," she repeated.  "Why do you let him go and take
+her from you?"
+
+There was an animal-like snap of the teeth, as he snarled out,--
+
+"Why do you let him go?"
+
+"Because I am a woman.  I am not a man, and strong like you."
+
+"Curse him!  I'll kill him," he snarled.
+
+"What good would that do?"
+
+"Eh?"
+
+"If I were a man like you, do you know how I would act?"
+
+"No," he said; "how could I?" and his lips parted, to show his white
+teeth in a peculiar laugh, before he gave a quick look to right and
+left, to satisfy himself that they were not seen.
+
+"I'd have revenge."
+
+"How?  With a gun?"
+
+"And be hung for murder.  No!"
+
+She leaned towards him, and she too gave a furtive look round, as, with
+her face flushed strangely, she whispered a few words to him--words that
+he listened to with his eyes half-closed, and then he turned upon her
+quickly.
+
+"Why?  To bring him back to you?" he said, with a mocking laugh.  "You
+love him?"
+
+"I hate him," she said slowly.
+
+"Yes," he said; "and you hate Judy Hayle, too, like the gipsy women hate
+sometimes.  Why don't you stop it?"
+
+"Because I am helpless," she said bitterly.  "Loose my arm.  I knew it:
+you are a coward."
+
+"Am I?" he said, with an ugly smile.  "Is this a trap?"
+
+"If you think so, let it be," she said contemptuously; and she tried
+again to shake her arm free, but the grasp upon it tightened.
+
+"Perhaps I am a coward," he said; "but I will.  He wouldn't marry her
+then, and it would be serving him out.  Not for nothing, though," he
+added, with a laugh.  "What will you give me?"
+
+"Pah!" she said contemptuously; "how much do you want?"
+
+He laughed and leaned forward, gazing full in her face.
+
+"Perhaps I shall get into trouble again for it," he said, "and be shut
+up for a year--perhaps for more.  It's to play your game as well as
+mine, and I must be paid well."
+
+"Well, I will pay you," she said.  "Tell me what you want."
+
+"A kiss," he said; and before she could realise what he had said, his
+left arm was about her waist, and he held her tightly to him.  "A kiss
+from a lady who is handsomer than Judy Hayle," he whispered.
+
+"How dare you!" she cried, in a low voice.
+
+"No," he said, laughing, "you won't call for help.  Come, it isn't much
+to give me, and I swear I will."
+
+Marjorie gazed at him wildly, as she realised her position; there,
+alone, in this man's power, and no one at hand to defend her.  Then,
+utterly careless of herself, as she thought of the bitter revenge she
+had planned, she held back her face, and, with a faint laugh and her
+voice trembling, she said,--
+
+"No, I will not call for help.  There is no need.  Keep your word and I
+will pay you--as you wish."
+
+The blood crimsoned her cheeks as she spoke.
+
+"No," he said, with a laugh; "you shall pay me now," and the next moment
+his arms were fast round her, and his lips pressed to hers.
+
+Marjorie started away, angry and indignant, but her furious jealousy
+made her diplomatise, and she stood smiling at the good-looking,
+gipsy-like ne'er-do-weel, and said laughingly,--
+
+"That was not fair; I promised you that as a reward, and now you have
+cheated me and will not keep your word."
+
+"Yes, I will," he cried, as he seized her again eagerly; but she kept
+him back.  "I'll do anything you ask me.  Curse Judith Hayle!  She isn't
+half so beautiful as you."
+
+Madge's heart beat heavily, for admiration was pleasant, even from this
+low-class scoundrel.  His words were genuine, as she could see from his
+eager gaze, the play of his features, and the earnestness in his voice.
+
+"I've made a slave," she said to herself, forgetting for a moment the
+cost, "and he'll do everything I bid him."
+
+"Don't talk nonsense," she said, playfully.  "You do not suppose I
+believe what you say."
+
+"What!" he cried, in a low, excited whisper, "not believe me.  Here,
+tell me anything else to do.  Why, I'd kill anyone if you'll look at me
+like that."
+
+"I do not want you to kill anyone, and do not want you even to look or
+speak to me again if you are so rude as that.  You forget that I am a
+lady."
+
+"No, I don't," he cried, as he feasted on her with his eyes.  "You're
+lovely.  I never saw a girl so beautiful as you are before."
+
+He tried to catch her in his embrace again, but she waved him off.
+
+"There," she said coldly, "that will do.  I see I must ask someone else
+to do what I want."
+
+"No, no, don't," he whispered.  "I didn't mean to make you cross.  I
+didn't want to offend you, but when you looked at me like you did, with
+your shiny eyes, I couldn't help myself.  I was obliged."
+
+"Silence!  How dare you," she cried indignantly, as, with her heart
+throbbing with delight, she felt how very strong a hold she was getting
+upon Caleb's will.  "You forget yourself, sir."
+
+"No, I don't; its only because--because--you're so handsome.  There, be
+cross with me if you like.  I couldn't help it."
+
+"And now I suppose you will go and boast in the village taproom that you
+met the captain's cousin, and insulted her out in the wood."
+
+"Do you think I'm a fool, miss?" he said sharply.  "Do you think I'd
+ever go and tell on a girl?  Why, I shouldn't tell on a common servant
+or a farmer's lass, let alone on a handsome lady like you."
+
+"I don't believe you," she said, half turning away.
+
+"Yes, do, miss, please do," he cried earnestly, "you may trust me.  I'd
+sooner go and hang myself than tell anybody--there!"
+
+She turned her eyes upon him, and her feeling of delight increased as
+she realised the truth of all that Caleb said.  Then, as he looked up at
+her now, with the appealing, beseeching aspect of a dog in his
+countenance, she made a pretence of hesitating.
+
+"No," she said.  "I'm afraid I cannot trust you."
+
+"Yes, do, miss, do."
+
+"If I do you will insult me again."
+
+"I didn't know it was insulting of you to love you," he said sullenly.
+
+"Then I tell you it was, sir.  If you had waited it would have been
+different."
+
+He did not speak, but she could see that he was still feasting upon her
+with his eyes, and the worship in his looks was pleasant after Rolph's
+cold rebuffs.
+
+"Well," she cried, "why are you looking at me like that?"
+
+He started and smiled.
+
+"I can't help it," he said, "You are so different to every other girl I
+know."
+
+"Except Judith Hayle," she said contemptuously.
+
+"You're not like her a bit," he said thoughtfully.  "She's very nice
+looking, and I used to think a deal of her."
+
+"Oh, yes, she's lovely," said Madge with a spiteful laugh.
+
+"Yes," said Caleb, thoughtfully, "so she is," and he stood looking at
+the girl without comprehending the sarcasm in her words.  "But she
+hasn't got eyes like you have, and she isn't so white, and," he
+whispered, approaching her more closely, "if you'll only be kind to me,
+and smile at me like you did, and speak soft to me, I'll be like your
+dawg."
+
+He looked as if he would, and Marjorie saw it.  She had been on the
+watch, expecting that he would seize her again, but nothing seemed
+further from his thoughts.  It was exactly as he said--he was ready to
+be like her dog, and had she told him then, he would have cast himself
+at her feet, and let her plant her foot upon his neck in token of his
+subjugation.
+
+"Well," she said, "I think I will trust you."
+
+"You will?" he cried.
+
+"Yes, if you are obedient, and promise me that you will never dare to be
+so rude again."
+
+"I'll promise anything," he cried huskily, "but--"
+
+"But what, sir?"
+
+"You'll keep your word and pay me?" he said with a laugh.
+
+"Wait and see," she said indifferently.  "I am going back now."
+
+"But how am I to tell you?" he said.
+
+"I shall be sure to know."
+
+"And how shall I see you again?"
+
+"You will not want to see me again," she said archly.
+
+"Not want to see you," he whispered.  "Why, I'd go round the world,
+across the seas, anywhere, to hear you talk to me, and look at your
+eyes.  Tell me when I shall see you again."
+
+"Oh, I don't know," she said carelessly, "perhaps some fine day you'll
+see me walking in the wood."
+
+"Yes--yes," he said eagerly.  "I'll always be about watching for you as
+I would for a hare."
+
+"One of my cousin's," she said, with a contemptuous laugh.
+
+"They're not his," cried Caleb, quietly, "they're wild beasts, and as
+much mine as anybody's."
+
+"We will not discuss that," she said coldly.  "Good-bye, and I hope you
+will keep your word."
+
+"I've sweared it to myself," he said, "and I shall do it.  Don't go
+yet."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because I could stand and look at you, like, all day, and it will not
+seem the same when you are gone."
+
+"Why, I thought you were a poacher."
+
+"Well, I suppose I am.  What o' that?"
+
+"You talk quite like a courtier?"
+
+"Do I?" he said eagerly.  "Well, you did it; you made me like you."
+
+"I?"
+
+"Yes.  I don't know how it was, but you've made me feel as if I'd do
+anything for you."
+
+"Ah, well, we shall see," said Marjorie, as she fixed her eyes on his,
+glorying in her triumph, and feeling that every word spoken was the
+honest truth.  Then, giving him a careless nod, she was turning away.
+
+"Don't go like that," said Caleb, huskily.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"Say one kind word to me first."
+
+"Well," said Madge, showing her white teeth in a contemptuous smile, as
+his eyes were fixed upon hers, just as her cousin's Gordon setter's had
+been a score of times.  "Poor fellow, then," she said mockingly, and she
+held out her little hand, as she would have stretched it forth to pat
+one of the dogs.
+
+He took it in his brown, sinewy fingers, bent over it, and held it
+against his cheek.  Then, quick as lightning, he had grasped it with a
+grip like steel, snatched her from where she stood, and almost before
+she could notice it, he was holding her in a crouching position down
+behind the bushes, one arm tightly about her waist, and his right hand
+over her mouth.
+
+She was too much taken by surprise for the moment to struggle or attempt
+to cry out.  Then, as her eyes were fixed upon him fiercely, she felt
+his hot breath upon her cheek, and his lips pressed upon her ear.
+
+"Don't move, don't speak," whispered the man, "he mustn't see you along
+o' me."
+
+Madge strained her sense of hearing, but all was perfectly still, and,
+concluding that it was a trick, she gathered herself together for a
+strong effort to get free, when there was a sharp crack as of a broken
+twig.  Then the low brushing sound of dead strands of grass against a
+man's leg; and, directly after Rolph came into view, plainly seen
+through the brambles, and as he came nearer Marjorie grew faint.
+
+If he should see her--like that--clasped in this man's arms!
+
+Rolph came nearer and nearer, his way leading him so close to where his
+cousin crouched that it seemed impossible that he could go by without
+seeing her, held there by a man whom he would look upon as the scum of
+the earth.  The agony of shame and mortification she suffered was
+intense, the greater because her presence here was due to the fact that
+she had vowed that, in spite of all, she would yet be Rolph's wife, the
+mistress of The Warren.
+
+As her cousin came on, and she felt Caleb's arm tightening about her, a
+strange giddiness made her brain swim, and the objects about her grew
+misty; but clearly seen in advance of this mist was her cousin's face,
+his eyes fixed upon the very spot where she was hiding, and plunging
+through the leaves to search her out, to drag her forth and upbraid her
+with being a disgrace to her sex, a woman utterly lost to all sense of
+shame.  And all the time, throb, throb, throb, with heavy beat, she
+could feel Caleb Kent's heart, and a twitching sensation in the muscle
+of his arm, as, influenced by the man's thoughts of flight or violence,
+he loosened his grip, or held her more tightly still.
+
+"He must see us," thought Marjorie.  "Oh, if I could only die!"
+
+Close up now, and as he came nearer Rolph struck sharply with his stick
+at a loose strand which projected half across his path.
+
+He must see them; he could not help seeing them, thought Marjorie; and
+then her heart stood still, and the mist began to close her in, for, to
+her horror, the culmination of her shame seemed to have arrived.  Rolph
+stopped short, leaned over, apparently to part the brambles and gaze
+through them at the hiding pair, and then muttered something half aloud
+as he reached over more and more till his face was not six feet from his
+cousin's, staring up at him with her eyes full of horror.
+
+A guilty conscience needs no accuser; so runs the old proverbial saying.
+
+Rolph had caught sight of an extra large blackberry and he had reached
+out and picked it, more from habit, fostered by a country life, than
+desire, and then passed on.
+
+A long time appeared to elapse, during which Marjorie lay listening to
+steps which thundered upon her ear, before a voice, that sounded as if
+it came from far away, whispered,--
+
+"It's all right, now.  I don't think he saw."
+
+Marjorie looked at the speaker strangely, and then turned away, plunging
+into the thickest part of the wood to try and grow calm before making
+her way home, and in perfect unconsciousness of the fact that, not
+twenty yards away, Caleb Kent was following her, gliding from tree to
+tree, and always keeping her in sight.
+
+Sometimes she stopped to rest her hand upon one of the pine trunks,
+apparently wrapt in thought; and Caleb Kent drew a long breath and told
+himself that she was thinking about him.  Then she walked swiftly on
+again till she was at the very edge of the wood, where she stepped down
+into the sandy lane where he could not follow; but, quickly, almost as a
+squirrel, he mounted a tall spruce by its short, dense, ladder-like
+branches, to where, high up, he could still keep the girl in sight,
+elated by his adventure, and little thinking that she was asking herself
+whether it would be very difficult to kill Caleb Kent next time she met
+him in the woods, and so silence for ever a tongue whose utterances
+might ruin her beyond recovery.
+
+"Something to drink--something to drink," she kept on thinking.  "To
+drink my health."
+
+Her eyes brightened, and her strange look told of an excitement within
+her which made every pulse throb and bound.
+
+"It would be so easy," she said to herself.  But the feeling of elation
+passed away as she recalled the man's furtive, suspicious nature, and,
+in imagination, saw him fixing his keen eyes upon her, and asking her to
+drink first.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter V.
+
+THE SETTING OF A DOG'S STAR.
+
+The gentlemen were seated over their claret at the Hall, and the party
+had become very quiet.  Sir John had been preaching on the subject of
+the value of a cross of the big, coarse, wool-bearing Lincolnshire sheep
+with the Southdown, as being likely to prove advantageous, the
+Lincolnshire sheep giving increased wool-bearing qualities, while the
+lamb would inherit the fine properties of its mother's mutton.
+
+At the words mutton and Southdown lamb, Rolph had pricked up his ears
+for a moment, since they had suggested under-done chops and cuts out of
+good haunches, with the gravy in grand supplies of stamina to an
+athlete; but the suggestion came at the wrong end of the dinner, and,
+with a yawn, the captain had wished Sir John and his pigs and sheep at
+Jericho, and begun thinking of his coming match with the Bayswater Stag
+for a hundred pounds a side, a race for which he told himself he was in
+training now, though his proceedings in the way of wines and foods would
+have horrified a trainer and frightened his backers into fits of
+despair.
+
+When Sir John had had his innings, the major began to talk about the
+translation of a paper by Fries, on the persistency of certain forms of
+parasitic fungi in the lower plants.  To make himself a little more
+comprehendible to his companions, he kept introducing the word mushroom
+into his discourse, with the effect of bringing back Rolph's wandering
+attention, and rousing Sir John from the doze into which he was falling.
+
+Both gentlemen saw mushrooms directly, through a medium of claret, and
+while the major was thinking of spores, mycelium, and rapid generation,
+Sir John and the captain saw mushrooms growing, mushrooms cooked,
+mushrooms in rich sauces, but always of a deep purply claret colour,
+that was pleasant to the eye.
+
+"Hang 'em, they'll drive me mad between 'em," thought Rolph.  "I wonder
+how much of this sort of thing a man could stand.  Offend the old
+buffers or no, I must go and have a cigar."
+
+"Yes, what is it?" said Sir John, starting out of a doze.
+
+"Morton would like to speak to you, Sir John."
+
+"Morton; what does he want?" said Sir John.  "Send him in."
+
+A good deal of shoe wiping was heard outside, and a fine-looking,
+elderly man, whose velveteens proclaimed his profession, entered, to bow
+to all three gentlemen in turn.
+
+"Sorry to trouble you, Sir John, but I've got information that a party
+from out Woodstay way, sir, are coming netting and snaring to-night."
+
+"Confound their impudence!" cried Sir John, leaping from his chair.
+"What the deuce do you mean, standing staring there like a fool, man?
+Why don't you get the helpers and the watchers together, and go and stop
+the scoundrels?"
+
+"Men all waiting, Sir John," said the keeper, quietly, "but I thought
+you and the captain would like to be there, and the major could give us
+a bit of advice as to plans, Sir John."
+
+"Quite right, Morton.  Of course.  Quite right.  Take a glass of wine.
+Here's a claret glass.  You won't have claret though, I suppose."
+
+"Thank ye, kindly, Sir John, but you give me a glass of port last time."
+
+"And you haven't forgotten it, Morton?  Quite right.  It's a fine port.
+Help yourself, man.  We'll change, and be with you directly.  You'll
+come, Rolph?"
+
+"By George, yes," cried the captain, whose face had flushed with
+excitement.  "I'm ready there."
+
+"You'll come, Jem?"
+
+"To be sure--to be sure," said the major, rubbing his hands.  "We'll
+have a bit of tactics here."
+
+Ten minutes later, Sir John and the major, each carrying a heavy staff,
+and Rolph, armed with a gun, were following the keeper along one of the
+paths leading to the fir woods, and with a great mastiff dog close at
+the keeper's heels.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir," said the keeper, touching his hat, as they drew near
+to where a knot of men were gathered waiting for them, "but I wouldn't
+use that gun."
+
+"Oh, it's only loaded with Number 7, Morton," said the captain.  "I
+sha'n't fire; but if I did, it would only pepper them."
+
+The man drew back, muttering to himself, "I saw a chap shot dead with
+Number 7, and they wasn't chilled shot, neither.  I've done my duty,
+though."
+
+There were six men waiting, all armed with short staves, and looking a
+steady set of fellows as Sir John cast his eye over them, and now
+increased to ten by the coming of the little party from the Hall, they
+looked more than a match for any gang of poachers likely to be met, and
+he said so.
+
+"I don't know, Sir John," said the keeper, sturdily.  "I haven't much
+faith in 'em.  If it warn't for the show they'll make, I'd as soon trust
+to you, Sir John, the major, the captain, and Nero here.  They're safe
+to run, some of 'em, if it comes to a fight.  That chap of the
+captain's, Thompson, has got arms like pipe shanks, and two of the
+helpers about as much pluck as a cuckoo."
+
+"Oh, they'll fight if it comes to the proof, I daresay," said Sir John.
+"How are you, my lads; how are you?" he continued, as they came up.
+"Now, then, if we come across the scoundrels, we must take all we can.
+There's no excuse for poaching.  I'd give any man out of work in the
+parish something to do on the farm.  So it's as bad as stealing, and
+I'll have no mercy on them.  Now, Morton, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Well, Sir John, from what I can understand, they're coming with their
+nets and dogs to scour the meadows and the cut clover patches.  There's
+a sight of young birds there, as I know.  They've got to know of it,
+too, somehow; and I propose, if the major thinks it right, to 'vide
+ourselves in three.  You and me, Sir John, with one man and the dog, and
+the major and the captain take the other two parties, and lay up till we
+see 'em come."
+
+"But how shall we know which way they'll come?" said Sir John.
+
+"They'll come over the common from Woodstay way, Sir John, through the
+fir wood, and down at once into the long meadow, safe.  We'll take one
+side, the major the other, and Captain Rolph the bottom of the meadow.
+We'll let them get well to work, and then when I whistle all close in,
+and get as many of 'em as we can.  We shall be sure of their nets
+anyhow, but when I whistle they'll scatter, and I don't suppose we shall
+catch more'n one or two."
+
+"Capital plan," said the major.  "Why, you would have made a good
+general, Morton."
+
+"Thank ye, sir," said the keeper, touching his hat.  "All ready there?
+Long Meadow."
+
+It was a soft, dark night, with not a breath of wind to chase the heavy
+clouds that shrouded the sky.  There was no talking--nothing to be heard
+but the dull tramp of feet, and the rustling noise made by the herbage
+and heather brushing against the leather leggings worn by the men who
+followed the lead of the keeper and his dog.
+
+There was about half a mile to go to reach the indicated spot, and the
+blood of both Rolph and the major seemed to course a little more rapidly
+through their veins as the one hailed the prospect of a bit of
+excitement with something like delight, and the other recalled night
+marches and perilous episodes in his old Indian campaigning life, and
+then sighed as he compared his present elderly self with the smart,
+dashing young officer he used to know.
+
+"Halt here!" said Sir John, interrupting the musings of his brother; and
+from where they stood, they could dimly make out the extent of the long
+open space, with fir plantations on either side, a patch of alder in the
+damp, boggy space where they stood, and about two hundred yards away,
+right at the top of the slight slope, there was something black to be
+seen against the sky--something black, that by daylight would have
+resolved itself into a slope of tall firs.
+
+This was the part that the poachers were expected to traverse, and the
+three parties were therefore stationed according to the plan, and for
+three hours they waited in utter silence, hidden in the plantations and
+the alder clump.
+
+Sir John had begun to mutter at the end of the first hour, to grumble at
+the end of the second, and he was growling fiercely at the end of the
+third, when the keeper suddenly started up.
+
+"What is it?" said Sir John, as the dog uttered a low whine.
+
+"They've circumvented us, Sir John," replied the keeper, angrily.
+"They've trapped me into the belief that they were coming here to-night,
+and they've been netting Barrows, I'll be bound."
+
+"Confound the scoundrels!" cried Sir John.  "What an idiot you must have
+been!"
+
+"Yes, Sir John, I was," said the keeper, calmly; "but they won't have
+more than finished, and they've got to get home.  I may be too many for
+them yet."
+
+Hastily summoning the party on his left, the keeper led them to the
+weary, cramped party on his right.
+
+"This way; quick!" he said; and the sluggish blood began to flow once
+more with the excitement, as he led them rapidly along the meadow, right
+up the fir slope through the trees, and out into the lane on the other
+side.
+
+Here he paused and listened for a few moments, and then started off once
+more to where another clump of firs made the aspect of the night more
+dark.
+
+Beneath the trees it was blacker, but the keeper well knew his way, and
+at the end of a few minutes he had spread out his forces some fifteen
+yards apart, with a whispered word to be on the alert.
+
+"They're sure to come through here," he whispered, "Down on the first
+man you see.  We shall hear you, and will come and help."
+
+General like, the keeper had selected the middle of the line for
+himself, and placed the trustiest men near where he believed that the
+poachers would come, Rolph being on his right, the major and Sir John
+upon his left.
+
+"They won't come--it's all a hoax," said Sir John, who was tired of
+waiting, and the words were hardly out of his lips before the mastiff
+uttered a muttered growl, and directly after there was the tramp of feet
+over the pine needles which, as it came nearer, told plainly of there
+being a strongish gang at work.
+
+Sir John's party kept perfectly quiet, save that a couple of the men
+began to close up so as to be ready when the signal was given, while
+apparently quite free from apprehension, the poachers came on talking in
+a low voice, till they were close upon Sir John, when the keeper gave a
+shrill whistle, sprang up, and shouted to his men.
+
+"Stand back all of you," cried a stern voice.
+
+"Give up, you scoundrels, the game's over," cried Sir John.  "Close in,
+my lads."
+
+He dashed forward at once, and the major and keeper well seconded his
+efforts, but the latter received a heavy blow on the forehead, and went
+down, felled like an ox, the major was tripped up, and the man whom Sir
+John attacked proved too much for him, getting him down and kneeling
+upon his chest.
+
+"Shoot them if they come, and then step forrard," cried a shrill harsh
+voice, and four reports followed, the poachers sending the shot rattling
+in amongst the branches over the watchers' heads, the pine needles and
+twigs pattering down, and the result was that Thompson, Captain Rolph's
+man, began to retire very rapidly in one direction, closely followed by
+two more, and while others from the right flank also beat a retreat.
+
+The scuffle that took place to right and left was soon over, the
+keeper's followers not caring to risk their lives in an encounter with
+armed and desperate men.  There was the sound of blows and another shot
+or two from the poachers, who were eight or nine in number, under the
+guidance of the man who had felled the keeper, and got Sir John down.
+
+"It's all right, my lads," growled a voice.  "Tie 'em well and let's be
+off."
+
+"Here, rope!" said a fresh voice; and then there was another scuffle, as
+Sir John and the major were forced over on their faces, and their wrists
+tied behind them.
+
+"Here, help!  Rolph, Rolph!" cried Sir John.
+
+"Hold your row, or--"
+
+There was a dull sound like the blow of the butt of a gun on a man's
+head, and Sir John uttered a furious oath.
+
+"I'll have you before me, yet, you dog!" he cried.
+
+"And commit me for trial then," said the man with a laugh.  "Not this
+time.  Now, my lads, ready?"
+
+"Ay."
+
+"Off!"
+
+"Halt!"
+
+There was a fierce murmur at this last command, uttered in a good
+ringing military voice, and Sir John's heart leaped, and the major
+thought better of the speaker than he had ever thought before, as they
+both recognised the voice.
+
+"Down with him, lads, he's only one," growled another.
+
+"Halt, or by Gad I'll fire," cried Rolph again.
+
+It all happened in an instant.  There was the sound of a blow, which the
+captain received on his left arm; of another which came full upon his
+head, and then there was a flash, cutting the darkness and lighting up
+the faces of a group of men, a ringing report, and a moan, as Rolph fell
+back heavily to the ground.
+
+What followed was a hurried muttering of voices amid painful, hoarse
+breathing, and, in the darkness, the major could just make out that men
+were lifting a burden.
+
+"Who's hurt?" cried Sir John.  "Do you hear?--who's hurt?"
+
+There was no answer, only the trampling of feet rapidly receding; and it
+was the major who now spoke.
+
+"Jack," he cried, "I can't move; I'm tied, I'm afraid it's Rolph."
+
+"God forbid!" groaned Sir John.
+
+"Curse the brutes!  Here, my arm's smashed," muttered someone,
+struggling to his feet.  "Hi, Sir John!--Major!"
+
+"You, Rolph?  Thank heaven!" cried Sir John.  "I was afraid you were
+killed.  Where's Morton?"
+
+"Here, Sir John," said a faint voice.
+
+"Don't say you're shot, man."
+
+"No, Sir John.  Crack on the head."
+
+"Then who is hurt?" said the major.  "Here, someone, untie or cut this
+line."
+
+"I'm a bit hurt," said Rolph; "arm bruised, and a touch on the head,
+too."
+
+"But someone must have been shot.  Did you fire?" said Sir John.
+
+"I think I did.  Yes," said Rolph, "I got a crack on the arm, and I had
+a finger on the trigger."
+
+"Then someone is down," cried Sir John.  "Where are our men?"
+
+"Gone for help, I think," said the major drily, as Rolph succeeded in
+loosening Sir John's hands.
+
+"The cowardly scoundrels!" roared Sir John.  "Here, let's pursue the
+poachers."
+
+"No, no," said the major.  "We're defeated this time, Jack, and they've
+retired.  Thank you, Morton.  I think we four made a good fight of it,
+and--ah, poor fellow!" he cried, bending down.  "Nero, Nero, good dog
+then."
+
+In the darkness they could just see the great dog make an effort to
+reach the major's hand, but the attempt resulted in a painful moan; a
+shudder, a faint struggle, and death.
+
+"I'll swear it was not my shot killed him," cried Rolph excitedly.
+
+"Say no more about it," said Sir John; "it was an accident.  I'd sooner
+one of the scoundrels had had it in his skin, though.  I wouldn't have
+taken fifty pounds for that dog."
+
+"Poor old fellow!" said the major, who was kneeling beside the dog, and
+he stroked the great ears; "but," he added softly to himself, "I've had
+enough of blood: thank God it was not a man."
+
+A series of loud whistles brought back some of the scattered forces, the
+men meeting with such an ovation from Sir John that they began to think
+they had better have had it out honourably with the poachers; and then a
+stout sapling was cut down, and the dog's paws being tied, he was
+carried home to the stable-yard on the shoulders of two watchers.
+
+After this, there was much beer drinking in the servant's-hall, and much
+discussion in the library, where a piece of sticking-plaister was
+sufficient to remedy Rolph's wound, his arm was bathed, and Glynne did
+not faint.
+
+Rolph soon after retired for the night, the major noting that he was
+looking very pale and uneasy.  Twice over he went and looked at himself
+in the glass, and once he shuddered and stood staring over his shoulder,
+as if expecting to see someone there.
+
+"Man can't help his gun going off in the excitement of an action," he
+said slowly.  "What a fool I was not to own up that I had shot the big
+dog."
+
+"Well, they shouldn't poach," he muttered at last; and, lighting a
+cigar, he sat smoking for an hour before going to bed to sleep soundly,
+awake fairly fresh the next morning, and go out for what he termed "a
+breather."
+
+Volume 2, Chapter VI.
+
+ERRANT COURSES.
+
+Lucy Alleyne was very pretty.  Everybody said so--that she was pretty.
+No one said that she was beautiful.  Now, Lucy was well aware of what
+people said, and, without being conceited, she very well knew that what
+people said was true.  In fact, she often admired her pretty little
+_retrousse_ nose and creamy skin in the glass, and, with a latent idea
+that she ought to preserve her good looks as much as possible for some
+one.  She thought of the favoured person as "some one," and tried in
+every way possible to lead a healthy life.
+
+To attain the above end, she strove hard to improve her complexion.  It
+did not need improving, being perfect in its shades of pink and creamy
+white, that somehow put him who gazed upon her in mind of a _Gloire de
+Dijon_ rose; but she tried to improve it all the same, laughingly
+telling herself that she would wash it in morning dew, or rather let
+Nature perform the operation, as she went for a good early walk.
+
+The pine woods and copses looked as if trouble could never come within
+their shades, and the last thing any one would have dreamed of would
+have been the possibility of men meeting there with sticks, bludgeons,
+and guns, ready to resist capture on the one side, to effect it on the
+other, and, if needs be, use their weapons to the staining of the earth
+with blood.
+
+No news of the past night's encounter had reached The Firs.  Moray
+Alleyne, while watching the crossing of a star in the zenith over
+certain threads of cobweb in the field of his transit instrument had
+heard the reports of guns; but he was too much intent upon his work to
+pay heed to what was by no means an unusual circumstance.  Lucy, too,
+had started into wakefulness once, thinking she heard a sound, but only
+to sink back to her rest once more; and as she walked that morning she
+saw no sign of struggle, though, had she turned off to the right amongst
+the pines, she might have found one or two ugly traces, as if a burden
+had had been laid down by those who bore it while they rested for a few
+minutes, and while a bit of rough surgery was being performed.
+
+The lovely silvery mists were hanging about in the little valleys, or
+curling around the tops, as if spreading veils over the sombre pines,
+patches of which, as seen in the early morning sunshine, resembled the
+dark green and purple plaid of some Scottish clan; and as Lucy reached
+the edge of the far-stretching common land, dazzled by the brilliancy of
+the sunshine, and elated by the purity of the morning air, she paused to
+enjoy the beauty of the lovely scene around.
+
+"How stupid people are!" she said half aloud.  "How can they call this
+place desolate and ugly.  Why, there's something growing everywhere, and
+the gorse and broom are simply lovely."
+
+There was a soft moisture in her pretty eyes, as they rested on the
+blue-looking distant hills, the purple stretches of heather, and the
+rich green lawnlike patches of meadow land, saved from the wilds around.
+Between the hills there were dark shadowy spots, upon them brilliant
+bits of sunshine, while on all sides the gauzy, silvery vapours floated
+low down, waiting for the sun, as it increased in power, to drink them
+up, and after them the millions of iridescent tiny globules that
+whitened the herbage like frost.
+
+The birds were singing from every patch of woodland in the distance;
+there was the monotonous "coo coo, coo--_coo, coo-hoo-coo_!" of a
+wood-pigeon in the pine tops singing his love-song that he always ends
+in the middle, and far out over the heathery common lark after lark was
+circling round and rising, in a wide spiral, up and up into the blue sky
+as it poured forth the never-wearying strain.
+
+"People are as stupid and as dense as can be," said Lucy.  "Ours is a
+grim-looking home, I know, but oh! how beautiful the country is--I
+wouldn't live anywhere else for the world."
+
+There seemed to be no reason for a blush to come into Lucy's cheeks at
+this declaration, but one certainly did come, like a ruddy cloud over
+their soft outline, as she glanced back at the blank-looking pile with
+the hideous brick additions made by Alleyne for his instruments and
+observations.  Not so much as a thread of smoke rose yet, from either of
+the chimneys, for Eliza was only at the point that necessitated a vexed
+rub occasionally at her nose with the woody part of a blacklead brush;
+Mrs Alleyne was dreaming of her son; and her son, who sought his pillow
+a couple of hours before--after a long watch of his star as it climbed
+to the zenith and then went down--to lie and think of Glynne Day, and
+ask himself whether he was not a scoundrel to allow such thoughts to
+enter his breast.
+
+"How good it is to get up so early," thought Lucy, aloud; and then she
+stepped lightly over the dewy grass, marked down the spot where several
+mushrooms were growing, and then stepped on to the sandy road.
+
+"I wish Moray would get up early," she thought, "it would be so nice to
+have him for a companion; but, poor fellow, he must be tired of a
+morning.  I know what I'll do," she cried suddenly.  "I'll get Glynne to
+promise to meet me two or three times a week, whenever it's fine, and
+we'll go together."
+
+Her cheeks flushed a little hot as she began to think about Glynne, and
+her thoughts ran somewhat in this fashion,--
+
+"She doesn't know--she doesn't understand a bit, or she would never have
+consented.  Oh! it's absolutely horrid, and I don't believe he cares for
+her a morsel more than she cares for him."
+
+Lucy stooped down to pick a mushroom, and laid it aside ready to
+retrieve as she came back from her walk, for Mrs Alleyne approved of a
+dish for breakfast.
+
+"Why, at the end of a year it would be horrible," cried Lucy, with
+emphasis.  "Mrs Rolph!  What would be the use of being married, if you
+were miserable, as I'm sure she would be."
+
+"It isn't dishonourable; and if it is, I don't mind.  I know he is
+beginning to worship her, and it's as plain as can be that she likes to
+sit and listen to him, and all he says about the stars.  Why, she seems
+to grow and alter every day, and to become wiser, and to take more
+interest in everything he says and does."
+
+"There, I don't care," she panted, half-tearfully, as she picked another
+mushroom; and, as if addressing someone who had had spoken chidingly, "I
+can't help it; he is my own dear brother, and I will help him as much as
+I can.  Dishonourable?  Not it.  It is right, poor fellow!  Why, she has
+come like so much sunshine in his life, and it is as plain as can be to
+see that she is gradually beginning to know what love really is."
+
+As these thoughts left her heart, she looked guiltily round, but there
+was no one listening--nothing to take her attention, but a couple of
+glistening, wet, and silvery-looking mushrooms in the grass hard by.
+
+"It's very dreadful of me to be thinking like this," she said to
+herself, as she finished culling the mushrooms, and began to make her
+way back to the road, "but I can't help it.  I love Glynne, and I won't
+see my own brother made miserable, if I can do anything to make him
+happy.  It's quite dreadful the way things are going, and dear Sir John
+ought to be ashamed of himself.  I declare--Oh! how you made me start!"
+
+This was addressed to wet-coated, dissipated rabbit, with a tail like a
+tuft of white cotton, which little animal started up from its
+hiding-place at her very feet, and went bounding and scuffling off
+amongst the heather and furze.
+
+"I wish, oh, how I wish that things would go right," cried Lucy, with
+tears in her eyes.  "I wish I could do something to make Glynne see that
+he thinks ten times more about his nasty races and matches than he does
+about her.  I don't believe he loves her a bit.  It's shameful.  He's a
+beast!"
+
+There was another pause, during which the larks went on singing, the
+wood-pigeon cooed, and there was a pleasant twittering in the nearest
+plantation.
+
+"Poor Glynne! when she might be so happy with a man who really loves
+her, but who would die sooner than own to it.  Oh, dear me!  I wish a
+dreadful war would break out, and Captain Rolph's regiment be ordered
+out to India, and the Indians would kill him and eat him, or take him
+prisoner--I don't care what, so long as they didn't let him come back
+any more, and--"
+
+_Pat--pat--pat--pat--pat--pat--pat--pat_--a regular beat from a short
+distance off, and evidently coming from round by the other side of a
+clump of larches, where the road curved and then went away level and
+straight for about a mile.
+
+"Whatever is that?" thought Lucy, whose eyes grew rounder, and who
+stared wonderingly in the direction of the sound.  "It can't be a
+rabbit, I'm quite sure."
+
+She was perfectly right; it was not a rabbit, as she saw quite plainly
+the next minute, when a curious-looking figure in white, braided and
+trimmed with blue, but bare-armed, bare-legged and bare-headed, came
+suddenly into view, with head forward, fists clenched, and held up on a
+level with its chest, and running at a steady, well-sustained pace right
+in the middle of the sandy road.
+
+It was a surprise for both.
+
+"Captain Rolph!" exclaimed Lucy, as the figure stopped short, panting
+heavily, and looking a good deal surprised.
+
+"Miss Alleyne!  Beg pardon.  Didn't expect to see anybody so early.
+Really."
+
+Lucy felt as if she would like to run away, but that she felt would be
+cowardly, so she stood her ground, and made, sensibly enough, the best
+of matters in what was decidedly a rather awkward encounter.
+
+"I often come for an early walk," said the girl, coolly as to speech,
+though she felt rather hot.  "Is this--is this for amateur theatricals?"
+
+It would have been wiser not to allude to the captain's costume, but the
+words slipped out, and they came like a relief to him, for he, too, had
+felt tolerably confused.  As it was his features expanded into a broad
+grin, and he then laughed aloud.
+
+"Theatricals?  Why, bless your innocence, no.  I am in training for a
+race--foot-race--ten miles--man who does it in shortest time gets the
+cup.  I give him--"
+
+"Him?" said Lucy, for her companion had paused.
+
+"Yes, him," said the captain.  "Champion to run against."
+
+"Run against?" said Lucy, glancing at a great blue bruise upon the
+captain's arm and a piece of sticking-plaister upon his forehead.  "Do
+you hurt yourself like that when you run against men?"
+
+"Haw, haw, haw!  Haw, haw, haw!" laughed the captain.  "I beg pardon,
+but, really, you are such a daisy.  So innocent, you know.  That was
+done last night out in the woods.  Bit of a row with some poacher chaps.
+One of them hit me with a stick on the head.  That's from the butt of a
+gun."
+
+He gave the bruise on his bare arm a slap, and laughed, while Lucy
+coloured with shame and annoyance, but resolved to ignore the captain's
+rather peculiar appearance, and escape as soon as she could.
+
+"I ought not to mind," she said to herself.  "It's only rather French.
+Like the pictures one sees in the illustrated papers about Trouville."
+
+"Were you fighting?"
+
+"Well, yes," he said indifferently, "bit of a scrimmage.  Nothing to
+mind.  People who preserve often meet with that sort of a thing.  I did
+run against a fellow, though," he continued, laughing.  "But that's not
+the sort of running against I meant.  I'm going to do a foot-race.
+Matched against a low sort of fellow."
+
+"Oh!" said Lucy, looking straight before her.
+
+"Professional, you know; but I'm going to run him--take the conceit out
+of the cad.  Bad thing conceit."
+
+"Extremely," said Lucy tightening her lips.
+
+"Horrid.  I'm going to give him fifty yards."
+
+"Oh!" said Lucy, gravely, as she took a step forward without looking at
+the captain.  "But don't let me hinder you.  I was only taking my
+morning walk."
+
+"Don't hinder me a bit," said the captain.  "I was just going to put on
+the finishing spurt, and end at that cross path.  I've as good as done
+it, and I'm in prime condition."
+
+"Bad thing conceit," said Lucy to herself.
+
+"Fresh as a daisy."
+
+"Horrid," said Lucy again to herself.
+
+"I feel as if I could regularly run away from him.  My legs are as hard
+as nails."
+
+"Indeed!"
+
+"Oh, yes.  I haven't trained like this for nothing.  Don't you think
+you've hindered me.  I sha'n't trouble about it any more."
+
+All this while Lucy was trying to escape from her companion, but it was
+rather a wild idea to trudge away from a man whose legs were as hard as
+nails.  As she walked on, though, she found herself wondering whether
+the finishing spurt that the captain talked of putting on was some kind
+of garment, as she kept steadily along, with, to her great disgust, the
+captain keeping coolly enough by her side, and evidently feeling quite
+at home, beginning to chat about the weather, the advantages of early
+rising, and the like.
+
+"I declare," thought Lucy, "if I met anyone, I should be ready to sink
+through the ground for shame.  I wish he'd go."
+
+"Some people waste half their days in bed, Miss Alleyne.  Glad to see
+you don't.  I've been up these two hours, and feel, as they say, as fit
+as a fiddle, and, if you'll forgive me for saying so, you look just the
+same you do really, you know."
+
+He cast an admiring glance at her, which she noted, and for the moment
+it frightened her, then it fired a train, and a mischievous flash darted
+from her eyes.
+
+This was delicious, and though her cheeks glowed a little, perhaps from
+the exercise, her heart gave a great leap, and began to rejoice.
+
+"I knew he was not worthy of her," she thought.  "The wretch!  I won't
+run away, though I want to very badly."  And she walked calmly on by his
+side.
+
+"Don't you find this place dull?" said Rolph.
+
+"Dull? oh dear no," cried Lucy, looking brightly up in his face, and
+recalling at the same time that this must be at least the tenth time she
+had answered this question.
+
+"I wish you'd let my mother call upon you, and you'd come up to the Hall
+a little oftener, Miss Alleyne, 'pon my honour I do."
+
+"Why, I do come as often as I am asked, Captain Rolph," said Lucy with a
+mischievous look in her eyes.
+
+"Do you, though?  Well, never mind, come oftener."
+
+"Why?" said Lucy, with an innocent look of wonder in her round eyes.
+
+"Why? because I want to see you, you know.  It's precious dull there
+sometimes."
+
+"What, with Glynne there?" cried Lucy.
+
+"Oh yes, sometimes.  She reads so much."
+
+"Fie, Captain Rolph!"
+
+"No, no; nonsense.  Oh, I say, though, I wish you would."
+
+"Really, Captain Rolph, I don't understand you," said Lucy, who was in a
+flutter of fright, mischief and triumph combined.
+
+"Oh yes, you do," he said, "but hold hard a minute.  Back directly."
+
+He ran from her out to where something was hanging on a broken branch of
+a pine, and returned directly, putting on a flannel cricketing cap, and
+a long, hooded ulster, which, when buttoned up, gave him somewhat the
+aspect of a friar of orders grey, who had left his beads at home.
+
+"You do understand me," he said, not noticing the mirthful twinkle in
+Lucy's eye at his absurd appearance.  "Oh yes, you do.  It's all right.
+I say, Lucy Alleyne, what a one you are."
+
+Lucy's eyebrows went up a little at this remark, but she did not assume
+displeasure, she only looked at him inquiringly.
+
+"Oh, it's all right," he said again.  "I am glad I met you, it's so
+precious dull down here."
+
+"What, when you have all your training to see to, Captain Rolph."
+
+"Oh, yes; awfully dull.  You see Glynne doesn't take any interest in a
+fellow's pursuits.  She used to at first, but now it's always books."
+
+"But you should teach her to be interested, Captain Rolph."
+
+"Oh, I say, hang it all, Lucy Alleyne, can't you drop that captaining of
+a fellow when we're out here _tete-a-tete_.  It's all very well up at
+the Hall but not here, and so early in the morning, we needn't be quite
+so formal, eh?"
+
+"Just as you like," said Lucy, with the malicious twinkle in her eyes on
+the increase.
+
+"That's right," cried Rolph; "and, I say, you know, come, own up--you
+did, didn't you?"
+
+"Did what?" cried Lucy.
+
+"Know I was training this morning."
+
+"Indeed, no," cried Lucy, indignantly, with a look that in no wise
+abashed the captain.
+
+"Oh, come now, that won't do," cried Rolph.  "There's nothing to be
+ashamed of."
+
+"I'm not a bit ashamed," cried Lucy stoutly; and then to herself, "Oh
+yes, I am--horribly.  What a fright, to be sure!"
+
+"That's right," cried Rolph, "but I know you did come, and I say I'm
+awfully flattered, I am, indeed.  I wish, you know, you'd take a little
+more interest in our matches and engagements: it would make it so much
+pleasanter for a fellow."
+
+"Would it?" said Lucy.
+
+"Would it?  Why, of course it would.  You see I should feel more like
+those chaps used, in the good old times, you know, when they used to
+bring the wreaths and prizes they had won, and lay 'em at ladies' feet,
+only that was confoundedly silly, of course.  I don't believe in that
+romantic sort of work."
+
+"Oh, but that was at the feet of their lady-loves," said Lucy, quickly.
+
+"Never mind about that," replied Rolph; "must have someone to talk to
+about my engagements.  It's half the fun."
+
+"Go and talk to Glynne, then," said Lucy.
+
+"That's no use, I tell you.  She doesn't care a _sou_ for the best bit
+of time made in anything.  Here, I believe," he said, warmly, "if that
+what's-his-name chap, who said he'd put a girdle round the globe in less
+than no time, had done it, and come back to Glynne and told her so,
+she'd just lift up her eyes--"
+
+"Her beautiful eyes," said Lucy, interrupting.
+
+"Oh, yes, she's got nice eyes enough," said Rolph, sulkily; "but she'd
+only have raised 'em for a moment and looked at him, and said--`Have you
+really.'  Here, I say, Puck's the chap I mean."
+
+"I don't think Glynne's very fond of athletic sports," said Lucy.
+
+"No, but you are; I know you are.  Come, it's of no use to deny it.  I
+say I am glad."
+
+"Why, the monster's going to make love to me," said Lucy to herself.
+
+"You are now, aren't you?"
+
+"Well, I don't dislike them," said Lucy; "not very much."
+
+"Not you; and, I say, I may talk to you a bit about my engagements,
+mayn't I?"
+
+"Really, Captain Rolph," replied Lucy, demurely, "I hardly know what to
+say to such a proposal as this.  To how many ladies are you engaged?"
+
+"Ladies?  Engaged?  Oh, come now!  I say, you know, you don't mean that.
+I say, you're chaffing me, you know."
+
+"But you said engaged, and I knew you were engaged to Glynne Day," cried
+Lucy, innocently.
+
+"Oh, but you know I meant engagements to run at athletic meetings.  Of
+course I'm only engaged to Glynne, but that's no reason why a man
+shouldn't have a bit of a chat to any one else--any one pretty and
+sympathetic, and who took an interest in a fellow's pursuits.  I say,
+I've got a wonderful match on, Lucy."
+
+"How dare he call me Lucy!" she thought; and an indignant flash from her
+eyes fell upon a white-topped button mushroom beside the road.  "A
+pretty wretch to be engaged to poor Glynne.  Oh, how stupid she must
+be!"
+
+The mushroom was not snatched up, and Rolph went on talking, with his
+hands far down in the pockets of his ulster.
+
+"It's no end of a good thing, and I'm sure to win.  It's to pick up five
+hundred stones put five yards apart, and bring 'em back and put 'em in a
+basket one at a time; so that, you see, I have to do--twice five yards
+is ten yards the first time, and then twice ten yards the second time;
+and then twice twenty yards is forty yards the third time, and then
+twice forty yards is eighty yards the fourth time, and--Here, I say, I'm
+getting into a knot, I could do it if I had a pencil."
+
+"But I thought you would have to run."
+
+"Yes; so I have.  I mean to tot up on a piece of paper.  It's five yards
+more twice over each time, you know, and mounts up tremendously before
+you're done; but I've made up my mind to do it, and I will."
+
+"All that's very brave of you," cried Lucy, looking him most shamelessly
+full in the eyes, and keeping her own very still to conceal the
+twitching mischief that was seeking to make puckers and dimples in all
+parts of her pretty face.
+
+"Well," he said, heavily, "you can't quite call it brave.  It's plucky,
+though," he added, with a self-satisfied smile.  "There are not many
+fellows in my position who would do it."
+
+"Oh, no, I suppose not," said Lucy, with truthful earnestness this time;
+and then to herself: "He's worse than I thought."
+
+"Now that's what I like, you know," exclaimed Rolph.  "That's what I
+want--a sort of sympathy, you know.  To feel that when I'm doing my best
+to win some cup or belt there's one somewhere who takes an interest in
+it, and is glad for me to win.  Do you see?"
+
+"Oh, of course I am glad for you to win, if it pleases you," said Lucy,
+demurely.
+
+"But it doesn't please me if it doesn't please you," cried Rolph.  "I've
+won such a heap of times, that I don't care for it much, unless there
+should be some one I could come and tell about it all."
+
+"Then why not tell Glynne?" said Lucy, opening her limpid eyes, and
+gazing full in the captain's face.
+
+"Because it's of no use," cried Rolph.  "I've tried till I'm sick of
+trying.  I want to tell you."
+
+"Oh, but you mustn't tell me," said Lucy.
+
+"Oh, yes I must, and I'm going to begin now.  I shall tell you all my
+ventures, and what I win, and when I am going to train; and--I say,
+Lucy, you did come out this morning to see me train?"
+
+"Indeed, I did not," she cried; "and even if I had, I should not tell
+you so."
+
+"Oh, I don't mind," said Rolph, laughing.  "I'm satisfied."
+
+"What a monster for poor Glynne to be engaged to.  I believe, if I were
+to encourage him, he'd break off his engagement."
+
+"I am glad I met you," said Rolph, suddenly, and he went a little closer
+to Lucy, who started aside into the wet grass, and glanced hastily
+round.  "Why, what are you doing?" he said.
+
+"I wanted to pick that mushroom," she said.
+
+"Oh, never mind the mushrooms, you'll make your little feet wet, and I
+want to talk to you.  I say, I'm going to train again to-morrow morning.
+You'll come, won't you.  Pray do!--Who's this?"
+
+Both started, for, having approached unheard, his pony's paces muffled
+by the turf, Philip Oldroyd cantered by them, gazing hard at Lucy, and
+raising his hat stiffly to Rolph, as he went past.
+
+"Confound him!  Where did he spring from?" cried Rolph.  "Why, he quite
+startled you," he continued, for Lucy's face, which had flushed crimson,
+now turned of a pale waxen hue.
+
+"Oh, no; it is nothing," she said, as a tremor ran through her frame,
+and she hesitated as to what she should do, ending by exclaiming
+suddenly that she must go back home at once.
+
+"But you'll come and see me train to-morrow morning," said Rolph.
+
+"No, no.  Oh, no.  I could not," cried Lucy; and she turned and hurried
+away.
+
+"But you will come," said Rolph, gazing after her.  "I'll lay two to
+one--five to one--fifty to one--she comes.  She's caught--wired--netted.
+Pretty little rustic-looking thing.  I rather like the little lassie;
+she's so fresh and innocent.  I wonder what dignified Madame Glynne
+would say.  Bet a hundred to one little Lucy's thinking about me now,
+and making up her mind to come."
+
+He was right; Lucy was thinking about him, and wishing he had been at
+the bottom of the sea that morning before he had met her.
+
+"Oh, what will Mr Oldroyd think?" she sobbed, as the tears ran down her
+face.  "It's nothing to him, and he's nothing to me; but it's horrible
+for him to have seen me walking out at this time in the morning, and
+_alone_, with that stupid, common, racing, betting creature, whom I
+absolutely abominate."
+
+She walked on, weeping silently for a few minutes before resuming her
+self-reproaches.
+
+"I'm afraid it was very wicked and wrong and forward of me, but I did so
+want to know whether he really cared for Glynne.  And he doesn't--he
+doesn't--he does not," she sobbed passionately.  "He's a wicked, bad,
+empty-headed, deceitful monster; and he'd make Glynne wretched all her
+life.  Why, he was making love to me, and talking slightingly of her all
+the time."
+
+Here there was another burst of sobs, in the midst of which, and the
+accompanying blinding tears, she stooped down to pick another mushroom,
+but only to viciously throw it away, for it to fall bottom upwards
+impaled upon the sharp thorns of a green furze bush close at hand.
+
+"I don't care," she cried; "they may think what they like, both of them,
+and they may say what they like.  I was trying to fight my poor, dear,
+injured, darling brother's battle, and to make things happier for him,
+and if I'm a martyr through it, I will be, and I don't care a pin."
+
+She was walking on, blinded by the veil of tears that fell from her
+eyes, seeing nothing, hearing nothing of the song of birds and the whirr
+and hum of the insect world.  The morning was now glorious, and the
+wild, desolate common land was full of beauty; but Lucy's heart was sore
+with trouble, and outburst followed outburst as she went homeward.
+
+"I've found him out, though, after all, and it's worth every pain I may
+feel, and Glynne shall know what a wretch he is, and then she'll turn to
+poor, dear Moray, and he'll be happy once again.  Poor fellow, how he
+has suffered, and without a word, believing that there was no hope for
+him when there is; and I don't care, I'm growing reckless now; I'd even
+let Glynne see how unworthy Captain Rolph is, by going to meet him.  It
+doesn't matter a bit, people will believe I'm weak and silly; and if the
+captain were to boast that he had won me, everybody would believe him.
+Oh, it's dreadful, dreadful, I want to do mischief to some one else
+and--and--and--but I don't care, not a bit.  Yes, I do," she sobbed
+bitterly.  "Everybody will think me a weak, foolish, untrustworthy girl,
+and it will break my heart, and--oh!"
+
+Lucy stopped short, tear-blinded, having nearly run against an obstacle
+in the way.
+
+The obstacle was Lucy's mental definition of "everybody," who would
+think slightingly of her now.
+
+For "everybody" was seated upon a pony, waiting evidently for her to
+come.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter VII.
+
+STARLIGHT DOINGS.
+
+It was astonishing how great the interest in the stars had now become in
+the neighbourhood of Brackley.  Glynne was studying hard so as to learn
+something of the wondrous orbs of whose astounding nature Moray Alleyne
+loved to speak; and now Philip Oldroyd had told himself that it would be
+far better if he were not quite so ignorant on matters astronomical.
+
+The result was that he had purchased a book or two giving accounts of
+the Royal Observatory, the peculiarities of the different instruments
+used, the various objects most studied; and in these works he was
+coaching himself up as fast as he could on the present night--having "a
+comfortable read" as he called it, before going to bed--when there came
+a bit of a novelty for him, a sudden summons to go and see a patient.
+
+"What's the matter?" he said, going to the door to answer the call,
+after a glance at his watch, to see that it was half-past twelve.
+
+"Well, sir," said the messenger, Caleb Kent, "it's mate o' mine hurt
+hissen like, somehow.  Met of a fall, I think."
+
+"Fall, eh?  Where is he hurt?"
+
+"Mostlings 'bout the 'ead, sir, but he's a bit touched all over."
+
+"What did he fall off--a cart?"
+
+"No, sir, it warn't off a cart.  Hadn't you better come and see him,
+sir?"
+
+"Of course, my man, but I don't want to go away from home, and then find
+I might have taken something, and saved my patient a great deal of
+suffering."
+
+"Yes, sir; quite right, sir," said the man mysteriously; "well, you see,
+sir, I can't talk about it like.  It weer a fall certainly, but some one
+made him fall."
+
+"Oh, a fight, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir; there was a bit of a fight."
+
+"Well, if your mate has been fighting, is he bad enough to want a
+doctor?"
+
+"He's down bad, sir.  It warn't fisties."
+
+"Sticks?"
+
+The man nodded.
+
+"Anything worse?"
+
+"Well, sir, I didn't mean to speak about it, but it weer."
+
+"I think I have it," thought Oldroyd.  "The man has been shot in a
+poaching affray.  Where is it?" he said aloud.
+
+"Lars cottage through Lindham, sir.  Tile roof."
+
+"Six miles away?"
+
+"Yes, sir; 'bout six miles."
+
+As Oldroyd spoke, he was busily thrusting a case or two and some lint
+into his pockets, and filling a couple of small phials; after which he
+buttoned up his coat and put out his lamp.
+
+"Now, then, my man, I must just call at the mill, and then I'm ready for
+you."
+
+"Going to walk, sir?" said the messenger.
+
+"No; I'm going to get the miller's pony.  I'm sorry I can't offer to
+drive you back."
+
+"Never you mind about me, sir.  I can get over the ground," said the
+man; and following Oldroyd down the lane, he stopped with him at a long
+low cottage, close beside the dammed up river, where a couple of sharp
+raps caused a casement to be opened.
+
+"You, doctor?" said a voice; and on receiving an answer in the
+affirmative, there was the word "catch," and Oldroyd cleverly caught a
+key attached by a string to a very large horse-chestnut.  Then the
+casement was closed, and the two went round to the stable, where a stout
+pony's slumbers were interrupted, and the patient beast saddled and
+bridled and led out, ready to spread its four legs as far apart as
+possible when the young doctor mounted as if afraid of being pulled over
+by his weight.
+
+"Now, then," said Oldroyd, relocking the door, "forward as fast as you
+like.  When you're tired I'll get down."
+
+"Oh, I sha'n't be tired," said the man, quietly; and he started off at a
+regular dog-trot.  "That there pony'll go anywhere, sir, so I shall take
+the short cuts."
+
+"Mind the boggy bits, my man."
+
+"You needn't be skeard about them, sir; that there pony wouldn't near
+one if you tried to make him."
+
+Oldroyd nodded, and the man trotted to the front, the pony following,
+and, in spite of two or three proposals that they should change places,
+the guide kept on in the same untiring manner.
+
+Here and there, though, when they had passed the common, and were
+ascending the hills, the man took hold of the pony's mane, and trudged
+by the side; and during these times Oldroyd learned all about the fight
+in the fir wood.
+
+"Whose place was it at?" said Oldroyd at last.
+
+"Sir John Day's, sir."
+
+After that they proceeded in silence till they reached the first houses
+of a long, straggling hamlet, when a thought occurred to Oldroyd to
+which he at once gave utterance.
+
+"I say, my man, why didn't you go to Doctor Blunt?  He was two miles
+nearer to you than I am."
+
+Caleb laughed hoarsely, and shook his head.
+
+Oldroyd checked his willing little mount at a long, low cottage beside
+the road, and went down the strip of garden.  Three men were at the
+door, and they made way for him, touching their hats in a surly fashion
+as he came up.
+
+"Know how he is?" said Oldroyd, sharply.
+
+"Bout gone, sir.  Glad you've come," said one of the men; and Oldroyd
+raised the latch and went into the low-ceiled kitchen, where a tallow
+candle was burning in a lantern, but there was no one there.
+
+"Here's the doctor, miss," said the man who had before spoken, crossing
+to a doorway opening at once upon a staircase, when a frightened-looking
+girl, with red eyes and a scared look upon her countenance, came
+hurrying downstairs.
+
+"Would you please to come up, sir," she said.  "Oh.  I am so glad you've
+come."
+
+Oldroyd followed her up the creaking staircase, and had to stoop to
+enter the sloping-ceiled room, where, with another pale, scared woman
+kneeling beside the bed, and a long, snuffed candle upon an old chest of
+drawers, giving a doleful, ghastly light, lay a big, black-whiskered,
+shaggy-haired man, his face pinched and white, and plenty of tokens
+about of the terrible wound he had received.
+
+Oldroyd went at once to the bed, made a hurried examination, took out
+his case, and for the next half hour he was busy trying to staunch the
+bleeding, and place some effectual bandages upon the wound.
+
+All this time the man never opened his eyes, but lay with his teeth
+clenched, and lips nipped so closely together, that they seemed to form
+a thin line across the lower part of his face.  Oldroyd knew that he
+must be giving the man terrible pain, but he did not shrink, bearing it
+all stoically, if he was conscious, though there were times when his
+attendant thought he must be perfectly insensible to what was going on.
+
+The women obeyed the slightest hint, and worked hard; but all the while
+Oldroyd felt that he had been called upon too late, and that the man
+must sink from utter exhaustion.
+
+To his surprise, however, just as he finished his task, and was bending
+over his patient counting the pulsation in the wrist, the man unclosed
+his eyes, and looked up at him.
+
+"Well, doctor," he said, coolly; "what's it to be--go or stay?"
+
+"Life, I hope," replied Oldroyd, as he read the energy and determination
+of the man's nature.  This was not one who would give up without a
+struggle, for his bearing during the past half hour had been heroic.
+
+"Glad of it," sighed the wounded man.  "I haven't done yet; and
+to-night's work has given me a fresh job on hand."
+
+"Now, keep perfectly still and do not speak," said Oldroyd, sternly.
+"Everything depends upon your being at rest.  Sleep if you can.  I will
+stop till morning to see that the bleeding does not break out again."
+
+"Thankye, doctor," said the man gruffly; and just then a pair of warm
+lips were pressed upon Oldroyd's hand, and he turned sharply.
+
+"Hallo!" he said.  "I've been so busy that I did not notice you.  I've
+seen your face before."
+
+"Yes, sir; I met you once near The Warren--Mrs Rolph's."
+
+"Thought I'd seen you.  But you--are you his wife?"
+
+"No," said the girl, smiling faintly.  "This is my father."
+
+"What an absurd blunder.  Why, of course, I remember now.  I did not
+know him again.  It's Mrs Rolph's keeper."
+
+The flush that came into the girl's face was visible even by the faint
+light of the miserable tallow candle, as Oldroyd went on in a low
+voice,--
+
+"Poor fellow!  I misjudged him.  I took him for a poacher, and its the
+other way on.  The scoundrels!  No, no, don't give way," whispered
+Oldroyd, as the girl let her face fall into her hands and began to sob
+convulsively.  "There, there: cheer up.  We won't let him die.  You and
+I will pull him through, please God.  Hush! quietness is everything.  Go
+and tell those men to be still, and say I shall not want the pony till
+six or seven o'clock.  One of them must be ready, though, in case I want
+a messenger to run to the town."
+
+Oldroyd's words had their effect, for a dead silence fell upon the
+place, and the injured man soon slept quietly, lying so still, that
+Judith, after her return, sought the young doctor's eyes from time to
+time, asking dumbly whether he was sure that something terrible had not
+occurred.
+
+At such times Oldroyd rose, bent over his patient and satisfied himself
+that all was going well before turning to his fellow-watcher and giving
+her an encouraging smile.
+
+Then there would be a weary sigh, that told of relief from an anxiety
+full of dread, and the night wore on.
+
+For a time, Oldroyd, as he sat there in that dreary room, glancing
+occasionally at the dull, unsnuffed candle, fancied that the men had
+stolen away, but he would soon know that he was wrong, for the faint
+odour of their bad tobacco came stealing up through the window, and he
+knew as well as if he were present that they were sitting about on the
+fence or lounging against the walls of the cottage.
+
+Between three and four, the critical time of the twenty-four hours, when
+life is at its lowest ebb, a sigh came from the bed, and the sufferer
+grew restless to a degree that made Oldroyd begin to be doubtful, but
+the little uneasy fit passed off, and there was utter silence once
+again.
+
+Philip Oldroyd's thoughts wandered far during this time of watching; now
+his imagination raised for his mental gaze the scene of the desperate
+encounter, and he seemed to see the blows struck, hear the oaths and
+fierce cries, succeeded by the report of the gun, and the groan of the
+injured man as he fell.
+
+Then that scene seemed to pass away, and the room at The Firs came into
+sight, with its grim, blank look, the stiff figure of Mrs Alleyne; calm,
+deeply absorbed Alleyne; and the sunshine of the whole place, Lucy, who
+seemed to turn what was blank and repulsive into all that was bright and
+gay.
+
+As he thought on of Lucy all the gloom and ghastliness of that wretched
+cottage garret faded away, a pleasant glow of satisfaction came over
+him, and he sat there building dreamy castles of a bright and prosperous
+kind, and putting Lucy in each, forgetting for the time the poverty of
+his practice, his own comparatively hopeless state, and the chances that
+she, whom he now owned that he worshipped, would be carried off by some
+one more successful in the world.
+
+Did he love Lucy?  Yes, he told himself, he was afraid he did--afraid,
+for it seemed so hopeless an affair.  Did she love him?  No, he dared
+not think that, but at one time, during the most weary portion of the
+watching, he could not help wishing that she might fall ill, and the
+duty be his to bring her back to health and strength.
+
+He was angry with himself directly after, though he owned that such a
+trouble might fill her with gratitude towards him, and gratitude was a
+step towards love.
+
+In the midst of these thoughts Oldroyd made himself more angry still,
+for he inadvertently sighed, with the effect of making the women start,
+and Judith gaze at him wonderingly.  To take off their attention he
+softly shifted his seat, and began once more to think of his patient and
+his chances of life.
+
+The poor fellow was sleeping easily, and so far there were no signs of
+the feverish symptoms that follow wounds.
+
+The night wore on; the candle burned down in the socket, and was
+replaced by another, which in its turn burned out, and its successor was
+growing short when the twitterings of the birds were heard, and the
+ghostly dawn came stealing into that cheerless, whitewashed room, whose
+occupants' faces seemed to have taken their hue from the ceiling.
+
+The injured man still slept, and his breathing was low and regular,
+encouraged by which the countenances of the women were beginning to lose
+their despairing, scared aspect, as they glanced from doctor to patient,
+and back again.
+
+At last the cold and pallid light of the room gave place to a warm red
+glow, and Oldroyd went softly to the window to see the rising sun,
+thinking the while what a dreary life was his, called from his
+comfortable home to come some six miles in the dead of the night to such
+a ghastly scene as this, and then to sit and watch, his payment probably
+the thanks of the poor people he had served.
+
+The east was one glow of orange and gold, and the beauty of the scene,
+with the dewy grass and trees glittering in the morning light, chased
+away the mental shadows of the night.
+
+"Not so bad a life after all," he said to himself.  "Money's very nice,
+but a man can't devote his life to greed.  What a glorious morning, and
+how I should like a cup of tea."
+
+He turned to look at his patient, and found that the woman had gone,
+while Judith now asked him in an imploring whisper if there was any
+hope.
+
+"Hope?  Yes," he replied, "it would have killed some men, but look at
+your father's physique.  Why, he is as strong as a horse.  Take care of
+him and keep him quiet.  Let him sleep all he can."
+
+Judith glanced at the wounded man, and then at Oldroyd, to whisper at
+last piteously, and after a good deal of hesitation,--
+
+"The police, sir: if they come, they mustn't take him away, must they?"
+
+"Take him away?" said Oldroyd, wonderingly, "certainly not.  I say he
+must not be moved.  Here, I'll write it down for you.  It would be his
+death."
+
+He drew out his pocket-book to write a certificate as to the man's
+state, and Judith took it, with an air approaching veneration, to fold
+it and place it in her bosom.
+
+Just then the woman returned, and, after a whispering with Judith, asked
+Oldroyd to come down.
+
+He glanced once more at his patient, and then followed the girl
+downstairs, where, in a rough but cleanly way, a cup of tea had been
+prepared and some bread and butter.
+
+These proved to be so good that, feeling better for the refreshment,
+Oldroyd could not help noticing that, but for the traces of violent
+grief, Judith would have been extremely pretty.
+
+"Will father get better, sir?" said the girl, pleadingly.
+
+"Better?  Yes, my girl," said Oldroyd, wondering at the rustic maiden's
+good looks.  "There, there, don't be foolish," he continued, as the girl
+caught his hand to kiss it.
+
+She shrank away, and coloured a little, when Oldroyd hastened to add
+more pleasantly,--
+
+"I think he'll soon be better."
+
+She gave him a bright, grateful look through her tears, and then
+hurriedly shrank away.
+
+"Hah! that's better," he said to himself, as he went on with his simple
+meal.  "A cup of tea, and a little sunshine, what a difference they do
+make in a man's sensations.  Humph! past six.  No bed for me till
+to-night," he exclaimed, as he glanced at his watch; and rising, he went
+softly upstairs once more, to find that his patient was still sleeping,
+with Judith watching by his pillow.
+
+Oldroyd just nodded to her, and made a motion with one finger that she
+should come to his side.
+
+"I'll ride over in the afternoon," he whispered; and then he went
+quietly down, said "good-morning" to the woman waiting, and with the
+sensation upon him that the night's work did not seem so horrible now
+that the sun had risen, he stepped out.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter VIII.
+
+WHY THE SLUGS ATE LUCY'S MUSHROOMS.
+
+Three men, one of whom was the last night's messenger, Caleb Kent, a
+stranger to Oldroyd, were lounging about by the cottage gate as the
+doctor stepped out, and their looks asked the question they longed to
+have answered.
+
+"I think he'll get over it, my men," said Oldroyd.  "It's a narrow
+escape for him, though, if he does pull through."
+
+The men exchanged glances.
+
+"I suppose you'll have the police over before long, and--What's the
+matter?"
+
+The men were looking sharply down the road.
+
+"I mean they'll want to question him about the scoundrels who did this
+work."
+
+"It warn't no scoundrels, did it, doctor," said Caleb Kent, with a
+vicious snarl.
+
+"But I took it that the keeper had been shot by poachers."
+
+"It were Cap'n Rolph shot him," said Caleb, fiercely.
+
+"Dear me!  What a sad accident."
+
+"Accident?" cried Caleb Kent, with an ugly laugh.  "Why, I see him lift
+his gun and take aim.  It was just as I was going to hit at him."
+
+"Nonsense, my lad: his own master."
+
+"Arn't no master of his'n now.  Sacked nigh three months ago."
+
+Oldroyd stared.
+
+"Here, I'm getting confused, my man.  That poor fellow upstairs is a
+keeper, isn't he?"
+
+"Was, sir," said Caleb Kent, with a grin; "but he arn't now.  He was out
+with us after the fezzans last night."
+
+"Hold your tongue," growled one of the other men.
+
+"Sha'n't.  What for?  Doctor won't tell on us."
+
+"Then it is as I thought.  You are a gang of poachers, and the man
+upstairs is hand and glove with you."
+
+"Well, why not, sir.  They sacked him, and no one wouldn't have him,
+because he used once to do a bit o' nights hisself 'fore he turned
+keeper.  Man can't starve when there's hares and fezzans about."
+
+"Went a bit like out o' spite," said Caleb.  "Hadn't been out with us
+before."
+
+"Humph! and you come and fetch me and tell me this," said Oldroyd.  "How
+do you know that I shall not go and give notice to the police?"
+
+"Cause we know'd better.  Caleb here was going to fetch old Blunt from
+the town; but I says if you fetch him, he'll go back and tell the
+police."
+
+"And how do you know that I shall not?" said Oldroyd, tartly.
+
+"Gent as goes out of his way to tent a poor labrer's wife when her
+chap's out o' work, and does so much for the old folks, arn't likely to
+do such a dirty trick as that.  Eh, mates?"
+
+"Humph! you seem to have a pretty good opinion of me," said Oldroyd.
+
+"Yes, sir, we knows a gen'leman when we sees one.  We'll pay you, sir,
+all right.  You won't let out on us, seeing how bad the poor fellow is."
+
+Oldroyd was silent and thoughtful for a few moments, and then he turned
+sharply upon Caleb Kent.
+
+"Look here, sir," he said; "you've got a tongue and it runs rather too
+fast.  You made an ugly charge against that man's late master."
+
+"I said I see him shute him," said Caleb.
+
+"And you did not see anything of the kind."
+
+"You gents allus stick up for each other," muttered Caleb.
+
+"You could not see what took place in the darkness and excitement of a
+fight, so hold your tongue.  Such a charge would make endless mischief,
+and it must be a mistake."
+
+"All right, sir," said Caleb.
+
+"It would upset that poor girl, too, if she heard such a thing."
+
+"Yes, it would upset her sure enough if she heard," said Caleb, with a
+peculiar smile, and he walked away.
+
+"I ought to give you fellows a lecture on the danger of night poaching,"
+continued Oldroyd.
+
+"Don't, sir, please," said one of the men, with a laugh, "for it
+wouldn't do no good.  'Sides; we might want to hing a brace o' fezzans
+or a hare up agin your door now and then."
+
+"Here, don't you do anything of the kind, my lads," cried Oldroyd.  "I
+forbid it, mind.  Now get me my pony."
+
+"All right, sir; we'll mind what you says," said the man who had spoken,
+looking mirthfully round at his companions, one of whom at once
+accompanied him to a low shed where the pony was munching some hay.  The
+willing little beast was saddled while Oldroyd walked up and down the
+path with an abundance of sweet-scented and gay old-fashioned flowers on
+either side.  Carnations and scarlet lychnis, and many-headed sun
+flowers and the like, were bright in the morning sunshine, for all
+seemed to have been well tended; but, all at once, he came upon a
+terrible tell-tale bit of evidence of the last night's work upon the red
+bricks that formed the path--one that made him scrape off a little mould
+from the bed with his foot, and spread it over the ugly patch.
+
+"The cottage looks simple and innocent enough, with its roses, to be the
+home of peace," he muttered.  "Ah! how man does spoil his life for the
+sake of coin.  Thank you, my lad--that's right," he added, as his last
+night's messenger brought the pony to the gate.
+
+He mounted, and thrust a coin, that he could not spare, into his
+temporary ostler's hand.
+
+"Let him go.  Fine morning, isn't it?"
+
+But Caleb held on sturdily by the pony's bridle, and thrust the piece
+back with an air of sturdy independence.
+
+"No, thankye, sir," he said.  "Me and my mates don't want paying by a
+gentleman as comes to help one of us.  'Sides which, we're a-going to
+pay you; aren't we, lads?"
+
+"Ay, that's so," growled the others.  "Don't take it."
+
+With the cleverness of a pickpocket, but the reverse action--say of a
+negative and not a positive pickpocket--the florin was thrust into
+Oldroyd's vest, and the man drew back, leaving the doctor to pursue his
+way.
+
+"Poachers even are not so black as they are painted," he said to himself
+as he cantered along, and then he fell to thinking of the girl he had
+seen that morning.  "They've better daughters than you would have
+suspected, more affectionate wives, the best of neighbours, and
+companions as honest and faithful as one could wish; and, all the while,
+they are a set of confounded scoundrels and thieves, for it's just as
+dishonest to shoot and steal a man's carefully-raised foreign birds--his
+pheasants--as it is to break into a hen-roost.  As to partridges and
+hares, of course they are wild things; but, so long as they lived and
+bred on one's land, they must be as genuine property as the apples and
+pears that grow upon a fellow's trees.  Yes, poachers are thieves; and I
+daresay my friend there, with the shot-hole in his body, is as great a
+scoundrel as the worst."
+
+He laughed as he cantered along the soft green beside the road.
+
+"My practice is improving.  I shall have my connection amongst the
+rogues and vagabonds mightily increased, for I certainly shall not go
+and inform the police: not my business to do that.  They're punished
+enough, even if I pull him through.  And I shall," he said aloud.  "I
+must and will, for the sake of his pretty daughter.  I wonder whether
+they'll pay me after all," he went on, as the pony ambled over the
+grass, and the naturally sordid ideas of the man often pressed for money
+and struggling for his income, came uppermost.  "When people are in the
+first throes of excitement and gratitude for the help Doctor Bolus has
+rendered them, they almost worship him, and they'll give, or rather they
+will promise, anything; but when time has had his turn, and the
+gratitude has begun to cool, it's a different thing altogether; and,
+last of all, when the bill goes in--oh dear, for poor human nature, if
+the case had been left alone, A, B, C, or D would have got better
+without help.
+
+"Well, never mind," he said merrily, for the refreshment and the
+delicious morning air were telling upon his spirits, "the world goes
+round and round all the same, and human nature is one of the things that
+cannot be changed."
+
+He had to turn the pony out on to the road here, for the long green
+strands of the brambles were hanging right out over the grass, and
+catching at his legs as he cantered by.  The soft mists were floating
+away as he began to descend the hilly slope, still at his feet the
+landscape seemed to be half hidden by clouds, through which hillocks,
+and hedge, and trees were visible, with here and there a house or a
+brown patch of the rough common land; and right away on the other side,
+stood up, grim and depressing of aspect, the ugly brick house upon the
+big hillock of sand, with the various and grim-looking edifices that
+Moray Alleyne had raised.  Forming a background were the sombre fir
+trees with the column-topped slope and hill; and, even at that distance,
+he could make out, here and there, portions of the sandy lane that
+skirted the pine slope, which formed so striking an object in the
+surrounding landscape.
+
+So beautiful was the scene in the early morning, so varied the tints,
+that Oldroyd checked his pony, and told himself that he could not do
+better than pause and admire the landscape.  But somehow his eyes lit
+upon the ugliest object there, focused themselves so as to get the most
+photographic idea upon the polished plate of his memory, and there they
+stayed, for he saw nothing else but Mrs Alleyne's gloomy house.
+
+This, however, is not quite the fact, for in a most absurd way--for a
+young medical man who had been telling himself a hundred times over that
+it would be insanity for him to think of marrying--he furnished that
+gloomy picture with one figure that seemed to him to turn the whole
+place into a palace of beauty, of whose aspect he could never tire.
+
+"Go along!" he exclaimed aloud at last, as if to himself for his absurd
+thoughts; but the pony took the order as being applied to the beast of
+burden present, and went off at once in a good canter, one that gained
+spirit from the fact that he knew the way and that way was homewards.
+
+So absorbed was Oldroyd that he left the sturdy little animal to itself,
+and it went pretty swiftly over the driest bits of close, velvety turf,
+cleverly avoiding the bigger furze clumps, and reaching at last the
+lighter ground where the fir trees grew.  Then it snorted and would have
+increased its pace, but there were awkward stumps here and there, and
+slippery places, such as the cleverest pony could not avoid, so the
+rider drew rein, and let the little steed amble gently along.
+
+All at once Philip Oldroyd's heart seemed to stand still, and he checked
+the pony suddenly, sitting breathless and half stunned, gazing straight
+before him at a couple of figures passing along the road.
+
+He drew a long breath that hissed between his closed teeth; and even a
+pearl diver might have envied his power of retaining that breath, so
+long was it before he exhaled it again.
+
+Then he turned his pony's head, bent down his darkened face till his
+chin rested upon his breast, and rode forward again; but the pony began
+to resist a change which suggested going right away from home.  He
+drummed its ribs fiercely with his heels, and pressed it on, but only to
+turn its head directly after, forcing himself into a state of composure
+as he rode quietly by Lucy Alleyne and Rolph, and saluted them as he
+passed.
+
+It was hard work to ride on like that, without looking back, but he
+mastered himself and went quickly on for some distance before drawing
+rein, and sitting like a statue upon the pony, which began to graze, and
+only lifted its head and gave a momentary glance at Lucy, when, sobbing
+as if she would break her heart, the little lady nearly ran up against
+the waiting rider and his steed.
+
+"Mr Oldroyd!" cried Lucy, after giving vent to that astonished,
+frightened "Oh!"
+
+"Yes, Miss Alleyne," he said coldly, "Mr Oldroyd."
+
+"Why--why are you stopping me like that?  Oh, I beg your pardon;
+good-morning!" she cried hastily, and in a quick, furtive way she swept
+the tears from her eyes, and wiped her pretty little nose, which crying
+was turning of a pinky hue.
+
+"Was I stopping you?" he said, speaking mechanically, and glancing
+straight before him.  "I have been out all night with a patient six
+miles away."
+
+"Indeed!" said Lucy, hastily; "yes, it is a beautiful morning."
+
+She went by him without trusting herself to look in his face.
+
+"If I did so, I should burst out sobbing," she said to herself.
+
+But by the time Lucy had gone half a score yards, Oldroyd was by her
+side, the pony keeping step with her, pace for pace, while the little
+woman's breast was heaving with love, sorrow and despair.
+
+"What will he think? what will he think?" she kept saying to herself as
+she longed to lay her hands in his, and to tell him that it was no fault
+of hers, but an accident that Captain Rolph had met her during her walk.
+
+But she could not tell him--she dared not.  It was like a confession
+that she cared for his opinion more than for that of anybody in the
+world.  It would be unmaidenly, and degrading, and strange; and there
+was nothing for her to do but assume anger and annoyance, and treat
+Oldroyd as if he had been playing the part of spy.
+
+A very weak conclusion, no doubt, but it was the only one at which, in
+her misery, she arrived.
+
+The sun was shining now from a pure, blue sky, the birds were darting
+beneath the trees, where the long spider webs hung, strung with jewels,
+that flashed and glowed as they were passing fast away.  There was a
+delicious aroma, too, in the soft breeze that floated from among the
+gloomy pines; but to those who went on, side by side, it was as if the
+morning had become overcast; all was stormy and grey, and life was in
+future to be one long course of desolation and despair.  Nature was at
+her best, and all was beautiful; but Lucy could not see a ray of hope in
+the far-off future.  Philip Oldroyd could see a gloomy, wasted life--the
+life of a man who had trusted and believed; but to find that the woman
+was weak and vain as the rest of her sex.
+
+They had relapsed into silence, and were going on pretty swiftly towards
+The Firs, but their proceedings did not seem to either to be at all
+strange.  Lucy's destination was, of course, home, and Oldroyd appeared
+resolved to accompany her; why, he knew not, and it did not trouble him
+after the first few minutes, seeming quite natural that he should take
+her to task, and he determined, as a punishment, to see her safely back.
+She did not deserve it, of that she was sure, but there was something
+comfortable and satisfactory in being thus silently scolded by one much
+wiser and stronger than herself.
+
+Oldroyd wished to speak.  He had a good deal to say--so he felt, but not
+a word escaped him till they reached the steep path that ran up to the
+gates at The Firs, when he drew rein, and made way for Lucy to pass.
+
+"Good-bye," he said.
+
+"Good-bye," faltered Lucy, looking at him wistfully.
+
+He looked down into her eyes from where he sat, with his very heart
+ready to leap from his breast towards her; but, as he gazed, he saw
+again the sunny sandy road with the velvety grass, and golden-bloomed
+furze on either side; the long, sloping bank with its columnar pines,
+and the dark background of sombre green, while in front was Lucy, the
+girl in whom he had so believed, walking with Rolph; and then all was
+bitterness and cloud once more.
+
+"He was marked," thought Oldroyd; "there was a patch of plaister on his
+forehead.  Hang it all! could he have shot that man?"
+
+The doctor's heart beat fast, for, in a confused fashion, light, the
+glimmering light upon a reflector when an image plays about the focus of
+a telescope, he saw difficulties dragging Captain Rolph away from that
+neighbourhood: a man dying of his wounds, and Lucy Alleyne turning from
+her idol in utter disgust.
+
+But he shook his head.
+
+"Nothing to me," he cried, with a bitter laugh, as he rode away.  "The
+old story--Nature asserting herself once more.  A fine figure, grand
+muscles, a chest that is deep and round, and the noble bovine front of a
+bull, and you have the demi-god gentle woman makes her worship.  Ah,
+well, it was time I awakened from a silly dream.  Good-bye, little Lucy,
+good-bye!  Next time I come to see your brother, I'll wear the armoured
+jerkin of common sense.  What a weak idiot I have been."
+
+There were no mushrooms that morning for Mrs Alleyne's breakfast; those
+which Lucy should have brought home lying by the wayside, whereat the
+slugs rejoiced and had a glorious banquet all to themselves.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter IX.
+
+THE MAJOR HAPPENS TO BE THERE.
+
+A poaching affray was too common an affair in the neighbourhood of
+Brackley to make much stir.  Sir John went in for two or three
+discussions with his keepers, and the rural policeman had been summoned,
+this worthy feeling sure that he would be able--in his own words--to put
+his hand upon the parties; but though the officer might have had the
+ability to put his hand upon the parties, he did not do so, or if he
+did, he forgot to close it.  Then the dog was buried, and as a set off,
+Sir John had a fire made of the nets and stakes that had been taken from
+the gang; these, and their spoil of several brace of pheasants and
+partridges and a few hares, having been left behind in their hurried
+flight.
+
+So, as it happened, the active and intelligent constable made no
+discoveries; but Rolph did, and whereas the one would have revelled in
+the hopes of promotion, and in seeing his name several times in the
+county paper; the other, when he had made his discovery, said only--and
+to himself--that it was "doosid awkward," and held his peace.
+
+"I never did see such a girl as you are to read," said Rolph, entering
+the drawing-room one afternoon, when he had ridden over from Aldershot;
+"at it again."
+
+He spoke lightly and merrily, and Glynne hastily put aside her book, and
+rose from her chair.
+
+"Did you want me to go out for a ride, Robert?" she said rather eagerly.
+
+"Well, no; not this afternoon."
+
+The smile Glynne had called up, and which came with an unbidden flush,
+died out slowly, and a look of calmness, even of relief, dawned upon her
+countenance as the young man went on.
+
+"Thought you wouldn't mind if we didn't go this afternoon.  Looks a bit
+doubtful, too.  Quite fine, now, but the weather does change so
+rapidly."
+
+"Does it?" said Glynne, looking at him rather wistfully.
+
+"Yes.  I think it's the pine woods.  High trees.  Attract moisture.
+Don't say it is, dear.  I'm not big at that sort of thing, but we do
+have a deal of rain here."
+
+"Why, papa was complaining the other day about want of water," said
+Glynne, smiling.
+
+"Ah, that was for his turnips.  They want rain.  You won't be
+disappointed?"
+
+"I?--oh, no," said Glynne, quietly.
+
+"Think I'll do a bit of training this afternoon.  I'm not quite up to
+the mark."
+
+"Are you always going to train so much, dear?" said Glynne,
+thoughtfully.
+
+"Always?  Eh?  Always?  Oh, no; of course not; but it's a man's duty to
+get himself up to the very highest pitch of health and strength.  But if
+you'd set your mind upon a ride, we'll go."
+
+"I?--oh, no," said Glynne.  "I thought you wished it, dear."
+
+"That's all right then," said Rolph, cheerfully.  "By-bye, beauty," he
+said, kissing her.  "I say, Glynne, 'pon my word, I think you are the
+most lovely woman I ever saw."
+
+She smiled at him as he turned at the doorway, nodding back at her, and
+she remained fixed to the spot as the captain, cigar in mouth, passed
+directly after, turning to kiss his hand as he saw her dimly through the
+window.
+
+For Glynne did not run across the room to stand and watch him till he
+was out of sight, but remained where he had left her, with a couple of
+dull red spots glowing in her cheeks for a time, and then dying slowly
+out, leaving her very pale.
+
+Glynne was thinking deeply, and it was evident that her thoughts were
+giving her pain, for her eyes darkened, then half-closed, and she slowly
+walked up and down the room a few times, and then returned to her chair,
+to bend over, rest her head upon her hand, and sit gazing straight
+before her at the soft carpet, remaining almost motionless for quite
+half-an-hour, when she sighed deeply, took up her book, and continued
+reading.
+
+Rolph went right off at once through the park and out across the long
+meadow and into the fir wood, where, as if led by some feeling of
+attraction, he made for the spot where the encounter had taken place a
+week before, and stopped for a few minutes to gaze at the ground, as if
+he expected to see the traces still there.
+
+"Tchah!" he exclaimed, impatiently; "it was an accident.  Guns will go
+off sometimes."
+
+He wrenched himself away, walking on amongst the trees rapidly for a
+time, and then stopped to relight his cigar, whose near end was a good
+deal gnawed and shortened.
+
+"Tchah!" he ejaculated again.  "I won't think of it.  Just as well blame
+oneself, if a fellow in one's troop goes down, and breaks his leg in a
+charge."
+
+He puffed furiously at his cigar as he went on, and then forgot it
+again, so that it went out, and he threw it away impatiently, thrust his
+hands into his pockets, and walked as fast as the nature of the ground
+would permit.
+
+For, evidently with the idea of giving himself a very severe course of
+training, he kept in the woods where the pathways were rugged and
+winding and so little frequented that at times the young growth crossed,
+switching his hat or face, and often having to be beaten back by the
+hands which he unwillingly withdrew from his pockets.
+
+Rolph probably meant to reach some particular spot before he turned, for
+twice over he crossed a lane, and instead of taking advantage of the
+better path afforded, he plunged again into the woods and went on.
+
+At the end of an hour he came upon another lane more solitary and unused
+than those he had passed.  It was a mere track occasionally used by the
+woodcutters for a timber wagon, and the marks of the broad wheels were
+here and there visible in the white sand, which as a rule trickled down
+into all depressions, fine as that in an hour-glass, and hid the marks
+left by man.
+
+"Rather warm," muttered Rolph as he was crossing the sandy track; and he
+was in the act of charging up the bank on the other side, when there was
+a cheery hail, and as he turned with an angry ejaculation, he became
+aware of the fact that Sir John was coming along the lane upon one of
+his ponies, whose tread was unheard in the soft sand.
+
+"Why, hullo, Rob, where are you going?" cried the baronet.  "You look
+like a lost man in a forest."
+
+"Do I? oh, only having a good breather.  Getting a little too much fat.
+Must keep myself down.  Ride very heavy with all my accoutrements."
+
+"Hah!  Yes.  You're a big fellow," said Sir John, looking at him rather
+fixedly.  "Why didn't you have the horses out, then, and take Glynne for
+a ride?"
+
+"Glynne?  By Jove, sir, I did propose it, only she had got a book in the
+drawing-room."
+
+"Damn the books!" cried Sir John, pettishly.  "She reads too much.  But,
+hang it all, Rob, my lad, don't let her grow into a bookworm because
+she's engaged.  She's not half the girl she was before this fixture, as
+you'd call it, was made."
+
+"Well, really, I--"
+
+"Yes, yes, I know what you'd say.  You do your best.  But, hang it all,
+don't let her mope, and be always indoors.  Plenty of time for that when
+there are half-a-dozen children in the nursery, eh?  Coming back my
+way?"
+
+"No.  Oh, no," cried Rolph, hastily; "I must finish my walk.  I shall
+take a short cut back.  Been for a ride?"
+
+"I?  Pooh!  I don't go for rides, my lad.  I've been to see my sheep on
+the hills, and I've another lot to see.  There, good-bye till
+dinner-time, if you won't come."
+
+He touched his pony's ribs and cantered off.  Rolph plunging into the
+wood, and hastily glancing at his watch as he hurried on.
+
+"Lovers are different to what they were when I was a young fellow," said
+Sir John.  "We were a bit chivalrous and attentive then.  Pooh!  So they
+are now.  There's no harm in the lad.  It isn't such a bad thing to keep
+his body in a state of perfection--real perfection of health and
+strength.  Makes a young fellow moral and pure-minded; but I wish he
+would devote himself more to Glynne.  Take her out more; she looks too
+pale."
+
+"Hang him!  I wish he had been at Jericho," muttered the subject of Sir
+John's thoughts.  "Let's see, I can keep along all the way in the woods
+now.  I sha'n't meet any one there."
+
+The prophecy concerning people held good for a quarter of an hour or so,
+and then, turning rapidly into an open fir glade, Rolph found out that
+being prophetic does not pay without a long preliminary preparation, and
+an ingenious consideration of probabilities and the like, for he
+suddenly came plump upon the major, stooping down, trowel in hand--so
+suddenly, in fact, that he nearly fell over him, and the two started
+back, the one with a muttered oath, the other with words of surprise.
+
+"Why, I didn't expect to find you in this out-of-the-way place," said
+the major.
+
+"By Jove, that's just what I was going to say," cried Rolph.
+
+"Not raw beef-steaks this time, is it?" said the major with a grim look
+full of contempt.
+
+"Steaks--raw steaks.  I don't understand you."
+
+"This is rough woodland; you are not training now, are you?" said the
+major, carefully placing what looked like a handful of dirty little
+blackish potatoes in his fishing creel.
+
+"Training?  Well, yes, of course I am.  Keeping myself up to the mark,"
+retorted Rolph.  "A soldier, in my opinion, ought to be the very
+perfection of manly strength."
+
+"Well, yes," said the major, rubbing the soil off one of his dirty
+little truffles, and then polishing his bright little steel trowel with
+a piece of newspaper, "but the men of my time did pretty well with no
+other training than their military drill."
+
+"_Autres_--I forget the rest," said Rolph.  "I never was good at French.
+It means other fellows had other manners in other times, major.  Got a
+good haul of toadstools?"
+
+"No, sir, I have not got a good haul of toadstools to-day; but I have
+unearthed a few truffles.  Should you like a dish for dinner?"
+
+"Thanks, no.  Not coming my way, I suppose?"
+
+"No," said the major.  "I think I shall trudge back."
+
+"Ho!" exclaimed Rolph.  "Well, then, I'll say _ta-ta_, till
+dinner-time;" and he went off at a good swinging pace.
+
+"Almost looks as if they were watching me," muttered the young officer,
+as he trudged on.  "Tchah! no!  The old boys wouldn't do that, either of
+them;" and he turned into one of the thickest portions of the wood.
+
+The major kept on rubbing his little steel trowel till long after it was
+dry, and then slowly sheathed it, as if it were a sword, before going
+thoughtfully on hunting up various specimens of the singular plants that
+he made his study.
+
+"It's very curious," he mused, "very.  Women are unmistakably enigmas,
+and I suppose that things must take their course.  Bless me!  I must
+want some of his training.  It's very warm."
+
+He stopped, took out his handkerchief, a genuine Indian bandanna, that
+he had brought home himself years ago, and now very soft and pleasant to
+the touch, but decidedly the worse for wear.  He wiped his face, took
+off his hat, and had a good dab at his forehead, and then, after a few
+minutes' search round the bole of a huge beech, whose bark was
+ornamented with patches of lovely cream and grey lichens, he stopped
+short to look at a great broad buttress-like root, which spread itself
+in so tempting a way that it suggested a comfortable garden seat, a
+great favourite of the major's.  Then, with a smile of satisfaction, the
+old man sat down, shuffled himself about a little, and finally found it
+so agreeable, with his back resting against the tree, that he fell into
+a placid state of musing on the various specimens he had collected; from
+them he began to think of his niece, then of Lucy Alleyne, and then of
+Rolph, returning to his niece by a natural sequence, and then thinking
+extremely deeply of nothing.
+
+It was wonderfully quiet out there in the woods.  Now and then a bird
+chirped, and the harsh caw of a rook, softened by distance, was heard.
+Anon there came a tap on the ground, as if something had fallen from
+high up in the big tree, and then, after a pause, there was a rustle and
+swishing about of twigs and leaves, as something bounded from bough to
+bough, ran lightly along the bigger branches, and finally stopped,
+gazing with bright, dark eyes at the sleeping intruder.  The latter made
+no sign, so after a while, the squirrel gave its beautiful, bushy tail a
+few twitches, uttered a low, impatient sound that resembled the chopping
+of wood on a block, and then scurried down the bole of the tree, picked
+up something, and ran off.
+
+Soon after a rabbit came cantering among the leaves, sat up, raising it
+ears stiffly above its head, drooped its fore paws, and stared in turn
+at the sleeper, till, gaining confidence from his motionless position,
+it played about, ran round, gave two or three leaps from the ground, and
+then proceeded to nibble at various succulent herbs that grew just
+outside the drip from the branches of the beech.
+
+The rabbit disappeared in turn, and after picking up a worm that had
+slipped out of the ground, consequent upon the rabbit having given a few
+scratches, in one place, a round-eyed robin flitted to a low, bare twig
+of the beech, and sat inspecting the major, as if he were one of the
+children lost in the wood, and it was necessary to calculate how many
+leaves it would take to cover him before the task was commenced.
+
+The delicious, scented silence of the wood continued for long enough,
+and then closely following each other, with a peculiarly silent flight,
+half-a-dozen grey birds came down a green arcade straight for the great
+beech, where one of them, with vivid blue edges to its wings, all lined
+with black, and a fierce black pair of moustachios, set up its loose,
+speckled, warm grey crest, and uttered a most demonically harsh cry of
+"_schah-tchah-tchah_!" taking flight at once, followed by its
+companions, giving vent to the same harsh scream in reply, and making
+the major start from his nap, spring up, and stare about.
+
+"Jays!" he cried.  "Bless my soul, I must have been asleep."
+
+He pulled out his watch, glanced at it, muttered something about "a good
+hour," which really was under the mark, and then, after a glance at his
+specimens and a re-arrangement of his creel, he started to trudge back
+to the Hall, but stopped and hesitated.
+
+"Too far that way," he said.  "I'll try the road and the common."
+
+He glanced at the tiny pocket compass attached to his watch-chain, and
+started off once more in a fresh direction, one which he knew would
+bring him out on the road near Lindham.  The path he soon found was one
+evidently rarely used, and deliciously soft and mossy to his feet, as,
+refreshed by his nap, he went steadily on, following the windings till
+he stopped short wonderingly, surprised by eye and ear, for as he went
+round a sudden turn it was to find himself within a yard or two of a
+girl seated on the mossy ground, her arms clasping her knees, and her
+face bent down upon them, sobbing as if her heart would break.
+
+"My good girl," cried the chivalrous major eagerly.
+
+Before he could say more, the woman's head was raised, so that in the
+glance he obtained he saw that she was young, dark and handsome, in
+spite of her red and swollen eyes, dishevelled, dark hair, and
+countenance generally disfigured by a passionate burst of crying.
+
+For a moment the girl seemed about to bound up and run; but she checked
+the impulse, clasped her knees once more, and hid her face upon them.
+
+"Why, I ought to know your face," said the major.  "Mr Rolph's keeper's
+daughter, if I am not mistaken?"
+
+There was no reply, only a closer hiding of the face, and a shiver.
+
+"Can I do anything for you?" said the major kindly.  "Is anything the
+matter?"
+
+"No.  Go away!" cried the girl in low, muffled tones.
+
+"But you are in trouble."
+
+"Go away!" cried the girl fiercely; and this she reiterated so bitterly
+that the major shrugged his shoulders and moved off a step or two.
+
+"Are you sure I cannot assist you?" said the major, hesitating about
+leaving the girl in her trouble.
+
+"Go away, I tell you."
+
+"Well then, will you tell me where to find the Lindham road?"
+
+For answer she averted her head from him and pointed in one direction.
+This he followed, found the road and the open common, coming out close
+to a cottage to which he directed his steps in search of a cup of water.
+
+The door was half open, and as soon as his steps approached, an old
+woman's sharp voice exclaimed,--
+
+"Ah, you've come back then, you hussy!  Who was that came and called you
+out, eh?"
+
+"You are making a mistake," said the major quietly.  "I came to ask if I
+could have a glass of water?"
+
+"Oh yes, come in, whoever you are, if you ar'n't afraid to see an ugly
+old woman lying in bed.  I thought it was my grandchild.  Who are you?"
+
+"I come from Brackley," said the major, smiling down at the crotchety
+old thing in the bed.
+
+"Do you? oh, then I know you.  Your one of old Sir John Day's boys.  Be
+you the one who went sojering?"
+
+"Yes, I'm the one," said the major, smiling.
+
+"Ah, you've growed since then.  My master pointed you out to me one day
+on your pony.  Yes, to be sure, you was curly-headed then.  There, you
+can take some water; it's in the brown pitcher, and yonder's a mug.  It
+was fresh from the well two hours ago.  That gal had just fetched it
+when some one throwed a stone at the door, and she went out to see who
+threw it, she said.  Ah, she don't cheat me, a hussy.  She knowed, and I
+mean to know.  It was some chap, that's who it was, some chap--Caleb
+Kent maybe--and I'm not going to have her come pretending to do for me,
+and be running after gipsy chaps."
+
+"No, you must take care of the young folks," said the major.  "What
+beautiful water!"
+
+"Yes, my master dug that well himself, down to the stone, and it's
+beautiful water.  Have another mug?  That's right.  You needn't give me
+anything for it without you like; but a shilling comes in very useful to
+get a bit o' tea.  I often wish we could grow tea in one's own garden."
+
+"It would be handy," said the major.  "There's half-a-crown for you, old
+lady.  It's a shame that you should not have your bit of tea.
+Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye to you, and thank you kindly," cried the old woman; "and if
+you see that slut of a girl just you send her on to me."
+
+"I will," he said.  "Good-bye."
+
+"Good-bye," shrieked the old woman; and as the major passed out of the
+gate, the shrill voice came after him, "Mind you send her on if you see
+her."
+
+The words reached a second pair of ears, those of Judith, who flushed up
+hot and angry as she found herself once more in the presence of the
+major.
+
+"You've been telling her about me," she cried fiercely.  "It's cowardly;
+it's cruel."
+
+She stood up before him so flushed and handsome that the major felt as
+it were the whole of her little story.
+
+"No," he said quietly, "I have not told your grandmother about you; she
+has been telling me."
+
+With an angry, indignant look the girl swept by him and entered the
+cottage.
+
+"Poor lass, she is very handsome," said the major to himself, "and it
+seems as if her bit of life romance is not going so smoothly as it
+should.  Hah! that was a capital drop of water; it gives one life.
+Crying in the woods, eh--after a signal that the old lady heard.  Gipsy
+lad, eh?  Bad sign--bad sign.  Ah, well," he added, with a sigh, "I'm
+getting too old a man to think of love affairs; but, somehow, I often
+wonder now that I did not marry."
+
+That thought came to him several times as he walked homeward over the
+boggy common, and rose again more strongly as he came in sight of The
+Firs and the grim, black mansion on the hillock.  Fort Science, as he
+had jestingly called it, looked at times bright and sunny, and then
+dull, repulsive and cold.
+
+The major reached home after his very long walk rather out of spirits;
+and his valet, unasked, fetched him a cup of tea.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter X.
+
+LUCY EXAMINES THE EXAMINER.
+
+"I wish you would be more open with me, Moray," said Lucy to her
+brother.
+
+He was gazing through one of his glasses intently upon some celestial
+object, for the night was falling fast, and first one and then another
+star came twinkling out in the cold grey of the north-east.
+
+Alleyne raised his head slowly and looked at his sister's pretty
+enquiring face for a few moments, and then resumed his task.
+
+"Don't understand you," he said quietly.
+
+"Now, Moray, you must," cried Lucy, pettishly; "you have only one
+sister, and you ought to tell her everything."
+
+As she spoke, in a playful, childish way, she began tying knots in her
+brother's long beard, and made an attempt to join a couple of threads
+behind his head, but without result, the crisp curly hairs being about
+half-an-inch too short.
+
+Alleyne paid no heed to her playful tricks for a time, and she went
+on,--
+
+"If I were a man--which, thank goodness, I am not--I'd try to be
+learned, and wise, and clever, but I'd be manly as well, and strong and
+active, and able to follow all out-door pursuits."
+
+"Like Captain Rolph," said Alleyne, with a smile, half reproach, half
+satire.
+
+"No," cried Lucy, emphatically; "he is all animalism.  He has all the
+strength that I like to see, and nothing more.  No, the man I should
+like to be, would combine all that energy with the wisdom of one who
+thinks, and uses his brains.  Captain Rolph, indeed!"
+
+What was meant for a withering, burning look of scorn appeared on Lucy's
+lips; but it was only pretty and provocative; it would not have scorched
+a child.
+
+"No, dear, the man I should like to be would be something very different
+from him.  There, I don't care what you say to the contrary, you love
+Glynne, and I shall tell her so."
+
+"You love your brother too well ever to degrade him in the eyes of your
+friend, Lucy," said Alleyne, drawing her to him, and stroking her hair.
+"Even if--if--"
+
+"There, do say it out, Moray.  If you did or do love her.  I do wish you
+wouldn't be so girlish and weak."
+
+"Am I girlish and weak?" he said thoughtfully.
+
+"Yes, and dreamy and strange, when you, who are such a big fine-looking
+fellow, might be all that a woman could love."
+
+"All that a woman could love?" he said thoughtfully.
+
+"Yes; instead of which you neglect yourself and go shabby and rough, and
+let your hair grow long.  Oh, if I only could make you do what I liked.
+Come now, confess; you are very fond of Glynne?"
+
+He looked at her dreamily for a while, but did not reply.  It was as
+though his thoughts were busy upon something she had said before, and it
+was not until Lucy was about to speak that he checked her.
+
+"Yes," he said, "you are right; I have given up everything to my
+studies.  I have neglected myself, my mother, you, Lucy.  What would you
+say if I were to change?"
+
+"Oh, Moray!" she cried, catching his hands; "and will you?--for Glynne's
+sake."
+
+"Hush!" he cried sternly; and his brows knit, as he looked down angrily
+in her face.  "Lucy, you wish me to be strong; if I am to be, you must
+never speak like that again.  I have been weak, and in my weakness I
+have listened to your girlish prattle about your friend.  Have you
+forgotten that she is to be--Captain Rolph's wife?"
+
+"No," cried Lucy impetuously, "I have not forgotten; I never can forget
+it; but if she ever is his wife, she will bitterly repent it to the
+end."
+
+"Hush!" he exclaimed again, and his eyes grew more stern, and there was
+a quiver of his lip.  "Let there be an end of this."
+
+"But do you not see that he is unworthy of her--that his tastes are low
+and contemptible; that he cannot appreciate her in the least, and--and
+besides, dear, he--he--is not honest and faithful."
+
+"How do you know this?" cried Alleyne sternly.
+
+Lucy flushed crimson.
+
+"I know it by his ways--by his words," she said, recovering herself, and
+speaking with spirit, "I like Glynne; I love her, dear, and it pains me
+more than I can say, to see her drifting towards such a fate.  Why,
+Moray, see how she has changed of late--see how she has taken to your
+studies, how she hangs upon every word you say, how--oh, Moray!"
+
+She stopped in affright, for he clutched her arm with a violence that
+caused her intense pain.  His brow was rugged, and an angry glare shot
+from his eyes, while when he spoke, it was in a low husky voice.
+
+"Lucy," he said, "once for all, never use such words as these to me
+again.  There, there, little bird, I'm not very angry; but listen to
+me," and he drew her to his side in a tender caressing way.  "Is this
+just--is this right?  You ask me to be more manly and less of the
+dreaming student that I have been so long, and you ask me to start upon
+my new career with a dishonourable act--to try and presume upon the
+interest your friend has taken in my pursuit to tempt her from her
+duties to the man who is to be her husband.  There, let this be
+forgotten; but I will do what you wish."
+
+"You will, Moray?" cried Lucy, who was now sobbing.
+
+"Yes," he cried, as he hid from himself the motive power that was
+energising his life.  "Yes, I will now be a man.  I will show you--the
+world--that one can be a great student and thinker, and at the same time
+a man of that world--a gentleman of this present day.  The man who
+calculates the distance of one of the glorious orbs I have made my
+study, rarely is as others are in manners and discourse--educated in the
+ordinary pursuits of life--without making himself ridiculous if he
+mounts a horse--absurd if he has to stand in competition with his peers.
+Yes, you are right, Lucy, I have been a dreaming recluse; now the
+dreams shall be put away, and I will awaken into this new life."
+
+Lucy clapped her hands, and, flinging her arms round her brother kissed
+him affectionately, and then drew her face back to gaze in his.
+
+"Why, Moray," she cried proudly, "there isn't such a man for miles as
+you would be, if you did as others do."
+
+He laughed as he kissed her, and then gently put her away.
+
+"There," he said, "go now.  I have something here--a calculation I must
+finish."
+
+"And now you are going back to your figures again?" she cried pettishly.
+
+"Yes, for a time," he replied; "but I will not forget my promise."
+
+"You will not?" she cried.
+
+"I give you my word," he said, and kissing him affectionately once
+again, Lucy left the observatory.
+
+"He has forbidden me to speak," she said to herself, with a glow of
+triumph in her eyes, "but it will come about all the same.  He loves
+Glynne with all his heart, and the love of such a man as he is cannot
+change.  Glynne is beginning, too; and when she quite finds it out, she
+will never go and swear faith to that miserable Rolph.  I am going to
+wait and let things arrange themselves, as I'm sure they will."
+
+The object of her thoughts was not going on with the astronomical
+calculation, but pacing the observatory to and fro, with his brow knit,
+and a feverish energy burning in his brain.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter XI.
+
+THE DOCTOR BRINGS ALLEYNE DOWN.
+
+About an hour later Oldroyd called; and, as the bell jangled at the gate
+and Eliza went slowly down, Lucy's face turned crimson, and she ran to
+the window and listened, to hear the enquiry,--"Is your mistress in?"
+
+That was enough.  The whole scene of that particular morning walk came
+back with a repetition of the agony of mind.  She saw Rolph in his
+ludicrous undress, striding along the sandy road; she heard again his
+maundering civilities, and she saw, too, the figure of Oldroyd seated
+upon the miller's pony, passing them, and afterwards blocking the way.
+
+It was he, now, seated upon the same pony; and, without waiting to hear
+Eliza's answer, Lucy fled to her bedroom and locked herself in, to begin
+sobbing and crying in the most ridiculous manner.
+
+"No, sir," said Eliza, with a bob; "she've gone to town shopping, but
+Miss Lucy's in the drawing-room."
+
+Eliza smiled to herself as she said this, giving herself the credit of
+having managed a splendid little bit of diplomacy, for, according to her
+code, young gents ought to have opportunities to talk to young ladies
+whenever there was a chance.  She was, however, terribly taken aback by
+the young doctor's words.
+
+"Thank you, yes, but I don't want to see her,"--words which, had she
+heard them, would have made Lucy's sobs come more quickly.  "Is Mr
+Alleyne in?"
+
+"Yes, sir, he's in the observatory."
+
+"I'll come in then," said Oldroyd; and he dismounted, and threw the rein
+over the ring hook in the yard wall.
+
+"If you please, sir," said the maid, who did not like to lose an
+opportunity now that a medical man was in the house, "I don't think I'm
+very well."
+
+"Eh, not well?" said Oldroyd, pausing in the hall, "why you appear as
+rosy and bonny as a girl can look."
+
+"Thankye, sir," said the girl, with a bob; "but I'm dreadful poorly, all
+the same."
+
+"Why, what's the matter?"
+
+For answer Eliza put her hands behind her, and seemed as if she were
+indulging in the school-girl trick of what is called "making a face" at
+the doctor, for she closed her eyes, opened her mouth, wrinkled her
+brow, and put out a very long red tongue, which quivered and curled up
+at the point.
+
+"That'll do," said Oldroyd, hiding a smile; and the tongue shot back,
+Eliza's eyes opened, her mouth closed, and the wrinkles disappeared from
+her face.
+
+"Will that do, sir?"
+
+"Yes; your tongue's beautifully healthy, your eyes are bright, and your
+skin moist and cool.  Why, what's the matter?"
+
+"Please sir, I'm quite well of a night," said Eliza, with another bob,
+"but I do have such dreadful dreams."
+
+"Oh!" said Oldroyd, drawing in a long breath, "I see.  Did you have a
+bad dream last night?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir, please.  I dreamed as a poacher were going to murder me,
+and I couldn't run away."
+
+"Let me see; you had supper last night at half-past nine, did you not?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Bread and Dutch cheese?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Ah, you want a little medicine," said Oldroyd quietly.  "I'll send you
+some."
+
+"And please, sir, how am I to take it?"
+
+"Oh, you'll find that on the bottle, and mind this: you are not to eat
+any more cheese for supper, but you may have as much butter as you like,
+and stale bread."
+
+"Thank you, sir.  Will you go in, sir?"
+
+"Yes, I'll go up," said Oldroyd, and then to himself, "What humbugs we
+doctors are; but we are obliged to be.  If I told the girl only to leave
+off eating cheese she would think she was ill-used, and as likely as not
+she would get a holiday on purpose to go over to the town and see
+another man."
+
+He tapped sharply on the door with the handle of his whip, and in
+response to the loud "Come in," entered, to find Alleyne standing
+amongst his instruments.
+
+"Ah, Oldroyd," he said, holding out his hand, which the other took,
+"glad to see you."
+
+"And I'm glad to see you--looking so much better," said Oldroyd.  "Why,
+man, your brain has been working in a new direction; your eyes don't
+look so dreamy, and the balance is getting right.  Come, confess, don't
+you feel more energetic than you did?"
+
+"Ten times," said Alleyne frankly.
+
+"Then you'll end by being a firm believer in my system--cure without
+drugs, eh?"
+
+"Indeed I shall," said Alleyne, smiling.
+
+"And to show how consistent I am," said Oldroyd, "I've just promised to
+send your maid a bottle of medicine.  But come, sir, I'm just off among
+the hills to see a patient.  It's a lovely day; only about six miles.
+Come with me, and I'll leave the pony and walk."
+
+Alleyne shook his head.
+
+"No," he said, "I should be very poor company for you, Oldroyd--yes, I
+will go," he cried, recollecting himself.  "Wait a minute and I'll be
+back."
+
+"All right," replied the doctor, who amused himself peeping among the
+various glasses till Alleyne came back in a closely-fitting shooting
+jacket, for which he had changed the long, loose dressing-gown he had
+worn.
+
+"That's better," cried Oldroyd, approvingly; "why, Alleyne, you will be
+worth two of the patients I saw a few months ago if you go on like
+this."
+
+Alleyne smiled sadly, and took a soft felt hat from its peg; and as he
+did so, he sent his hand again to his long, wild hair, and thought of
+his sister's words, the colour coming into his cheeks, as he said in an
+assumed easy-going manner,--
+
+"It's time I had my hair cut."
+
+"Well, not to put too fine a point upon it, Alleyne, it really is.  I
+like short hair, it is so comfortable on a windy day."
+
+The colour stayed in Alleyne's cheeks, for, in spite of himself, he felt
+a little nettled that his companion should have noticed this portion of
+his personal appearance; but he said nothing, and they went out into the
+yard, where, unfastening the pony, Oldroyd threw the rein over the
+docile little creature's neck and then tied it to a loop in the saddle,
+after which the pony followed them like a dog, till they reached its
+stable, where it was left.
+
+"Now," cried Oldroyd, "what do you say to a good tonic?"
+
+"Do I need one?" said Alleyne, looking at him wistfully.
+
+"Badly.  I don't mean physic, man," laughed Oldroyd, "but a strong dose
+of fresh air off the hills."
+
+Alleyne laughed, and they started off across the boggy heath, avoiding
+the soft places, and, wherever the ground was firm, striding along at a
+good brisk pace over the elastic turf, which seemed to communicate its
+springiness to their limbs, while the sweet breeze sent a fresh light
+into their eyes.
+
+Over the common and up the hilly lanes, where, as they went more slowly,
+Oldroyd told the history of his patient up at the common, the result of
+which was an animated discussion upon the game, laws, and Oldroyd began
+wondering at the change that had come over his companion.  He had taken
+in a new accession of nervous force, which lent animation to his
+remarks, and, as he noted all this, Oldroyd began wondering, for he
+frankly told himself that there must have been other influences at work
+to make this change.
+
+"Isn't that Captain Rolph?" he said suddenly, as they turned into a long
+lane that ran through one of the pine woods on the slope of a hill.
+
+"Rolph?" said Alleyne quietly, as he glanced in the direction of a
+distant horseman, coming towards them.  "Yes--no--I cannot say."
+
+"I should say--yes, from his military seat in the saddle," said Oldroyd.
+"Well, if it be or no, he doesn't mean to meet us.  He has gone through
+the wood."
+
+For, as he spoke, the coming horseman drew rein turned his horse's head,
+leaped a ditch, and disappeared amongst the pines.
+
+"What does he want up here?" said Oldroyd to himself, and then aloud,
+"Been having a good `breather' round the hills," he continued.  "Sort of
+thing you ought to cultivate, Alleyne.  Nothing like horse exercise."
+
+"Horses are costly, and the money I should spend upon a horse would be
+valuable to me for some optical instrument," said Alleyne, speaking
+cheerfully, though all the while he was slightly excited by the sight of
+the horseman they had supposed to be Rolph; but this wore off in a few
+minutes, and they soon came in sight of the cottages, while before them
+a tall figure, graceful in appearance, in spite of the homely dress, had
+suddenly crossed a stile, hurried in the same direction, and turned in
+at the cottage gate.
+
+"Mademoiselle Judith," said Oldroyd; "a very pretty girl with a very
+ugly name.  Hallo!  We are in trouble."
+
+"I don't know what's come to you.  Here's your poor father so bad he
+can't lift hand or foot, and you always running off to Mother Wattley's
+or picking flowers.  Flowers indeed!  Better stop and mind your father."
+
+This in very much strident tones from the cottage whose gate they were
+entering; and then a sudden softening as Oldroyd and Alleyne darkened
+the doorway, and the nurse dropped a curtsey.
+
+"Didn't know you was so close, sir.  I was only saying a word to
+Judith--oh, she's gone."
+
+"How is Hayle to-day?" said Oldroyd, as the girl stepped out at the back
+door.
+
+"Well, sir, thank you kindly, I think he's better; he talks stronger
+like, and he took a basin of hare soup to-day, well, that he did, and it
+was nice and strong."
+
+"Hare soup, eh?" said Oldroyd, with a queer look at Alleyne.
+
+"Yes, sir, hare soup; he said as how he was sick o' rabbits, and Caleb
+Kent kindly brought in a fine hare for him, and--"
+
+She stopped short, looking guiltily at the young doctor, and two red
+spots came in her yellow sunken cheeks.
+
+"You're letting the cat--I mean the hare--out of the bag," said Oldroyd
+drily.  "One of Sir John Day's hares?"
+
+"Oh, sir!" faltered the woman, "it's nothing to him; and I'm only the
+nurse."
+
+"There, I don't want to know," said Oldroyd.  "Can I go up?"
+
+"Oh yes, sir, please," cried the woman, who was only too glad to change
+the conversation after her lapse, "you'll find him nice and tidy."
+
+"Care to come and see my patient, Alleyne?" said Oldroyd.
+
+"Thanks, yes, I may as well," and he followed the doctor up into the low
+room, where the truth of the woman's assertions were plainly to be seen.
+The wounded man, lying upon coarse linen that was exquisitely clean,
+while the partially covered boards were as white as constant scrubbing
+could make them.
+
+"Well, Hayle, how are you going on?  I've brought a friend of mine to
+see you."
+
+The man whose eyes and cheeks were terribly sunken, and who looked worn
+out with his late journey to the very gates of death, from which he was
+slowly struggling back, raised one big gnarled hand heavily to his
+forelock, and let it fall again upon the bed.
+
+"Steady, sir, steady.  Glad to see you, sir, glad to see him, sir.  He's
+welcome like.  Sit you down, sir; sit you down."
+
+Alleyne took the stool that was nearest and sat down watching the man
+curiously, as Oldroyd examined his bandages, and then asked a few
+questions.
+
+"You're going on right enough," he said at last.  "Capitally."
+
+"But I'm so weak, sir," said the great helpless fellow, piteously.  "I'm
+feeble as a child.  I can hardly just hold my hand to my head."
+
+"Well, what can you expect?" said Oldroyd.  "You lost nearly every drop
+of blood in your body, and it will take time to build you up again--to
+fill you up again," he added, smiling.
+
+"Yes sir, of course, sir; but can't you give me a bottle or two of
+nothing as will set me to rights?  We'll pay you, you know, sir, don't
+you be afraid o' that."
+
+"Oh, I'm not afraid of that," said Oldroyd, smiling, "but I can give you
+nothing better than I am giving you.  The best medicine you can have now
+is plenty of strong soup, the same as you had this morning."
+
+"Did she tell you I had soup this morning, sir?"
+
+"Yes--hare soup," said Oldroyd meaningly.
+
+"Did that woman say hare soup, sir?"
+
+"Yes, and that you were tired of rabbits.  I say, Hayle, I ought to tell
+Sir John's keepers."
+
+"Eh, but you won't, sir," said the man quietly.
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"'Cause you're too much of a gen'leman, sir, and so would your friend
+be, or else you wouldn't have brought him.  She needn't have let out
+about it, though.  I'm lying helpless-like here, and they talk and do
+just as they like.  Was my Judith downstairs, sir?"
+
+"Yes," said Oldroyd.
+
+"That's a comfort," said the man, with a sigh of content.  "Young, sir,
+and very pretty," he added apologetically, to Alleyne; "makes me a bit
+anxious about her, don't you see, being laid-by like.  You'll come and
+see me again soon, doctor?"
+
+"Yes, and I must soon have a bottle or two of port wine for you.  I
+can't ask Sir John Day, can I?"
+
+"No, sir, don't ask he," said the man, with a faint smile.  "Let's play
+as fair as we can.  If you say I'm to have some wine, we'll get it; but
+I'd a deal rayther have a drop of beer."
+
+"I daresay you would, my friend," cried Oldroyd, smiling; "but no beer
+for a long time to come.  Alleyne, would you mind going down now, and
+sending me up the nurse?"
+
+Alleyne rose, and, going down, sent up the woman to find himself alone
+with the girl of whom they had been speaking.
+
+Student though he was, the study of woman was one that had never come
+beneath Alleyne's ken, and he found himself--for perhaps the first time
+in his life--interested, and wondering how it was that so handsome and
+attractive a girl could be leading so humble a cottage life as hers.
+
+Judith, too, seemed attracted towards him, and once or twice she opened
+her lips and was about to speak, but a step overhead, or the movement of
+a chair, made her shrink away and begin busying herself in arranging
+chairs or the ornaments upon the chimney-piece, which she dusted and
+wiped.
+
+"So you've been flower-gathering," said Alleyne, to break a rather
+awkward silence.
+
+"Yes, sir, and--" but just then Oldroyd was heard speaking at the top of
+the stairs, and Judith seemed to shrink within herself as he came down.
+
+"Ah, Miss Judith, you there?  Well, your father is getting on
+splendidly.  Take care of him.  Ready, Alleyne?"
+
+His companion rose, said good-morning to Judith, and stepped out, while
+Oldroyd obeyed a sign made by the girl, and stayed behind.
+
+"Well," he said, looking at her curiously.
+
+"I'm so anxious about father, sir," she said, in a low voice.  "Now that
+he is getting better, will there be any trouble?  I mean about the
+keepers, and--and"--she faltered--"the police."
+
+"No," said Oldroyd, looking fixedly at the girl, till she coloured
+warmly beneath his stern gaze, "everything seems to have settled down,
+and I don't think there is anything to fear for him.  Let me speak
+plainly, my dear.  Lookers on see most of the game."
+
+"I--I don't understand you, sir," she said, colouring.
+
+"Then try to.  It seems to me that, to use a strong expression, some one
+has been squared.  There are friends at court.  Now, take my advice: as
+soon as father is quite well, take him into your confidence, and
+persuade him to go quite away.  I'm sure it would be better for you
+both.  Good-day."
+
+The doctor nodded and went off after Alleyne, while Judith sat down to
+bury her face in her hands and sob as if her heart would break.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter XII.
+
+VENUS MORE IN THE FIELD OF VIEW.
+
+Lucy's life about this time was not a happy one.  Mrs Alleyne was cold
+and distant, Moray was growing more silent day by day, taking exercise
+as a duty, working or walking furiously, as if eager to get the duty
+done, so as to be able to drown harassing thoughts in his studies; hence
+he saw little of, and said little to his sister.  The major looked stern
+when he met her, and Lucy's sensitive little bosom heaved when she
+noticed his distant ways.  Sir John, too, appeared abrupt and distant,
+not so friendly as of old, or else she thought so; and certainly Glynne
+was not so cordial, seeming to avoid her, and rarely now sending over
+one of her old affectionate notes imploring her to come to lunch and
+spend the day.
+
+"Philip Oldroyd always looks at me as if I were a school-girl," Lucy
+used to cry impetuously when she was alone, "and as if about to scold me
+for not wanting to learn my lessons.  How dare he look at me like that,
+just as if there was anything between us, and he had a right!"
+
+Then Lucy would have a long cry and take herself to task for speaking of
+the doctor as _Philip_ Oldroyd, and, after a good sob, feel better.
+
+Rolph was the only one of her acquaintances who seemed to be pleasant
+with her, and his pleasantry she disliked, avoiding him when she went
+out for a walk, but generally finding him in the way, ready to place
+himself at her side, and walk wherever she did.
+
+Lucy planted barbed verbal arrows in the young officer's thick hide, but
+the only effect of these pungent little attacks was to tickle him.  He
+was not hurt in the slightest degree.  In fact he enjoyed it under the
+impression that Lucy admired him immensely, and was ready to fall at his
+feet at any time, and declare her love.
+
+"She doesn't know anything," he had mused.  "Her sleepy brother noticed
+nothing, and as for the doctor--curse the doctor, let him mind his own
+business, or I'll wring his neck.  I could," he added thoughtfully, "and
+I would."
+
+"Bah! it's only a bit of flirtation, and the little thing is so clever
+and sharp and piquant that she's quite a treat after a course of
+mushrooms with the major, and pigs and turnips with Sir John.  If
+Alleyne should meet us--well, I met his sister, Glynne's friend, and we
+were chatting--about Glynne of course.  And as to the doctor, well,
+curse the doctor, as aforesaid.  I believe the beast's jealous, and I'll
+make him worse before I'm done."
+
+In Rolph's musings about Lucy he used to call her "little pickles" and
+"the sauce."  Once he got as far as "Cayenne," a name that pleased him
+immensely, making up his mind, what little he had, to call her by one of
+those epithets--some day--when they grew a little more warmly intimate.
+
+On the other hand, when Lucy went out walking, it was with the stern
+determination to severely snub the captain, pleasant as she told herself
+it would be to read Philip Oldroyd a good severe lesson, letting him see
+that she was not neglected; and then for the moment all her promises
+were forgotten, till she was going home again, when the only consolation
+she could find for her lapse was that her intentions had been of the
+most stringent kind; that she could not help meeting the captain, and
+that she really had tried all she could to avoid him; while there was
+the satisfaction of knowing that she was offering herself up as a kind
+of sacrifice upon the altar of duty for her brother's welfare.
+
+"Sooner or later dear Glynne must find out what a wretch that Rolph is,
+and then I shall be blamed--she'll hate me; but all will be made happy
+for poor Moray."
+
+The consequence of all this was that poor Lucy about this time felt what
+an American would term very "mean" and ashamed of herself; mingled with
+this, too, was a great deal of sentiment.  She was going to be a
+martyr--she supposed that she would die, the fact being that Lucy was
+very sick--sick at heart, and there was only one doctor in the world who
+could put her right.
+
+Of course the thoughts turn here to the magnates of Harley and Brook and
+Grosvenor Street, and of Cavendish Square, but it was none of these.
+The prescription that would cure Lucy's ailment was of the unwritten
+kind: it could only be spoken.  The doctor to speak it was Philip
+Oldroyd, and its effect instantaneous, and this Lucy very well knew.
+But, like all her kind, she had a tremendous antipathy to physic, and,
+telling herself that she hated the doctor and all his works, she went on
+suffering in silence like the young lady named Viola, immortalised by
+one Shakespeare, and grievously sick of the same complaint.
+
+It came like a surprise to Lucy one morning to receive a note from
+Glynne, written in a playful, half-chiding strain, full of reproach, and
+charging her with forgetting so old a friend.
+
+"When it's all her fault!" exclaimed Lucy, as she read on, to find
+Glynne was coming on that afternoon.  "But Captain Rolph is sure to come
+with her, and that will spoil all.  I declare I'll go out.  No, I won't.
+I'll stop, and I'll be a martyr again, and stay and talk to him if it
+will make poor Moray happy, for I don't care what becomes of me now."
+
+Somehow, though, Lucy looked very cheerful that day, her eyes flashing
+with excitement; and it was evident that she was making plans for
+putting into execution at the earliest opportunity.
+
+As it happened, Mrs Alleyne announced that she was going over to the
+town on business, and directly after the early dinner a chaise hired
+from one of the farmers was brought round, and the dignified lady took
+her place beside the boy who was to drive.
+
+"Heigho!" sighed Lucy, as she stood watching the gig with its clumsy,
+ill-groomed horse, and the shock-headed boy who drove, and compared the
+turnout with the spic-and-span well-ordered vehicles that were in use at
+Brackley; and then she went down the garden thinking how nice it was to
+have money, or rather its products, and of how sad it was that Moray's
+pursuits should always be making such heavy demands upon their income,
+and never pay anything back.
+
+In spite of the dreariness of the outer walls of the house, the garden
+at The Firs had its beauties.
+
+It was not without its claims to be called a wilderness still, but it
+was a pleasant kind of wilderness now, since it had been put in order,
+for it sloped down as steeply as the scarped side of some fortified
+town, and from the zigzagged paths a splendid view could be had over the
+wild common in fine weather, though it was a look-out over desolation in
+the wintry wet.
+
+For a great change had been wrought in this piece of ground since Moray
+had delved in it, and bent his back to weed and fill barrows with the
+accumulated growth of years.  There was quite a charm about the place,
+and the garden seat or two, roughly made out of rustic materials, had
+been placed in the most tempting of positions, shaded by the old trees
+that had been planted generations back, but which the sandy soil had
+kept stunted and dense.
+
+But the place did not charm Lucy; it only made her feel more desolate
+and low spirited, for turn which way she would, she knew that while the
+rough laborious work had been done by her brother, Oldroyd's was the
+brain that had suggested all the improvements, his the hand that had cut
+back the wild tangle of brambles, that overgrown mass of ivy, placed the
+chairs and seats in these selected nooks where the best views could be
+had, and nailed up the clematis and jasmine that the western gales had
+torn from their hold.
+
+Go where she would, there was something to remind her of Oldroyd, and at
+last she grew, in spite of her self-command, so excited that she stopped
+short in dismay.
+
+"I shall make myself ill," she cried, half aloud; "and if I am ill,
+mamma will send for Mr Oldroyd; and, oh!"
+
+Lucy actually blushed with anger, and then turned pale with dread, as in
+imagination she saw herself turned into Philip Oldroyd's patient, and
+being ordered to put out her tongue, hold forth her hand that her pulse
+might be felt, and have him coming to see her once, perhaps twice, every
+day.
+
+With the customary inconsistency of young ladies in her state, she
+exclaimed, in an angry tone, full of protestation,--
+
+"Oh, it would be horrible!" and directly after she hurried indoors.
+
+In due time Glynne arrived, and sent the pony carriage back, saying that
+she would walk home.
+
+It was a long time since she had visited at The Firs, for of late the
+thought of Moray Alleyne's name and his observatory had produced a
+strange shrinking sensation in Glynne's breast, and it was not until she
+had mentally accused herself of having behaved very badly to Lucy in
+neglecting her so much that she had made up her mind to drive over; but
+now that the girls did meet the greeting between them was very warm, and
+the embrace in which they indulged long and affectionate.
+
+"Why, you look pale, Glynne, dear," cried Lucy, forgetting her own
+troubles, in genuine delight at seeing her old friend as in the days of
+their great intimacy.
+
+"And you, Lucy, you are quite thin," retorted Glynne.  "You are not
+ill?"
+
+"Oh, no!" cried Lucy, laughing.  "I was never better; but, really,
+Glynne, you don't seem quite well."
+
+Glynne's reply was as earnest an assurance that she never enjoyed better
+health than at that present moment; and as she made this assurance she
+was watching Lucy narrowly, and thinking that, on the strength of the
+rumours she had heard from time to time, she ought to be full of
+resentment and dislike for her old friend, while, strange to say, she
+felt nothing of the kind.
+
+"Mamma will be so sorry that she was away, Glynne," said Lucy at last,
+in the regular course of conversation.  "She likes you so very much."
+
+"Does she?" said Glynne, dreamily.
+
+"Oh yes; she talks about you a great deal, but Moray somehow never
+mentions your name."
+
+"Indeed!" said Glynne quietly, "why should he?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know," said Lucy, watching her anxiously, and wondering
+whether she knew how often Captain Rolph had met her out in the lanes,
+and by the common side.  "He seemed to like you so very much, and to
+take such great interest in you when you used to meet."
+
+Lucy watched her friend curiously, but Glynne's countenance did not tell
+of the thoughts that were busy within her brain.
+
+"Poor fellow!" continued Lucy, "he thinks of scarcely anything but his
+studies."
+
+Lucy was very fond of Glynne, she felt all the young girlish enthusiasm
+of her age for the graceful statuesque maiden; while in her heart of
+hearts Glynne had often wished she were as bright and light-hearted and
+merry as Lucy.  All the same though, now, excellent friends as they
+were, there was suspicion between them, and dread, and a curious
+self-consciousness of guilt that made the situation feel strange; and
+over and over again Glynne thought it was time to go--that she had
+better leave, and still she stayed.
+
+"You never say anything to me now about your engagement, dear," said
+Lucy at last, and as the words left her lips the guilty colour flushed
+into her cheeks, and she said to herself, "Oh! how dare I say such a
+thing?"
+
+"No," said Glynne, quietly and calmly, opening her great eyes widely and
+gazing full in those of her friend, but seeing nothing of the present,
+only trying to read her own life in the future, what time she felt a
+strange sensation of wonder at her position.  "No: I never talk about it
+to any one," she said at last; "there is no need."
+
+"No need?" exclaimed Lucy with a gasp; and she looked quite guilty, as
+she bent towards Glynne ready to burst into tears, and confess that she
+was very very sorry for what she had done--that she utterly detested
+Captain Rolph, and that if she had seemed to encourage him, it was in
+the interest of her brother and friend.
+
+But Glynne's calm matter-of-fact manner kept her back, and she sat and
+stared with her pretty little face expressing puzzledom in every line.
+
+"No; I do not care to talk about it," said Glynne calmly, "there is no
+need to discuss that which is settled."
+
+"Settled, Glynne?"
+
+"Well, inevitable," said Glynne coldly.  "When am I to congratulate you,
+Lucy?" she added, with a grave smile.
+
+"Is she bantering me?" thought Lucy; and then quickly, "Congratulate me?
+there is not much likelihood of that, Glynne, dear.  Poor girls without
+portion or position rarely find husbands."
+
+"Indeed!" said Glynne gravely.  "Surely a portion, as you call it, is
+not necessary for genuine happiness?"
+
+"No, no, of course not, dear," cried Lucy hastily.  "But I know what you
+mean, and I'll answer you.  No--emphatically no: there is nobody."
+
+"Nobody?"
+
+"Nobody!" cried Lucy, shaking her head vigorously.  "Don't look at me
+like that, dear," she continued, imploringly, for she was most earnest
+now in her effort to make Glynne believe, if she suspected any
+flirtation with Rolph, that her old friend was speaking in all sincerity
+and truth.  "If there were anything, dear, I should be unsettled until I
+had told you."
+
+She rose quickly, laid her hands upon Glynne's shoulders, and kissed her
+forehead, remaining standing by her side.
+
+"I am glad to hear you say so, Lucy," replied Glynne, gazing frankly in
+her eyes, "for I was afraid that there was some estrangement springing
+up between us."
+
+"Yes," cried Lucy, "you feel as I have felt.  It is because you have not
+spoken out candidly and freely as you used to speak to me, dear."
+
+Glynne's forehead contracted slightly, for she winced a little before
+the charge, one which recalled a bitter struggle through which she had
+passed, and the final conquest which she felt that she had gained.
+
+She opened her lips to speak, but no words came, for as often as
+friendship for Lucy urged confession, shame acted as a bar, and stopped
+the eager speech that was ready for escape.
+
+No: she felt she could not speak.  A cloud had come for a time across
+her life; but it was now gone, and she was at rest.  She could not--she
+dared not tell Lucy her inmost thoughts, for if she did she knew that
+she would be condemning herself to a hard fight with a special advocate,
+one who would gain an easy victory in a cause which she dreaded to own
+had the deepest sympathy of her heart.
+
+Just at that moment Eliza entered hastily.
+
+"Oh, if you please, Miss, I'm very sorry, but--"
+
+The girl stopped short.  She had made up her speech on her way to the
+room, but had forgotten the presence of the visitor, so she broke down,
+with her mouth open, feeling exceedingly shamefaced and guilty, for she
+knew that the simple domestic trouble about which she had come was not
+one that ought to be blurted forth before company.
+
+"Will you excuse me, dear?" said Lucy, and, crossing to Eliza, she
+followed that young lady out of the room, to hear the history of a
+disaster in the cooking department; some ordinary preparation, expressly
+designed for that most unthankful of partakers, Moray Alleyne, being
+spoiled.
+
+Hardly had Lucy left her alone, and Glynne drawn a breath of relief at
+having time given to compose herself, than a shadow crossed the window,
+there was a quick step outside, and the next moment there was a hand
+upon the glass door that led out towards the observatory, as Alleyne
+entered the room.
+
+Volume 2, Chapter XIII.
+
+AND RETIRES BEHIND A CLOUD.
+
+"Miss Day! you here?" cried Alleyne, as she rose from her seat, and then
+as each involuntarily shrank from the other, there was a dead silence in
+the room--a silence so painful that the thick heavy breathing of the man
+became perfectly audible, and the rustle of Glynne's dress, when she
+drew back, seemed to be loud and strange.
+
+Glynne had fully intended that the next time she encountered Alleyne she
+would be perfectly calm, and would speak to him with the quietest and
+most friendly ease.  That which had passed was a folly, a blindness that
+had been a secret in each of their hearts, for granting that which had
+made its way to hers, she was womanly enough of perception to feel that
+she had inspired Lucy's brother with a hopeless passion, one that he was
+too true and honourable a gentleman ever to declare.
+
+This was Glynne's belief; and, strong in her faith in self, she had
+planned to act in the future so that Alleyne should find her Lucy's
+cordial friend--a woman who should win his reverence so that she would
+be for ever sacred in his eyes.
+
+But she had not reckoned upon being thrown with him like this; and, as
+he stood before her, there came a hot flush of shame to fill her cheeks,
+her forehead and neck with colour, but only to be succeeded by a
+freezing sensation of despair and dread, which sent the life-blood
+coursing back to her very heart, leaving her trembling as if from some
+sudden chill.
+
+And Alleyne?
+
+For weeks past he had been fighting to school his madness, as he called
+it--his sacrilegious madness--for he told himself that Glynne should be
+as sacred to him as if she were already Rolph's honoured wife, while
+now, coming suddenly upon her as he had, and seeing the agitation which
+his presence caused, every good resolution was swept away.  He did not
+see Rolph's promised wife before him; he did not see the woman whom he
+had, in his inmost heart, vowed a hundred times to look upon as the idol
+of some dream of love, an unsubstantial fancy, whom he could never see;
+but she who stood there was Glynne Day, the woman who had just taught
+him what it was to love.  For all these years he had been the slave of
+science.  His every thought had been given to the work of his most
+powerful mistress, and then the slave had revolted.  Again and again he
+had told himself that he had resumed his allegiance, that science was
+his queen once more, and that he should never again stray from her
+paths.  That he had had his lesson, as men before him; but that he had
+fought bravely, manfully, and conquered; and now, as soon as he stood in
+presence of Glynne, his shallow defences were all swept away--he was at
+her mercy.
+
+As they stood gazing at each other, Alleyne made another effort.
+
+"I will be strong--a man who can master self.  I will not give way," he
+said to himself; and even as he hugged these thoughts it was as if some
+mocking voice were at his elbow, whispering to him these questions,--
+
+"Was it right that this sweet, pure-minded woman, whose thoughts were
+every day growing broader and higher, and who had taught him what it
+really was to love, should become the wife of that thoughtless,
+brainless creature, whose highest aim was to win the applause of a
+senseless mob to the neglect of everything that was great and good?
+
+"She loves you--she who was so calm and fancy free, has she not seemed
+to open--unfold that pure chalice of her heart before you, to fill it to
+the brim with thoughts of you?  Has she not eagerly sought to follow,
+however distantly, in your steps; read the books you advised; thirsted
+for the knowledge that dropped from your lips; thrown aside the
+trivialities of life to take to the solid sciences you love?  And why--
+why?--because she loves you."
+
+Every promise self-made, every energetic determination to be stern in
+his watch over self was forgotten in these moments; and it was only by a
+strenuous effort that he mastered himself enough to keep back for the
+time the flow of words that were thronging to his lips.
+
+As it was, he walked straight to her, and caught her hand in his--a
+cold, trembling hand, which Glynne felt that she could not draw back.
+The stern commanding look in his eyes completely mastered her, and for
+the moment she felt that she was his very slave.
+
+"I must speak with you," he said, in a low, hoarse voice.  "I cannot
+talk here; come out beneath the sky, where the air is free and clear,
+Glynne, I must speak with you now."
+
+She made no reply, but yielded the hand he had caught in his and pressed
+in his emotion, till it gave her intense pain, and walked by his side as
+if fascinated.  She was very pale now, and her temples throbbed, but no
+word came to her lips.  She could not speak.
+
+Alleyne walked swiftly from the room, threw open the door, and led
+Glynne past the window, and down one of the sloping paths, towards where
+a seat had been placed during the past few months, never with the
+intention of its being occupied by Glynne.  While he spoke, and as they
+were on their way, Lucy came back into the room.
+
+"Pray forgive me, Glynne.  I--Oh!"  Lucy stopped short, with an
+ejaculation full of surprise and pleasure.  "It _is_ coming right!" she
+exclaimed--"it is coming right!  Oh, I must not listen to them.  How
+absurd.  I could not hear them if I tried.  I ought not to watch them
+either.  But I can't help it.  It can't be very wrong.  He's my own dear
+brother, and I'm sure I love Glynne like a sister, and I'm sure I pray
+that good may come of all this, for it would be madness for her to think
+of keeping to her engagement with that dreadful--"
+
+Lucy stopped short, with her eyes dilated and fixed.  She had heard a
+sound, and turned sharply to feel as if turned to stone; but long ere
+this Glynne had been led by Alleyne to the seat, and silence had fallen
+between them.
+
+The same strange sensation of fascination was upon Glynne.  She was
+terror-stricken, and yet happy; she was ready to turn and flee the
+moment the influence ceased to hold her there, but meanwhile she felt as
+if in a dream, and allowed her companion to place her in the seat
+beneath the clustering ivy, which was one mass of darkening berries,
+while he stood before her with his hands clasped, his forehead wrinkled,
+evidently the prey to some fierce emotion.
+
+"He loves me," whispered Glynne's heart, and there was a sweet sensation
+of joy to thrill her nerves, but only to be broken down the next moment
+at the call of duty; and she sat motionless, listening as he said,
+roughly and hoarsely,--
+
+"I never thought to have spoken these word to you, Glynne.  I believed
+that I was master of myself.  But they will come--I must tell you.  I
+should not--I feel I should not, but I must--I must.  Glynne--forgive
+me--have pity on me--I love you more than I can say."
+
+The spell was broken as he caught her hands in his.  The sense of being
+fascinated had passed away, leaving Glynne Day in the full possession of
+her faculties, and the thought of the duty she owed another, as she
+started to her feet, saying words that came to her lips, not from her
+heart, but she knew not how they were inspired, as she spoke with all
+the angry dignity of an outraged woman.
+
+"How dare you?" she exclaimed, in a tone that made him shrink from her.
+"How dare you speak to me, your sister's friend, like this?  It is an
+insult, Mr Alleyne, and that you know."
+
+"How dare I?" he cried, recovering himself.  "An insult?  No, no! you do
+not mean this.  Glynne, for pity's sake, do not speak to me such words
+as these."
+
+"Mr Alleyne, I can but repeat them," she said excitedly, "it is an
+insult, or you must be mad."
+
+"I thank you," he said, changing his tone of voice, and speaking calmly,
+evidently by a tremendous effort over himself.  "Yes, I must be mad--you
+here?"
+
+"Yes, I am here," cried Rolph fiercely, for he had come up behind them
+unobserved with Lucy, who had vainly tried to stop him, following,
+looking white, and trembling visibly.  "What is the meaning of this?
+Glynne, why are you here?  What has this man been saying?"
+
+There was no reply.  Alleyne standing stern and frowning, and Glynne
+looking wildly from one to the other unable to speak.
+
+"I heard you say something about an insult," cried Rolph hotly; "has the
+blackguard dared--"
+
+"Take me back home, Robert," said Glynne, in a strangely altered voice.
+
+"Then tell me first," cried Rolph.  "How dare he speak to you, what does
+he mean?"
+
+He took hold of Glynne's arm, and shook it impatiently as he spoke, but
+she made no reply, only looked wistfully from Rolph to Alleyne and back.
+
+"Take me home," she said again.
+
+"Yes, yes, I will; but if this scoundrel has--"
+
+"How dare you call my brother a scoundrel?" cried Lucy, firing up.  "You
+of all persons in the world."
+
+Rolph turned to her sharply, and she pointed down the path, towards the
+gate.
+
+"Go!" she said; "go directly, or I shall be tempted to tell Glynne all
+that I could tell her.  Leave our place at once."
+
+Rolph glared at her for a moment, but turned from her directly, as too
+insignificant for his notice, and once more he exclaimed,--
+
+"I insist on knowing what this man has said to you, Glynne--"
+
+He did not finish his sentence, but, in the brutality of his health and
+strength, he looked with such lofty contempt upon the man whom he was
+calling in his heart "grub," "bookworm," that as Alleyne stood there
+bent and silent, gazing before him, straining every nerve to maintain
+his composure before Glynne, the struggle seemed too hard.
+
+How mean and contemptible he must look before her, he thought--how
+degraded; and as he stood there silent and determined not to resent
+Rolph's greatest indignity, his teeth were pressed firmly together, and
+his veins gathered and knotted themselves in his brow.
+
+There was something exceedingly animal in Rolph's aspect and manner at
+this time, so much that it was impossible to help comparing him to an
+angry combative dog.  He snuffed and growled audibly; he showed his
+teeth; and his eyes literally glared as he appeared ready to dash at his
+enemy, and engage in a fierce struggle in defence of what he looked upon
+as his just rights.
+
+Had Alleyne made any sign of resistance, Rolph would have called upon
+his brute force, and struck him; but the idea of resenting Rolph's
+violence of word and look did not occur to Alleyne.  He had sinned, he
+felt, socially against Glynne; he had allowed his passion to master him,
+and he told himself he was receiving but his due.
+
+The painful scene was at last brought to an end, when once more Rolph
+turned to Glynne, saying angrily,--
+
+"Why don't you speak?  Why don't you tell me what is wrong?"
+
+He shook her arm violently, and as he spoke Alleyne felt a thrill of
+passionate anger run through him that this man should dare to act thus,
+and to address the gentle, graceful woman before him in such a tone.  It
+was maddening, and a prophetic instinct made him imagine the treatment
+Glynne would receive when she had been this man's wife for years.
+
+At last Glynne found words, and said hastily,--
+
+"Mr Alleyne made a private communication to me.  He said words that he
+must now regret.  That is all.  It was a mistake.  Let us leave here.
+Take me to my father--at once."
+
+Rolph took Glynne's hand, and drew it beneath his arm, glaring at
+Alleyne the while like some angry dog; but though Lucy stood there,
+fierce and excited, and longing to dash into the fray as she looked from
+Rolph to Glynne and back, her brother did not even raise his eyes.  A
+strange thrill of rage, resentment and despair ran through him, but he
+could not trust himself to meet Rolph's eye.  He stood with his brow
+knit, motionless, as if stunned by the incidents of the past few
+minutes, and no words left his lips till he was alone with Lucy, who
+threw herself sobbing in his arms.
+
+END OF VOLUME TWO.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter I.
+
+GEMINI, WITH MARS IN VIEW.
+
+With his grey hair starting out all over his head in a peculiarly fierce
+way, Major Day was standing and musing just at the edge of the wood, and
+a few yards from the path, very busy with one of those tortoise-shell
+framed lenses so popular with botanists, one of those with its three
+glasses of various powers, which, when superposed, form a combination of
+great magnifying strength.
+
+Major Day had come upon a tree whose beautifully smooth bark was dappled
+with patches of brilliant amethystine fungus, a portion of which he had
+carefully slipped off with a penknife, for the purpose of examining the
+peculiarities of its structure under the glass.
+
+The old gentleman was so rapt in his pursuit that he did not notice
+approaching footsteps till Sir John came close up, making holes in the
+soft earth with his walking-stick, and talking angrily to himself as he
+hurried along.
+
+The brothers caught sight of each other almost at the same moment, Sir
+John stopping short and sticking his cane in the ground, as if to anchor
+himself, and the major slowly lowering his lens.
+
+"Hullo, Jem, what have you found?" cried Sir John; "the potato disease?"
+
+"No," replied the major, smiling, "only a very lovely kind of
+_Tremella_."
+
+"Oh, have you?" growled Sir John.
+
+"Yes.  Would you like to examine it?" said the major.
+
+"Who, I?  No thank you, old fellow, I'm busy."
+
+"Where are you going, Jack?" said the major, as a thought just occurred
+to him.
+
+"Over yonder--`The Firs.'"
+
+"To Fort Science, eh?" said the major, smiling; but only to look serious
+again directly.  "Why, Jack, what for?  Why are you going?"
+
+"There, there, don't interfere, Jem; it would not interest you.
+Precious unpleasant business, I can tell you.  I must go, though."
+
+"What is the matter, Jack?"
+
+"There, there, my dear fellow, what is the use of worrying me about it.
+Go on hunting for _pezizas_, or whatever you call them.  This is a
+domestic matter, and doesn't concern you."
+
+"Yes it does concern me, Jack," replied the major.  "You are going about
+that communication which Rolph made to us last night after dinner."
+
+"Well, hang it all, Jem, suppose I am; surely, as Glynne's father, if I
+want to see the man who insulted her, and talk to him, there's no
+occasion for you to interfere."
+
+"Jack, you are out of temper," said the major.  "You are going to make
+a--"
+
+"Fool of myself, eh?  There, say it, man, say it," cried the baronet
+hastily.
+
+"I shall not say anything of the kind, Jack," replied the major
+good-humouredly; "but let's talk sensibly, old fellow."
+
+"Yes, of course, sensibly," cried Sir John sharply.  "You are going to
+turn advocate and speak on that telescopic scoundrel's behalf.  What the
+dickens do you mean by sticking yourself here when I'm going out on
+business!"
+
+"Tchut! tchut, Jack! don't be so confoundedly peppery," cried the major.
+"Now, look here, boy, what are you going to do?"
+
+"Going to do?  I'm going to horsewhip that fellow, and make him write a
+humble letter of apology to Rob.  If he doesn't, Rob shall call him
+out."
+
+"Now, my dear Jack, don't talk nonsense!" cried the major.
+
+"Nonsense, sir?  It isn't nonsense.  It's all very fine for you, with
+your scientific humbug, to be making friends with the star-gazing
+scoundrel.  You fellows always hang together and back each other up.
+But look here, Jem, I'm not going to be meddled with in this matter.
+You have interfered enough."
+
+"I only want you, as a gentleman, to behave like a gentleman to Mr
+Alleyne."
+
+"You leave me alone for that, Jem.  Insolence!  The poor girl came home
+all of a tremble.  She's quite white this morning, and looks as if she
+ought to have a doctor to her.  It's your fault too, Jem, 'pon my word
+it is."
+
+"My fault, my dear brother," said the major earnestly; "indeed, no.  I
+would not say a word that should interfere with Glynne's happiness."
+
+"But you did, sir; you did when she was first engaged."
+
+"Only to you, Jack.  I did not like the engagement, and I don't like it;
+but I have always since I got over the first shock--"
+
+"Hang it, Jem, don't talk like that, man.  Anyone would think that you
+had been stricken down by some terrible trouble."
+
+"It was and has been a terrible trouble to me, Jack," said the major
+quietly.  "But there, I have done.  Don't be angry with me.  Let's talk
+about what you are going to do."
+
+All this time Sir John had been moving slowly in the direction of The
+Firs, with the major's hand resting upon his arm.
+
+"There's no occasion to talk about it that I see; I'm going to have a
+few words with that Mr Alleyne, and this I conceive it to be my duty to
+do.  There, there's an end to it."
+
+"Well, but is it wise?" said the major.  "It seems that Mr Alleyne has
+formed a deep attachment to Glynne."
+
+"Such insolence!  A man in his position!"
+
+"And, carried away by his feelings, he declared his love for her."
+
+"As if such a man as he has a right to force himself upon a girl in
+Glynne's position.  It is preposterous."
+
+"It was in bad taste--a mistake, for a man who knew of Glynne's
+engagement to speak as he did.  But young men do not always think before
+they speak, nor old ones neither, Jack."
+
+"Tchah! nonsense.  There, go on and hunt fungi.  Be off now, Jem."
+
+"Be off?  No; I'm coming with you as far as The Firs."
+
+"What!  Coming with me?"
+
+"Yes; I shall come and be present at the meeting.  I don't want my
+brother to forget himself."
+
+"Jem!"
+
+"There, my dear Jack, it is of no use for you to be cross--I mean what I
+say.  It will not do for you to get into one of your passions."
+
+"My passions?"
+
+"Yes, your passions.  It will cause trouble with Alleyne."
+
+"A scoundrel!"
+
+"No, he is not a scoundrel, Jack.  It will upset his little sister."
+
+"A confounded jade!" cried Sir John.  "If I had known what I know now,
+the minx should never have entered my doors."
+
+"Steady, Jack."
+
+"I am steady, sir.  A little heartless flirt, setting her cap at every
+man she sees.  Rolph won't own to it, but I have it on very good
+authority that the poor fellow could not stir without that vixen being
+on the watch for him, and meeting him somewhere."
+
+The major was silent.
+
+"And all the time she knew that he was engaged to Glynne, and she was
+professing to be the best of friends to the poor child."
+
+The major drew his breath very hard.
+
+"There, you'd better be off now, Jem," cried Sir John.  "I'm going just
+to let that fellow Alleyne have a bit of my mind, and then I shall be
+better."
+
+"But Mrs Alleyne is a most estimable lady.  Had you not better give the
+matter up?  Let it slide, my dear Jack.  These troubles soon die a
+natural death."
+
+"I'm going to kill this one, Jem.  Then we'll bury it," said Sir John
+grimly.  "Now, you be off.  I sha'n't upset Mrs Alleyne.  I won't see
+her."
+
+"Nor yet Lucy Alleyne?"
+
+"Not if she keeps out of my way.  Ugh!  I haven't patience with the
+smooth-spoken little minx.  It's horrible: such depravity in one so
+young."
+
+The major sighed, and kept tightly hold of his brother's arm.  Two or
+three times over he had turned rather red in the face, the flush playing
+to and fro as if an angry storm were arising, but he mastered himself,
+and held his squadron of angry words well in hand.
+
+"Now, look here, Jem," said the baronet at last, as they came in sight
+of The Firs, "I don't want to be hampered with you.  Do go back."
+
+"My dear Jack, as an old soldier, let me tell you that it is next to
+impossible to make an advance without being hampered with baggage and
+the commissariat.  You may call me which you please, but if you are
+going to attack the people at The Firs, you must have me on your back,
+so take it as calmly as you can."
+
+Sir John uttered an angry grunt, and was disposed to explode, but, by a
+strong effort, he got over his fit.
+
+"If you will insist upon having a finger in the pie, come on then," he
+cried.
+
+"Yes, I'll come on," said the major, "and I know I need say no more to
+you about being calm and gentlemanly.  There, I won't say another
+syllable."
+
+In fact neither spoke a word till they had climbed up the sandy path and
+reached the gate at The Firs, where Sir John set the bell clanging
+loudly, and Eliza hurried down.
+
+Yes; master was at home, and missus and Miss Lucy, the girl hastened to
+reply.
+
+"I want to see Mr Alleyne," said Sir John sharply, and Eliza showed them
+into the drawing-room, up and down whose faded carpet Sir John walked,
+fuming, while the major bent down over a few pretty little water-colour
+sketches, evidently the work of Lucy at some idle time.
+
+Meanwhile Eliza had hurriedly made a communication to Mrs Alleyne, and
+terribly alarmed Lucy, who was for preventing Alleyne from meeting the
+brothers.
+
+"No," said Mrs Alleyne sternly, "he must see them.  If he is to blame,
+let him frankly own it.  If the fault be on their side, let them
+apologise to my son."
+
+The result was that at her earnest prayer Lucy was allowed to run into
+the observatory to her brother, to prepare him for the visitors.
+
+"Sir John--Major Day," said Alleyne, calmly.  "I will come to them.  No:
+let them be shown in here."
+
+Perhaps he felt that he would be stronger on his own ground, surrounded
+by his instruments, than in the chilly drawing-room, where he knew he
+was out of place.
+
+"But, Moray, dear, you will not be angry and passionate.  You will not
+quarrel with Sir John."
+
+"Angry?" said Alleyne calmly.  "I cannot tell.  He might say things to
+me that will make me angry; but do not be afraid, I shall not quarrel."
+
+"You promise me that, dear?"
+
+"I promise you."
+
+Lucy threw her arms about his neck and kissed him, and then ran out of
+the observatory, into which Sir John and the major were introduced a few
+minutes later.
+
+Alleyne was right.  He was stronger in his own place, for, surrounded as
+he was by the various strange implements used in his studies, he seemed
+to Sir John someone far more imposing than the simple dreamy man, whom
+he had come, as he called it, to put down.
+
+Alleyne came from where he was standing with his hand resting upon some
+papers, and, bowing formally, he pointed to chairs, for it needed no
+words to tell that this was no friendly visit.
+
+"I've called, Mr Alleyne," said Sir John, giving his stick a twist, and
+then a thump down upon the floor, "to ask for some explanation."
+
+The major laid a warning hand upon his arm, for Sir John's voice was
+increasing in volume.  In fact he had been impressed with the fact that
+his task was not so easy a one as he had imagined, and hence he was glad
+to have the sound of his own words to help work up the passion necessary
+to carry out his purpose.
+
+He lowered his tone directly, though, in obedience to his brother's
+hint, and continued his discourse angrily, but still as a gentleman
+should; and he afterwards owned to his brother that he forgot all about
+the horse-whipping he had designed from the moment he entered the room.
+
+"Those telescopes and the quicksilver trough and instruments put it all
+out of mind, Jem," he afterwards said.  "One couldn't thrash a man who
+looks like a sage; whose every word and tone seems to say that he is
+your superior."
+
+Sir John finished a sufficiently angry tirade, in which he pointed out
+that Alleyne had met with gentlemanly courtesy, that he had been treated
+with every confidence, and made the friend of the family.  Miss Day had
+made a companion of his sister, and nothing had been wanting on his
+part; while, on the other hand, Alleyne's conduct, Sir John said, had
+culminated in what was little better than an outrage.
+
+"There, sir," he exclaimed, by way of a finish, with his face very red
+and with a tremendous thump of his stick upon the floor.  "Now, what
+have you to say?"
+
+Alleyne stood before them deadly pale, and with a fine dew glistening
+upon his forehead; but there was no look of shame or dread upon his
+face, which rather bore the aspect of one lately smitten by some severe
+mental blow from which he had not yet recovered.
+
+He gazed straight before him without meeting the eyes of either of his
+visitors, as if thinking of what reply he should find to a question that
+stung him to the heart.  Then his eyes fell, and the wrinkles that
+formed in his brow made him look, at least, ten years older.
+
+Just then, as Sir John was chafing, and without thoroughly owning to it,
+wishing that he had let matters rest, the major said softly,--
+
+"I thought I would come over with my brother, Mr Alleyne.  I am sorry
+that this visit was deemed necessary."
+
+"Hang it all, Jem, don't take sides with the enemy!  And you a soldier,
+too."
+
+"I take no sides, John," replied the major, quietly.  "Had we not better
+end this interview?"
+
+"I am waiting to hear what Mr Alleyne has to say to the father of the
+lady he insulted," cried the baronet warmly; and these words acted like
+a spur to Alleyne, who turned upon him proudly.
+
+"It was no insult, Sir John, to tell her that I loved her," he said.
+
+"But I say it was, sir, knowing as you did that she was engaged to
+Captain Rolph.  Confound it all, sir, it was positively disgraceful.  I
+am her father, sir, and I demand an apology--a full apology at once."
+
+Alleyne looked at him for a few moments in silence, and then, with his
+lips quivering, he spoke in a low deep voice,--
+
+"Tell her, Sir John, that in answer to your demand I humbly ask
+forgiveness if I have given her pain.  I regret my words most bitterly,
+and that I would they had been unsaid--that I ask her pardon."
+
+"That is enough, I think," said Sir John, with a show of importance in
+his speech, but with a look in his eye that betokened more and more his
+dissatisfaction with his task.
+
+"Quite," said the major gravely.  "If an apology was necessary, Mr
+Alleyne has made the _amende honorable_."
+
+"Exactly," said Sir John impatiently, as if he were on the magisterial
+bench, and some poacher had been brought before him.  "And now, sir,
+what am I to say to Captain Rolph?"
+
+The major laid his hand upon his brother's arm, but he could not check
+his words, and he turned round directly after, almost startled by the
+vehemence with which Alleyne spoke, with his keen eyes first upon one
+brother, then upon the other.
+
+"Tell Captain Rolph, gentlemen, if he wishes for an apology to come and
+ask it of me himself."
+
+"Sir," began Sir John; but the major quickly interposed.
+
+"Mr Alleyne is quite right, John," he said.  "He has apologised to the
+father of the lady he is accused of insulting; that ought to be
+sufficient.  If Rolph feels aggrieved, it should be his duty to himself
+apply for redress."
+
+"But--" began Sir John.
+
+"That will do, my dear John," said the major firmly.  "You have
+performed the duty you came to fulfil; now let us go.  Mr Alleyne, for
+my part, I am very sorry this has happened--good-day."
+
+Alleyne bowed, and Sir John, who was feeling beaten, allowed the major
+to lead him out of the house, the latter feeling quite relieved when
+they were in the lane, for he had been dreading the coming of Mrs
+Alleyne or Lucy for the last ten minutes of their visit.
+
+"Hah!" he ejaculated, breathing more freely, "I am glad that is over."
+
+"But it isn't over," cried Sir John, who was exceedingly unsettled in
+his mind.  "Why, Jem, your confounded interference has spoiled the whole
+affair."
+
+"Nonsense, Jack, he apologised very handsomely; what more would you
+have?"
+
+"What more would I have!  How am I to face Rob?  What am I to say when
+he asks me what apology the fellow made?"
+
+"My dear Jack," said the major, "I may be wrong, but I look upon Mr
+Alleyne as a thorough gentleman."
+
+"Oh, do you?"
+
+"Yes, my boy, I do; and it is very unseemly, to my way of thinking, for
+you to be speaking of him as `that fellow' or `the fellow.'  If your
+chosen son-in-law were one half as much of a gentleman in his conduct I
+should feel a great deal more happy over this match."
+
+Sir John's face flushed of a deeper red, and it looked as if fierce
+words would ensue between the brothers; but as much ire as could dwell
+in Sir John's genial spirit had been used up in the encounter with
+Alleyne, and it required many hours for the reserve to be refilled.
+
+Hence, then, he bore in silence several rather plain remarks uttered by
+his brother, and walked back to the park, where they encountered Rolph
+coming rapidly down the long drive.
+
+"Seems in a hurry to hear our news," said Sir John.
+
+"Pshaw!" ejaculated the major; "he has not seen us.  He is training for
+something or another."
+
+"Nonsense, Jem.  How spitefully you speak.  He is coming to meet us, I
+tell you."
+
+Sir John's words did not carry conviction with them, for it was strange
+that if the captain were coming to meet them, he should be running in a
+very peculiar manner, with his fists clenched and his eyes bent upon the
+ground; and, in fact, as he reached something white, which proved to be
+a pocket handkerchief tied to a cane stuck in the ground, he turned
+suddenly, and ran off in the opposite direction.
+
+"Humph!" grumbled Sir John; "it does look as if he were having a run."
+
+"Very much," said the major, "five hundred yards run along the carriage
+drive.  What is he training for now?"
+
+"Tchah!" ejaculated Sir John; "don't ask me.  Here, hi!  Rob!  Hang the
+fellow: is he deaf?"
+
+Rolph seemed to be.  He ran, growing more distant every moment, while,
+as Sir John trudged on, he was evidently fretting and fuming, the more,
+too, that the major seemed to be in a malicious spirit, and to enjoy
+worrying him about his choice.
+
+"Poor fellow!" he said; "he is overdone with impatience to hear the
+result of your visit, and can only keep down his excitement by running
+hard."
+
+"Look here, Jem, if you want to quarrel, say so, and I'll take another
+path to the house, for I'm not in the humour to have words."
+
+"I am," said the major, "a good many.  I feel as if there is nothing
+that would agree with me better than a deuced good quarrel with
+somebody."
+
+"Then hang it, man, why didn't you quarrel with Alleyne--take your
+niece's part?"
+
+"Alleyne is not a man I could quarrel with," said the major sharply.
+"There, I'll go and have a few words with Rolph about the cool way in
+which he takes a quarrel that you look upon as almost vital."
+
+"No, no, for goodness sake don't do anything of the kind," cried Sir
+John sharply, and he caught his brother by the shoulder.  "My dear Jem,
+don't be absurd."
+
+The major muttered something that was inaudible, and struck right across
+the park towards the house, by the lawn, while Sir John, feeling out of
+humour with his brother, with Rolph, and even with himself, went on
+along the carriage drive to encounter his prospective son-in-law after a
+few minutes, perspiring and panting after running fifteen hundred yards
+towards a mile.
+
+"Hullo! back?" panted Rolph.
+
+"Yes," said Sir John abruptly.
+
+"Well, what did he say?"
+
+"I'll tell you after dinner," replied Sir John sourly; "your training
+must be too important to be left."
+
+"What did he mean?" said Rolph to himself as he stood watching Sir
+John's retreating form.  "Why, the old boy looks as if he had been
+huffed.  Bah!  I wish he wouldn't come and stop me when I'm running; he
+has given me quite a chill."
+
+Volume 3, Chapter II.
+
+THE STARS AT THE NADIR.
+
+"I will see him again, Mrs Alleyne, and try a little more persuasion;
+perhaps he will yield."
+
+"But are you sure you are right, Mr Oldroyd?  I know my son's
+constitution so well.  Would it be better to go to some specialist?"
+
+"My dear madam, I would advise you directly to persuade him to go up to
+town and see any of our magnates, but it would be so much money wasted."
+
+"But he seems so ill again!" sighed Mrs Alleyne.
+
+"He does, indeed, but this illness is one of the simplest of ailments.
+It needs no doctor to tell you what it is.  Really, Mrs Alleyne, if you
+will set maternal anxiety aside for one moment, and look at your son as
+you would at a stranger, you will see directly what is wrong.  It is
+only an aggravated form of the complaint for which you consulted me
+before."
+
+"If I could only feel so," sighed Mrs Alleyne.
+
+"Really, madam, you may," replied Oldroyd.  "When you first called me
+in, you know what I prescribed, and how much better he grew.  I
+prescribe the same again.  If we set Nature and her simple laws at
+defiance, she will punish us."
+
+"But he grows worse," sighed Mrs Alleyne.  "He devotes himself more and
+more to his studies, and it is hard work to get him out of the
+observatory.  He says he has some discovery on the way, and to make that
+he is turning himself into an old man.  Will you go and see him now?"
+
+Oldroyd bowed his acquiescence, and rose to go.
+
+"You had better go alone," said Mrs Alleyne, "as if you had called in as
+a friend.  He is very sensitive and strange at times, and I should not
+like him to think that I had sent for you."
+
+"It would be as well not," said Oldroyd; and, taking the familiar way,
+he was crossing the hall, when he came suddenly upon Lucy, who stopped
+short, turned very red, turned hastily, and hurried through the next
+door, which closed after her with quite a bang.
+
+Oldroyd's brow filled with lines, and he drew a long breath as he went
+on to the door of the observatory, knocked, and, receiving no answer,
+turned the handle gently and stepped in, closing the door behind him.
+
+He stood for a few minutes in what seemed to be intense darkness; but as
+his eyes grew more accustomed to the great place, he could see that
+through the closed shutters a white stream of light came here and there,
+and on one side there was a very small, closely-shaded lamp, which threw
+a ring of softened yellow light down upon a sheet of paper covered with
+figures.  Saving these faint traces of light all was gloom and
+obscurity, through which loomed out in a weirdly, grotesque fashion the
+great tubes and pedestals and wheels of the various instruments that
+stood in the place.  On one side, too, a bright ray of light shone from
+a spot near the floor, and, after a moment or two, Oldroyd recalled that
+there stood the large trough of mercury, glittering like a mirror, and
+now reflecting a ray of light as if it were a star.
+
+The silence was perfect, not a breath could be heard, and it was some
+few minutes before Oldroyd made out that his friend was seated on the
+other side of the table that bore the shaded lamp, his head resting upon
+his hand, perfectly motionless, but whether asleep or thinking it was
+impossible to say.
+
+Oldroyd had not seen the astronomer for some weeks.  There had been no
+falling off from the friendly feeling existing between them, but Alleyne
+had completely secluded himself since the encounter with Rolph in the
+fir wood, and, for reasons of his own, Oldroyd had refrained from
+calling, the principal cause being, as he told himself, a desire not to
+encounter Lucy.
+
+He stood waiting for a short time watching the dimly-seen figure, and
+half-expecting that it would move and speak; but the minutes sped on,
+and the dead silence continued till Oldroyd, as he gave another look
+round the gloomy place, black as night in the early part of the
+afternoon of a sunny day, could not help saying to himself--"How can a
+man expect health when he shuts himself up in such a tomb?"
+
+He crossed the place cautiously, and with outstretched hands, lest he
+should fall over a chair or philosophical instrument; but though he made
+some little noise, Alleyne did not stir, even when his visitor was close
+up to the table, looking down upon the head resting upon the dimly-seen
+hand.
+
+"He must be asleep, worn out with watching," thought Oldroyd; and he
+remained silent again for a few minutes, waiting for his friend to move.
+But Alleyne remained motionless; and now the visitor could see that his
+hair was rough and untended, and that he was in a loose kind of
+dressing-gown.
+
+"Alleyne!  Alleyne!" said Oldroyd at last, but there was no movement.
+"Alleyne!" cried Oldroyd, louder now, but without result, and, feeling
+startled, he caught the shade from the lamp, so that the light might
+fall upon the heavily-bearded face.
+
+As he did so, Alleyne moved, slowly raising his head, and letting his
+hand drop till he was gazing full at his visitor.
+
+"Were you asleep?" said Oldroyd uneasily, "or are you ill?"
+
+"Asleep?--ill?" replied Alleyne, in a low, dreamy voice, his eyes
+blinking uneasily in the light, as he displayed a white and ghastly face
+to his visitor, one that was startling in its aspect.  "No, I am quite
+well.  I was thinking."
+
+Oldroyd was not ignorant of his friend's trouble, but he was surprised
+and shocked at the change that had taken place in so short a time; and
+laying his hand upon Alleyne's shoulder, and closely scanning the
+deeply-lined, ashy face, he said quietly,--
+
+"May I open a shutter or two, and admit the light?"
+
+"Light?--shutter?" said Alleyne dreamily; "is it morning?"
+
+"Yes; glorious sunny morning, man.  There, now we can see each other,"
+cried Oldroyd cheerfully, as he threw back one or two shutters.  "Why,
+Alleyne, how you do stick to the work."
+
+"Yes--yes," in a low, dreamy voice.  "There is so much to do, and one
+gets on so slowly."
+
+"Big problem on, I suppose, as usual, eh?"
+
+"Yes; a difficult problem," said Alleyne vacantly.  "These things take
+time."
+
+"Ah, I suppose so," replied Oldroyd.  "How's the garden getting on now?"
+
+"Garden?--the garden!  Oh, yes; I had forgotten.  Very well, I think;
+but I have been too much occupied for the past few weeks--months--weeks
+to attend to it myself."
+
+"I suppose so.  One has to work hard to do more than one's fellows, eh?"
+
+Alleyne looked at him blankly.
+
+"Yes, one has to work hard," he replied.
+
+"I thought, perhaps, as you have been shut up so much lately, you would
+come and have a round with me," continued Oldroyd.  "It is a splendid
+day."
+
+Alleyne looked at him dreamily, as if he felt that something of the
+brightness of the outer day had accompanied his friend into the room,
+but he merely shook his head.
+
+"Oh, nonsense, man!" cried Oldroyd, speaking with energy.  "You work too
+hard.  I am sure you do."
+
+"I am obliged," said Alleyne gravely.  "It is the only rest I have."
+
+He seemed to be growing more animated already, and to be fully awakened
+to the presence of his friend, for his next words possessed more energy,
+when, in reply to a little more persuasion, he exclaimed,--
+
+"Don't ask me, Oldroyd.  I have, I tell you, too much to do."
+
+It seemed useless to press him further, and the doctor felt that it
+would be unwise, perhaps, to say more, so he took a seat and waited for
+Alleyne to speak again, apparently like any idler who might have called,
+but really observant of him all the time.
+
+It was a curious study the manner in which these two men bore their
+trouble.  Each was a student in a different field, and each had sought
+relief in his own particular subject, with the result that the one had
+grown old and careworn and neglectful of self in a few weeks, while the
+other was only more grave and energetic than before.
+
+It may have been that the love of one was deeper than that of the other,
+though that was doubtful.  It rather seemed to be that while Alleyne was
+cut to the heart by the bitterness of the rebuff that he had met, a
+certain amount of resentment against one whom he looked upon as a light
+and trivial flirt had softened Oldroyd's blow.
+
+But, to the latter's surprise, his friend and patient made no further
+remark.  He sat gazing at vacancy for a few moments, and then allowed
+his head to rest once more upon his hand, as if about to go to sleep;
+but at the first movement made by Oldroyd he looked up again, and
+replaced the shade upon his lamp.
+
+"Life is so short," he said, with a grave smile; "time goes so very
+fast, Oldroyd, I must get on.  You will excuse me, I know."
+
+"Yes, I must be getting on as well.  I shall call in upon you oftener
+than I have lately.  You will perhaps come out with me again sometimes."
+
+"Out with you!  To see your patient the poacher?"
+
+"Oh, no," replied Oldroyd, smiling.  "He is quite well again now.  I
+have not been there these two months; but I can soon find an object for
+a walk."
+
+"A walk?  Yes, perhaps.  We shall see.  Will you close the shutters when
+you go.  I must have darkness for such work as this."
+
+"Yes, I'll close them," said Oldroyd quietly; and crossing the room he
+did what he had been requested before walking out of the observatory,
+leaving Alleyne absorbed once more in his thoughts, and too intent to
+raise his head as his visitor bade him good-day.
+
+By accident or design, Oldroyd encountered Lucy once more in crossing
+the hall, bowing to her gravely, his salute being received with chilling
+courtesy by the young lady, who again hurried away, truth to tell, to
+ascend to her bedroom and cry over the unhappy way in which her life
+course was being turned.
+
+"Well," said Mrs Alleyne anxiously, as she advanced to meet Oldroyd,
+"what do you think?"
+
+"Exactly what I thought before I saw your son, madam.  He is again
+setting Nature at defiance and suffering for the sin."
+
+"And what is to be done?"
+
+Oldroyd shook his head as he thought of the medicine that would have
+cured Alleyne's complaint--a remedy that appeared to be unattainable,
+watched as it were by a military dragon of the name of Rolph, and all
+the young doctor could say for the anxious mother's comfort was on
+leaving,--
+
+"We must wait."
+
+Volume 3, Chapter III.
+
+A DISCOVERY.
+
+"Lucy, I have something very particular to say to you," said Mrs Alleyne
+one morning directly after breakfast, over which she had sat very stern
+and cold of mien.
+
+"Mamma!" exclaimed Lucy, flushing.
+
+"I desire that you be perfectly frank with me.  I insist upon knowing
+everything at once."
+
+Lucy's pretty face fired up a deeper crimson for a few moments under
+this examination.  Then she grew pale as she rose from her seat and
+stood confronting her mother.
+
+"I do not think I quite understand you, mamma," she faltered.
+
+"Lucy!"
+
+The thrill of maternal indignation made the old brown silk dress once
+more give forth a slight electric kind of rustle as this one word was
+spoken, and Mrs Alleyne's eyes seemed to lance her child.
+
+"A guilty conscience, Lucy, needs no accuser," said Mrs Alleyne, in a
+bitterly contemptuous tone.  "You know perfectly well what I mean."
+
+Lucy glanced half-timidly, half-wonderingly at her mother, but remained
+silent.
+
+"I will not refuse you my permission to go your daily walks in future,
+but I must ask you to give me your word that such proceedings as have
+been reported to me of late shall be at an end."
+
+Lucy opened her lips to speak, but Mrs Alleyne held up her hand.
+
+"If you are going to say that you do not know what I mean, pray
+hesitate.  I refer to your meetings with Captain Rolph."
+
+Lucy's shame and dismay had been swept away by a feeling of resentment
+now, and, giving her little foot a pettish stamp, she exclaimed,--
+
+"The country side is free to Captain Rolph as well as to me, mamma.  I
+know him from meeting him at the hall.  I cannot help it if he speaks to
+me when I am out."
+
+"But you can help making appointments with him," retorted Mrs Alleyne.
+
+"I never did, mamma.  I declare I never did," cried Lucy with spirit.
+
+"But you go in places where he is likely to be seen; and even if he were
+an eligible suitor for your hand, is this the way a child of mine should
+behave?  Giving open countenance to the wretched tittle-tattle of this
+out-of-the-way place."
+
+"And pray, who has been talking about me?" cried Lucy angrily.
+
+"The poor people at the cottages--the servants.  It is commonly known.
+I spoke to Mr Oldroyd yesterday."
+
+"And what did he dare to say?" cried Lucy, flaming up.
+
+"He would not say anything, but from his manner it was plain to see that
+he knew."
+
+"Oh!" sighed Lucy, with an expiration that betokened intense relief.
+
+"I have not yet spoken to Moray, but I feel that it is my duty to tell
+him all, and to bid him call Captain Rolph to account for what looks to
+me like a very ungentlemanly pursuit, and one that you must have
+encouraged."
+
+Lucy wanted to exclaim that she had not encouraged him; but here her
+conscience interposed, and she remained silent, while Mrs Alleyne went
+on in her cold, austere manner.
+
+"Far be it from me," she said, "to wish to check any natural impulses of
+your young life.  It might cause a feeling akin to jealousy, but I
+should not murmur, Lucy, at your forming some attachment.  I should even
+rejoice if Moray were to love and marry some sweet girl.  It would work
+a change in him and drive away the strange morbid fancies which he shows
+at times.  But clandestine proceedings with such an offensive, repellent
+person as that Captain Rolph I cannot countenance.  I'm sure when Moray
+knows--"
+
+"But Moray must not know, mamma."
+
+"And pray why not, Lucy?"
+
+"Has he not been ill and troubled enough without being made anxious
+about such a piece of nonsense as this?"
+
+"But I am hearing of it from all sides; and, see here."
+
+Mrs Alleyne handed a letter to her daughter, and Lucy turned it over in
+her trembling fingers while she stood flushed and indignant before her
+mother.
+
+"All I can say is," said Mrs Alleyne, "that if you have carried on this
+wretched flirtation with the betrothed of the girl you called your
+friend, it is most disgraceful."
+
+"I tell you again, mamma, it is not true," cried Lucy passionately.
+"Oh, why will you not believe me!"
+
+"Read that letter," said Mrs Alleyne sternly.
+
+Lucy's eyes fell upon the paper, and then she snatched them away, but
+only to look at it again and read the stereotyped form of anonymous
+letter from a true friend, asking whether Mrs Alleyne was aware that her
+daughter was in the habit of meeting Captain Rolph at night, etc., etc.,
+etc.
+
+"How can anyone write such a scandalous untruth!" cried Lucy
+passionately; "and it is cruel--cruel in the extreme of you, mamma, to
+think for a moment that it is true."
+
+"That what is true?" said a deep, grave voice.
+
+Mother and daughter turned quickly to see that Alleyne had come in
+during their altercation, and he now stretched out his hand for the
+letter.
+
+Lucy looked up in the white, stern face, almost with a fright, and then
+shrinkingly, as if he were her judge, placed the letter in his hands,
+and shrank back to watch his countenance, as he read it slowly through,
+weighing every word before turning to Mrs Alleyne.
+
+"Did you receive this?" he said.
+
+"Yes, Moray; but I did not mean to let it trouble you, my son."
+
+"Leave Lucy with me for a few minutes, mother," said Alleyne sternly.
+
+"But, Moray, my son--"
+
+"I wish it, mother," he said coldly; and, taking her hand, he was about
+to lead her to the door, but he altered his mind, and, with
+old-fashioned courtesy, took her to her chair, after which he
+deliberately tore up the letter and burned the scraps before turning to
+his sister.
+
+"Come with me, Lucy," he said in his deep, grave tones.  "I wish to
+speak with you."
+
+He held the door open, and Lucy passed out before him, trembling and
+agitated, as if she were going to her trial, while Alleyne quietly
+closed each door after them, and followed her into the observatory,
+where he sat down and held out his hand, looking up at the poor girl
+with so tender and pitying an aspect that she uttered a sobbing cry,
+caught his hands in hers, and, throwing herself on her knees at his
+feet, burst into a passion of weeping.
+
+"Poor little woman," he said tenderly, as he drew her more and more to
+him, till her head rested upon his breast, and with one hand he gently
+stroked the glossy hair.  "Come, Lucy, I am not your judge, only your
+brother: tell me--is that true?"
+
+"No--no--no--no!  Moray, it is false as false can be.  I have not seen
+or spoken to Captain Rolph for months."
+
+"But you did see and speak to him alone, little woman?" he said, looking
+paler and older and as if every word was a trouble to him to utter.
+
+"Yes, dear, I did, for--for--Oh, Moray, I will--I will speak," she
+sobbed, in a passionate burst of tears.  "You are so big and kind and
+good, I will tell you everything."
+
+"Tell me, then," he said, patting her head, as if she were his child.
+"You did love this man?"
+
+"Moray!"
+
+Only that word; but it was so full of scorn, contempt, and reproach also
+to the questioner, that it carried conviction with it, and, taking
+Lucy's face between his hands, Alleyne bent down and kissed her
+tenderly.
+
+"I am very glad, dear," he said quietly, "more glad than I dare say to
+you; but tell me--you used to meet him frequently?"
+
+"Yes, yes, Moray, I did--I did, dear.  It was wicked and false of me.  I
+ought not to have done what I did, but--but--oh, Moray--will you forgive
+me if I tell you all?"
+
+He remained silent for a few moments, gazing sternly down into his
+sister's eyes, and then said softly,--
+
+"Yes, Lucy, I will forgive you anything that you have done."
+
+"I--I--thought it was for the best," she sobbed--"I thought I should be
+serving you, Moray, dear."
+
+"How? serving me?"
+
+"Yes, yes, I knew--I felt all that you felt, and seemed to read all your
+thoughts, and I wanted--I wanted--oh, Moray, dear, forgive me for
+causing you pain in what I say, I wanted Glynne to love you as I saw
+that you loved her."
+
+His brow knit tightly, and he drew a long and gasping breath, but he
+controlled himself, and in a low, almost inaudible voice, he
+whispered,--
+
+"Go on."
+
+"I was out walking one morning," continued Lucy, "and Captain Rolph met
+me, and--a woman sees anything so quickly--he began paying me
+compliments, and flirting, and he seemed so false and careless of Glynne
+that I thought there would be no harm in encouraging him a little, and
+letting him think I was impressed, so that Glynne might find out how
+worthless and common he is, and then send him about his business, Moray,
+dear.  And then when her eyes were opened, she might--might--Oh, Moray,
+dear, I don't like to say it.  But I went on like that, and he used to
+see me whenever I was out.  He watched for me, and he doesn't care a bit
+for Glynne, and I don't believe he did for me; I never even let him
+touch my hand, and it's all months ago now, and oh, Moray, Moray, I'm a
+wicked, wicked girl, and everybody thinks ill of me, even mamma, and
+I've never been happy since."
+
+"And so you did all this, little woman, for me?"
+
+"Yes, yes, dear, I--I thought I was doing right."
+
+"And I thought that you cared for Oldroyd, Lucy, and--"
+
+"No, no: I hate him," she cried passionately, and her cheeks turned
+scarlet for the sinful little words.
+
+"And you are very unhappy, my child?" he continued.
+
+"Yes, yes, yes, miserably unhappy, dear.  I wish we were thousands of
+miles away, and all dead and buried, and never--and never likely to see
+this horrid place again."
+
+"And I have been so rapt in my studies--in myself," he said, colouring
+slightly, as if ashamed to accept the screen of the slightest
+subterfuge.  "I have neglected you, little Lucy," he went on, tenderly
+caressing her.  "And this wretched anonymous letter, evidently from some
+spiteful woman, is all false, dear?"
+
+"Every word, Moray.  I have not spoken to Captain Rolph since that day
+he came here, and--"
+
+"Hush! hush!" said Alleyne softly; and his face grew very thin and old.
+"Think no more about the letter.  Wipe your eyes, my child.  I'm glad--
+very glad you do not care for this man."
+
+"I care for that animal!" cried Lucy scornfully.  "Oh, Moray, how could
+you think it of me?"
+
+"Because--"
+
+The words were on Moray Alleyne's lips to say, "Women are such strange
+creatures!" but he checked himself, and said softly,--"Let it pass, my
+child.  There, there, wipe those poor, wet, red eyes.  I'll go and speak
+to our mother.  This vexed her, for she thought you had been a little
+weak and foolish.  She is jealous, dear, and proud and watchful of our
+every act.  It is her great love for us.  There, there, kiss me; and go
+to your room for a while.  Everything will be well when you come down
+again."
+
+"Will it, Moray?" whispered Lucy, nestling more closely to him.  "Is my
+brave, strong, noble brother going to be himself once more?"
+
+She held herself from him so that she might gaze full in his face, but
+he kept his eyes averted.
+
+"Moray, I am so little and weak," she whispered, "but I have my pride.
+You must not let a disappointment eat out all the pleasure of your
+life."
+
+"Hush!" he said softly.
+
+"I will speak," she cried.  "Moray, my own brother, you must not break
+your great true heart because a handsome woman has played with you for a
+time, and then thrown you aside for a worthless, foolish man."
+
+He fixed his eyes upon her now, and said sadly, as he smiled in her
+face,--
+
+"Wrong, little sister, wrong.  I was mad, and forgot myself.  She was
+promised to another before we had met."
+
+"Yes, Moray, dear, but--"
+
+"Silence!  No more," he said sternly.  "Never refer to this again."
+
+"Oh, but, Moray, darling, let me--"
+
+"Hush!" he said, laying his finger tenderly, half-playfully, upon her
+lip, and then removing it to kiss her affectionately.  "All that is dead
+and gone, Lucy.  We must not dig up the dry bones of our old sorrows to
+revive them once again.  I have long been promised to a mistress whom I
+forsook for a time--to whom I was unfaithful.  She has forgiven me,
+dear, and taken me back to her arms.  Urania is my heart's love," he
+continued, smiling, "and I am going to be a faithful spouse.  There,
+there, little sister, go now, and I will make your peace with our
+mother, or rather ask her to make her peace with you."
+
+He led her to the door and dismissed her with another kiss, after which
+he stood watching her ascend the stairs, and saw her stop on the landing
+to kiss her hand to him.  Then he sought his mother, with whom he had a
+serious interview, leaving her at the end of an hour to return to his
+chair in the observatory, when he took up a pen, as if to write, but
+only let it fall; and, forgetful of everything but his own sorrow, sat
+there dreaming, old-looking and strange till the sun went down.
+
+He used to tell himself afterwards that on such nights as these he was
+tempted by his own peculiar devil who haunted him, pointing out to him
+his folly, weakness and pride in shutting himself up there, when he had
+but to go to Glynne and tell her that she was selling herself to a man
+who was behaving to her like a scoundrel.
+
+If he treated her like this before marriage, when his feelings towards
+her should be of the warmest and best, when he was in the spring-tide of
+his youth, what would his conduct be afterwards, when he had grown tired
+and careless?
+
+He could not help it.  That night Alleyne made his way to the fir mount
+once more, to go to the very edge and stand beneath the natural east
+window of the great wind-swept temple, and there lean against one of the
+ruddy bronze pillars to gaze across at The Hall.
+
+But not to gaze at the lights, for there was one dark spot which he well
+knew now from Lucy's description.  It was where the little
+wistaria-covered conservatory stood out beside her bedroom window, with
+the great cable-like stems running up to form a natural rope ladder by
+which a lover might steal up in the darkness of some soft summer night,
+as lovers had ere now, but only when willing arms waited them and a soft
+sweet cooing voice had whispered "Come."
+
+It was as if a voice whispered this to him night after night, and it
+came to him mockingly as he stood there then.
+
+There was yet time it seemed to say.  Glynne would turn to him if she
+knew of those scenes in the lane, and his rival would be discomfited.
+Sir John, too, would hail him as a friend and benefactor, receiving him
+with open arms for saving his daughter from such a fate.
+
+And then Alleyne paced the great dark aisle, avoiding, as if by
+instinct, the various trunks that stood in his way, while he forced his
+spirit into a state of calmness and the temptation behind him, for such
+an act was to him impossible.  It had all been a mad dream on his part,
+and it was not for him to play the part of informer and expose Rolph's
+falsity to the father of the woman he was to wed.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter IV.
+
+STILL IN THE CLOUDS.
+
+There was no mistaking the figures, no possibility of erring in judgment
+upon the meaning of the meeting? and Oldroyd could not help admiring the
+physical beauty of the group as the lovely background of hedgerow and
+woodland gave effect to the scene.
+
+The group was composed of two.  The poacher's daughter and Rolph, who,
+with his arms tightly clasping the girl's tall undulating form, had
+drawn her, apparently by no means unwillingly to his breast, against
+which she nestled with her hands resting upon his shoulders.  The girl's
+face was half hidden, while Rolph was smiling down upon her, whispering
+something to which she lent a willing ear, and then, raising her face,
+she was offering her pouting lips to his, when her half-closed eyes
+suddenly became widely opened, her whole form rigid, and, thrusting
+Rolph back, she slipped from his arms, bounded through a gap in the
+woodland hedge like some wild creature, and disappeared amongst the
+trees.
+
+Rolph caught sight of the on-coming figure almost at the same moment,
+the spasmodic start given by Judith warning him that there was something
+wrong.  He seemed for a moment as if about to yield to the more easy way
+out of his difficulty, and leap into the wood, but he stood his ground,
+and, as Oldroyd came slowly on, said to him,--
+
+"How do, doctor?  Perhaps you've got a light?  I want one for my cigar.
+Thanks."
+
+His coolness was staggering.
+
+"Is it a fact about that girl's father being still at home and out of
+work?"
+
+"Yes," replied Oldroyd shortly.  "He has been at the point of death."
+
+"Has he, though?" said Rolph.  "I'm glad of that.  One don't like to be
+imposed upon, and to find that when one has given money in charity that
+it has been a regular do.  Nice day.  Good-morning."
+
+"Knows I can't tell tales, damn him!  I'm no spy," muttered Oldroyd, as
+he ambled along on the miller's pony.  "I've got quite enough to do to
+study my own profession, and to try and cure my patients without
+worrying myself in the slightest degree about other people's business,
+but I can't help it if they will be holding clandestine meetings just
+under my noble Roman nose--Go on, Peter."
+
+Peter lifted his head and whisked his tail; then he lowered his head,
+and kept his end quiescent, as he went on at the old pace, while the
+young doctor continued musing about the interview that he had been
+called upon to witness.
+
+"I should not have been out here if old Mother Wattley had not been
+taken ill once more, for the last time, poor old soul.  I believe she'll
+live to a hundred.  I was obliged to come, though.  I don't suppose
+anybody passes along this lane above once a month.  I'm the only one who
+has come down this week, and of course I must be there just when the
+athlete was having an interview with Judith Hayle.  Humph! there are
+other poachers in the world besides those who go after rabbits, hares
+and pheasants."
+
+Oldroyd drummed the sides of his little charger as he rode on along a
+very narrow pathway through the wood that he had to cross to get to old
+Mrs Wattley's, and he looked anything but a picturesque object as a
+cavalier, for either he was too big or his steed too small--the latter,
+a little shaggy, rarely-groomed creature, being more accustomed to drag
+loads of corn for his master from the town than to act as hack for the
+principal medical man of the neighbourhood.
+
+Peter pricked up his ears as soon as they were through the wood, and
+turned off, unguided, to the right, where, on as lonely and deserted a
+spot as could have been selected, being built in fact upon a spare
+corner between the road and the next property, stood the cottage
+inhabited by old Mrs Wattley.  Report said that Timothy Wattley had
+built himself a shed there many years before, this being a sort of
+common land.  The shed had been contrived by the insertion of four
+fir-poles at the angles, some others being tied across to form a roof,
+while sides and top were of freshly cut furze.
+
+Time went on, and the windy side of Tim Wattley's shed was coated with
+mud.  More time went by, and a thatched roof appeared.  Then came a real
+brick chimney and a proper door, and so on, and so on, till, in the
+course of years, the shed grew into quite a respectable cottage, with
+separate rooms--two--and a real iron fireplace.
+
+Then report said that instead of walking over to church on Sunday
+mornings, Timothy Wattley used to send his wife, while he idled round
+his little scrap of a garden, pushing the hedge out a bit more and a bit
+more with his heavy boot, and all so gradually that the process was
+unnoticed, while when the old man died after forty years' possession of
+the place, the patch upon which he had first set up his fir-pole and
+furze shed had grown into a freehold of an acre and a half, properly
+hedged in, and of which the widow could not be dispossessed.
+
+It was at the rough little gate of the cottage that Peter the pony
+stopped short, and began nibbling the most tender shoots of the hedge
+that he could find.  Oldroyd dismounted and secured the reins before
+going up to the door; tapping, and then going straight in, lowering his
+head to avoid a blow from the cross-piece that might have been fixed by
+a dwarf.
+
+"Ah, doctor," came from the large bed which nearly filled up the little
+room, and on which lay the comfortable-looking, puckered, apple-faced
+old woman, "you've been a long time coming.  If I had been some rich
+folks up at Brackley or somers-else, you'd have been here long enough
+ago."
+
+"My dear Mrs Wattley," cried Oldroyd; "nothing of the kind.  I took the
+pony and rode over as soon as I had your message, and I could not have
+done more if you had been the queen."
+
+"Then it's that dratted boy went and forgot it yesterday morning.  Oh,
+if ever I grow well and strong again, I'll let him know!"
+
+"Did you send a message yesterday morning, then?"
+
+"Ay, did I, when that young dog was going over to the town; and he
+forgot it, then."
+
+"I only had the message, as I tell you, to-day."
+
+"An' me lying in tarmint all yes'day, and all night listening to the
+poachers out with their guns.  Eh, but it's sorry work wi' them and the
+keepers, and not one on 'em man enough to leave a hare or a fezzan with
+a poor old woman who's hidden away many a lot of game for them in her
+time.  Eh, but it's hard work, lying in my aggynies the long night
+through, and my neighbour coming to set up with me and nuss me, and
+going off to sleep, and snoring like a bad-ringed hog."
+
+"Ah, then your neighbour sat up with you last night, did she?" said
+Oldroyd.
+
+"Sat up with me?  Snored up with me, and nearly drove me wild, my
+aggynies was that bad.  Then she goes and sends Judy to tidy me up after
+braxfas, and a nice tidying up it was, with her all agog to get away and
+meet someone I'll be bound.  I dunno who it be, but she's allus courting
+somers in the wood.  Ah, I went courting once, but now it's all
+aggynies."
+
+"And so you're in great pain, are you, Mrs Wattley?"
+
+"Aggynies I tellee, aggynies."
+
+"Ah, it's rheumatism, old lady, rheumatism."
+
+"There man, as if I didn't know that.  Think I've had these aggynies
+a-coming on at every change of the wind, and not know as it's rheumatiz,
+why, as I says to Miss Lucy Alling, there, as comes over from the big
+house a'side the common yonder, and brought me a few bits o' chicking,
+and sits herself down in that very chair, `I've had 'em too many years
+now, my dear, not to know as they're rheumatiz.  I'll ask Doctor
+Oldroyd,' I says, `to give me some of they old iles as used to be got
+when I was younger than I am.'  Fine things they was for the rheumatiz,
+but they don't seem to be able to get 'em now."
+
+Oldroyd moved uneasily in his seat, as he learned how lately Lucy had
+been there, and that she had occupied the very chair he was in.  Then he
+hastily proceeded to cross-examine the poor old woman about her
+troubles, every answer he received going to prove that, for an old lady
+over ninety, Mrs Wattley was about as well preserved and healthy a
+specimen of humanity as it would be possible to find.
+
+"Ah, well," said Oldroyd at last, "I daresay I shall be able to give you
+a little comfort.  You'll have to take some medicine, though."
+
+"Nay, nay, I want the iles, and I want 'em rubbed in," cried the old
+lady.  "Nothing ever did me so much good as they iles; and I know what
+it all means--waiting three or four days afore I gets the medson to
+take."
+
+"Now, what is this," said Oldroyd, smiling; "I have brought it with me."
+
+As he spoke he took a bottle from the breast of his coat.
+
+"Then it's pyson, and you're going to give it to get rid of me, just a
+cause you parish doctors won't take the trouble to attend poor people.
+I know; you want to get rid of me, you do."
+
+"How can you talk like that?  Have I ever neglected you?"
+
+"Well, p'r'aps not so much as him as was here afore you did.  He
+neglecket me shameful.  But you've got tired of me, and you want to see
+me put under ground."
+
+"What makes you say that?" said Oldroyd, laughing.
+
+"'Cause you want me to take that physic as isn't proper for me."
+
+"Why you comical, prejudiced old woman," he said, "it is the best thing
+I can give you."
+
+"Oh, no, it isn't.  I know better," cried the old lady.  "Don't tell me.
+I may be ninety, but I a'n't lived to ninety without knowing as one
+physic a'n't good for everything."
+
+"Oh, that's it, is it?" cried Oldroyd, laughing.  "You think I haven't
+got the right stuff for you."
+
+"Ah, it's nothing to laugh at, young man.  I'm not a fool.  How could
+you know what was the matter with me before you come, and so bring the
+stuff?  I a'n't a cow, as only wants one kind of physic all its life."
+
+"Nay, I did know what was the matter with you," cried Oldroyd, taking
+the poor, prejudiced old things hand, to speak kindly and seriously
+though with a little politic flattery.  "The boy came to me and said you
+were ill, and I immediately, knowing you as I do, said to myself--now
+with such a constitution as Mrs Wattley has, there can only be one of
+two things the matter with her; someone has carelessly left a door or
+window open, and given her cold; or else she has got a touch of
+rheumatism."
+
+"And so you brought physic for a cold," said the old woman sharply.
+
+"No.  I knew you would be too careful to let anyone neglect your doors
+and windows."
+
+"That I would," cried the old lady.  "I fetched that Judy back with a
+flea in her ear only the day afore yesterday.  I shouted till she came
+back and shut my door after her--a slut.  She thinks of nothing but
+young men."
+
+"You see I was right," continued Oldroyd.  "I felt sure it was not cold,
+and, on looking out, saw that the wind had got round to the east, so I
+mixed up his prescription, the best thing there is for rheumatism, and
+came on at once."
+
+"Is it as good as the iles, young man?"
+
+"Far better; and I'm sure you will find relief."
+
+"Well, you are right about the wind, for I felt it in my bones as soon
+as it got round; so, p'r'aps you're right about the physic.  I dunno,
+though, you're only a boy, and not likely to know much.  It's a pity
+they send such young fellows as you to take charge of a parish.  But the
+guardians don't care a bit.  They'd like to see all the old uns go
+under, the sooner the better.  Not as I'm beholden to 'em for aught but
+a drop o' physic.  I can do without 'em, I daresay, for a good many
+years yet."
+
+"To be sure you can," said Oldroyd, smiling rather gravely, as he looked
+at the ancient face before him.
+
+"Ay, I can do without 'em; and now, look here, young man, you set me
+right again.  I've got four shillings put aside, and I'll give you
+that."
+
+"I daresay I can set you right again without the four shillings," said
+Oldroyd, "but not if you begin by calling me a boy."
+
+"There's naught to be ashamed of in being a boy," cried the old woman
+sharply.  "I wish I was a gal now, and could begin all over again."
+
+"No, there's nothing to be ashamed of, old lady, but you must trust me,
+and take my medicine."
+
+"I won't--I won't swallow a drop, if you don't take your oath it's quite
+right, and will do me good, and won't pyson me."
+
+For answer Oldroyd rose from his seat, and took a cup from a shelf, into
+which he poured a portion of the medicine.
+
+"There, it's no use, young man, I won't take a dose."
+
+"Look here," cried Oldroyd; and putting the cup to his lips, he
+swallowed all that was at the bottom.
+
+"You're going to spit it out again as soon as you get outside."
+
+"Nonsense!" cried Oldroyd, laughing heartily as he poured out a fresh
+portion.  "There, there, take it, and get well again."
+
+"You're sure it's right, and that it won't hurt me?"
+
+"I'm sure it will comfort you, and correct what is wrong."
+
+She watched him with her bright old eyes full of suspicion, and ended by
+taking the cup very doubtfully and swallowing its contents with a
+childlike shudder.
+
+"There, give me a bit of sugar out of that basin, young man," she cried
+emphatically; and, upon her desire being gratified, she settled herself
+down again in bed with a satisfied sigh.
+
+"Ah, I feel better now," she said.  "I suppose you are not quite so
+young as you look, are you?"
+
+"Really, Mrs Wattley, I don't know," replied Oldroyd, smiling.
+
+"Perhaps you ar'n't," she continued looking at him critically.  "I
+daresay you're clever enough, or else you wouldn't be here; but we
+ladies don't like to have a single man to see us when we are ill.  You
+ought to be married, you know."
+
+"Do you think so?" said Oldroyd, looking rather conscious, as he thought
+of his prospects, matrimonially and financially.
+
+"Yes, I do think so," said the old lady tartly, and in a very
+dictatorial manner.  "Look here, young man, there's little Miss Lucy,
+who comes to see me now and then.  Marry her, and if you behave
+yourself, perhaps I'll leave you my cottage and ground.  I sha'n't leave
+'em to Judy, for she don't deserve 'em a bit."
+
+"Leave them to your relatives, old lady; and suppose we turn back to the
+rheumatism," said Oldroyd, half-amused and half-annoyed by his patient's
+remarks.
+
+"Ay, we'll talk about that by-and-by.  I want to talk about you.  My
+rheumatics is better a'ready--that's done me a mint o' good, young man,
+and I shouldn't mind seeing you married, for it would be a deal better
+for you, and I daresay I should call you in a bit more oftener.  What,
+are you going?"
+
+"Yes; I have the pony waiting, and I must get back."
+
+"Humph!  I didn't know as you could afford to keep a pony, young man.
+Why don't you walk?--keep you better and stronger--and save your money.
+Ah, well! you may go then; and mind what I said to you.  You may as well
+have the bit of land and Miss Lucy, but you won't get it yet, so don't
+think it.  My father was a hundred and two when he died, and I'm only
+just past ninety, so don't expect too much."
+
+"I will not," said Oldroyd, smiling at the helpless old creature, and
+thinking how contentedly she bore her fate of living quite alone by the
+roadside, and with the nearest cottage far away.
+
+"You'll come and see me to-morrow?" said the old lady, as the doctor
+stood at the door.  "You're not so busy that you can't spare time, so
+don't you try to tell me that."
+
+"No, I shall not be too busy," replied Oldroyd; "I'll come."
+
+"And mind you recollect about her.  She would just suit you; she nusses
+so nicely, and--"
+
+Philip Oldroyd did not hear the end of the speech, for he closed the
+door, frowning with annoyance; and, mounting his pony, rode slowly back
+towards home.
+
+"I shall not meet them again, I suppose," he said to himself, as he
+neared the spot where he had seen Rolph and Judith on his way to the
+cottage; and, quite satisfied upon this point, he was riding softly on
+along the turf by the side of the road when, as he turned a corner, he
+came suddenly upon two men--the one ruddy and sun-browned, the other
+pale, close shaven, and sunken of eye.
+
+"Hayle and Captain Rolph," said the doctor between his teeth, "what does
+that mean?"
+
+He rode on to pass close by the pair, both of whom looked up, the one to
+give him a haughty nod of the head, the other to touch his hat and
+say,--"How do, doctor?"
+
+"The parson is said to know most about the affairs of people in a
+parish," thought Oldroyd; "but that will not do.  It's a mistake.  We
+are the knowing ones.  Why, I could give quite a history of what is
+going on around us--if I liked.  Your parson kens, as the north-country
+folk say, a' aboot their morals, but we doctors are well up in the
+mental and bodily state too.  Now then, who next?  Bound to say, if I
+take the short cut through the firs and along the grass drives, I shall
+meet the old major toadstool hunting, and possibly Miss Day with him."
+
+Oldroyd's ideas ran upon someone else; but he put the thoughts aside,
+and went on very moodily for a few minutes before his thoughts reverted
+to their former channel.
+
+"Safe to meet them," he muttered, with a bitter laugh.  "Well, the
+captain is otherwise engaged to-day.  The young lady with the gentleman
+as I came, and papa and the gentleman as I return.  Well--go on Peter--I
+have enough to do with my own professional affairs, and giving advice
+gratis on moral matters is not in my department.  No mention of them in
+the pharmacopoeia."
+
+Peter responded to his rider's adjuration to go on in his customary
+way--to wit, he raised his head and whisked his tail, and went on, but
+without the slightest increase of speed.  Oldroyd turned him out of the
+lane, through one of the game preserves, and he rode thoughtfully on for
+a couple of miles, with the peculiar smell of the bracken pervading the
+air as Peter crushed the stems beneath his hoofs.  At times, as he rode
+through some opening where the sun beat down heavily, there was the
+pungent, lemony, resinous odour of the pines wafted to his nostrils, and
+once it was so strong that the doctor pulled up to inhale it.
+
+"What a lunatic I was," he thought, "to come and settle down in a place
+like this.  Nature wants no doctors here; she does all the work
+herself--except the accidents," he added laughingly.  "Poor old Hayle
+yonder; I don't think she would have made so good a job of him."
+
+He rode on again through the hot afternoon sunshine, going more and more
+out of his way; but he did not see the major with his creel, neither did
+the lady attendant upon some of his walks make his sore heart begin
+beating.
+
+He had just come to the conclusion that he had ridden all this way round
+for nothing, when, as he wound round a mossy carpeted drive, he saw in
+the distance, framed in with green against a background of sky, a couple
+of figures, of which one, a lady, was holding out something to the
+other, a gipsy-looking fellow, which he took and thrust into his pocket,
+becoming conscious at the same moment of the doctor's approach.
+
+"Looks like my young poaching friend, Caleb Kent," thought Oldroyd, as
+the man touched his cap obsequiously and plunged at once in through the
+thick undergrowth and was gone, while the lady drew herself up and came
+toward him.
+
+Oldroyd's acquaintanceship was of the most distant kind, and he merely
+raised his hat as he passed, noting that the face, which looked
+haughtily in his, was flushed and hot as his bow was returned.
+
+"Why, that young scoundrel has been begging.  Met her alone out here in
+this wood," thought Oldroyd, when he had ridden on for a few yards; and,
+on the impulse of the moment, he dragged the unwilling pony's head
+round, and, to the little animal's astonishment, struck his heels into
+its ribs and forced it to canter after the lady they had passed.
+
+She did not hear the approach for a few minutes, but was walking on
+hurriedly with her head bent down, till, the soft beat of the pony's
+hoofs close behind rousing her, she turned suddenly a wild and startled
+face.
+
+"I beg your pardon--Miss Emlin of The Warren, I believe?" said Oldroyd,
+raising his hat again.
+
+There was a distant bow.
+
+"You will excuse my interference," he continued; "but these woods are
+lonely, and I could not help seeing that man had accosted you."
+
+Marjorie's face was like wax now in its pallor.
+
+"I thought so," said Oldroyd to himself.  Then aloud,--"He was begging,
+and frightened you?"
+
+"The man asked me for money, and I gave him some.  No; he did not
+frighten me."
+
+A flush now came in the girl's face, and she said eagerly,--
+
+"Did you pass a gentleman--my cousin, Captain Rolph--in the woods?"
+
+"Yes; about a couple of miles away.  I beg pardon for my interference,"
+there was an exchange of bows; and each passed on.
+
+"What a fool I am!" muttered Oldroyd.  "Like a man.  Jumps at the chance
+of playing the knight-errant.  Only begged a copper or two of her; a
+loafing scoundrel.  Phew!" he whistled, "my cousin!  I'm afraid that my
+cousin is going to be pulled up sharp; and quite right too.  Looks like
+a piece of jealousy there.  And the fellow's engaged.  Well, it's not my
+business.  Go on, Peter, old man."
+
+Peter wagged his tail, but still there was no increase of speed; for, if
+ponies can think, Peter was cogitating on the fact that if he made haste
+home there would be time for him to go with Sinkins, the carpenter, to
+fetch a piece of oak from the wood; and he felt that he had done enough
+for one day.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter V.
+
+PERTURBATIONS.
+
+Had Oldroyd been a little sooner, he would have formed a different
+opinion about Caleb Kent and his appealing to Marjorie for alms.
+
+For that day, Marjorie had come down dressed for a walk--a saunter, to
+find a few botanical specimens, she told Mrs Rolph, who smiled and was
+quite content, so long as her niece settled down and made no trouble of
+the loss of her lover.
+
+Marjorie did saunter as long as she was in sight, and then went off
+through the fir woods rapidly, her eyes losing their soft, spaniel-like,
+far-away look which she so often turned upon Rolph, and growing fierce
+and determined as she stepped out, full of the object she had in view.
+
+For she had good reason to believe that Rolph had gone in the direction
+she was taking, and the desire was strong within her to come upon him
+suddenly, and at a time when she felt she would succeed in getting the
+whip-hand of him, and holding him at her mercy.
+
+She had been walking nearly an hour fairly fast; but now, as if guided
+by instinct, she turned into a green, mossy path, one of the many cut
+among the stubbs for the sportsmen's benefit, whether hunting or
+shooting their purpose was the same, and advancing now more cautiously
+she was looking sharply from side to side when the hazels were suddenly
+parted, and, with his white teeth glistening in the sunshine, and his
+dark eyes flashing, there stood Caleb Kent not two yards away; then not
+one, as he caught her wrist in his hot, brown hands, and, with a laugh,
+placed his face close to hers.
+
+"You've been a long time coming," he said, "but you promised, and I've
+come."
+
+For a few moments Marjorie stood gazing wildly at the man before her,
+with her brain reeling, and a strange sickening sensation attacking her,
+which rendered her speechless.  Her lips moved, but no sound came, while
+the words which had passed between them thundered in her ears like the
+echoes of all that had been said.
+
+Then a re-action took place, and, drawing herself up, she said
+quietly,--
+
+"Well, what do you want--money?"
+
+"No; I can get money for myself," he said, with a laugh.  "I've come
+back to you."
+
+She shrank from him now with a look of disgust, and shivered as she
+thought of the past, but recovering herself she turned upon him.
+
+"How dare you!" she cried, with a look intended to keep him at bay.
+
+Caleb laughed.
+
+"Well, you are a strange girl," he said; "hot one day, cold the next.
+But I don't care; say what you like, dear."
+
+Marjorie started as if she had been stung at this last word, for, more
+than anything which had passed, it made her feel how she had fallen.
+
+"You want to play with me and hold me off; and you are going to say you
+didn't mean it."
+
+With an action quick as that of some wild creature, he caught her wrist
+again, and looked at her mockingly, but with a flashing in his eyes
+which made her shiver and glance quickly round.
+
+"No," he said, with a laugh; "no one can see.  But, look here," he
+whispered earnestly, "I've been thinking about you ever since.  You
+don't care for them here, and their money and fine clothes.  Come away
+along with me--it'll be free like--right away from everyone who knows
+you, and I'll be real good to you, dear, 'pon my soul I will."
+
+"Loose my wrist!  How dare you!" cried Marjorie; and in her alarm she
+wondered now that she could have been so mad with one whom she thought
+she could sway with a look, but who was beginning to sway her.
+
+"How dare I? because you like me to hold you," he whispered.  "Do you
+think I'm a fool?  Look here; you used to love him, but you hate him
+now, and you love me.  Well, I used to love Hayle's girl; I was mad
+after her, but since I've seen you I don't care a straw for her, not
+even if I never see her again."
+
+"Will you loose my wrist?" cried Marjorie, in a low, angry voice.
+
+"No--not till I like."
+
+"Am I to call for assistance and have you punished, sir?"
+
+"If you like," he said mockingly.  "There, that will do.  What's the
+good of all this nonsense?  Don't play with me.  I say you're a lady--a
+beautiful lady--and I never saw a woman I liked half so well.  Look
+here; come along with me.  I'll be like your dog, and do everything you
+ask me.  I'll kill him if you tell me, and Judith Hayle, too.  There,
+you wouldn't find one of your sort ready like that."
+
+Frantic with dread, Marjorie looked wildly round as she strove to free
+her wrist.
+
+"Why, what a struggling little thing you are," he whispered.  "Can't you
+see that I like you, and wouldn't hurt you for the world?  What's the
+good of holding off like this?  No one can see you; there isn't anybody
+within a couple of miles of where we are, and you promised me another
+kiss."
+
+"Let me go," cried Marjorie hoarsely.  "I did not mean it.  I was half
+wild when I said that to you.  Look here; take my watch and my rings,
+and I have some money here.  I did not mean all that.  Let go or I will
+call for help."
+
+"Well," he said coolly, "call for help.  I'm not afraid; you are, and
+you won't call--I know better than that.  Look here, you know what you
+said."
+
+She looked sharply round and shuddered.
+
+"Yes," she said huskily, "but I was mad and foolish then.  It was in an
+angry fit.  I didn't mean it."
+
+"Didn't you?" he said, looking at her with a cunning smile.  "How easily
+you people can lie.  You did mean it, and you made me a promise, and
+you're going to keep it."
+
+"No, no," she cried wildly.
+
+"You are," he said, "and I'm going to be paid.  I'm only waiting for my
+chance."
+
+"I tell you no," cried Marjorie.  "I did not mean it."
+
+"You meant it then, and you mean it now, and I'm going to keep my word
+when I can.  I'm not a fool.  Do you think I don't know why it all is?
+Not so blind as all that, my dear.  It's plucky of you, and I like you
+the better for it, and some day you'll tell me how glad you are that--
+pst! someone coming," he whispered, completely altering his manner and
+tone bowing obsequiously, and whining out an appeal to the dear kind
+lady to bestow a trifle on a poor young man out of work.
+
+That night Marjorie lay awake thinking, half-repentant, half-glad; the
+latter feeling increasing till there was a glow of triumph in her eyes
+as she seemed to be gazing down upon Glynne, cast off by her cousin, her
+enemy and rival no longer, but an unhappy despairing object humbled at
+her feet.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter VI.
+
+FACING THE UNKNOWN.
+
+The time was drawing nigh, and Sir John and his brother were sitting
+over their wine, when the former began upon matters connected with the
+wedding.  Rolph had only left them that day, and was to return the next
+morning to meet them at the church, in company with a brother officer,
+ready to act as his best man.  Then the wedding over, the happy pair
+were to start for the Continent; and Brackley would be left to the
+brothers, both of whom looked blank and dispirited as they asked
+themselves what they were to do when the light of the place had gone.
+
+And that was how the conversation first began.  Sir John sighing, and
+saying that he should miss Glynne very much indeed.
+
+"Of course, I give lots of attention to my pigs and sheep, and the rest
+of them," he said dolefully; "but Brackley won't be the same, Jem, old
+fellow, when she's gone.  I shall miss her dreadfully."
+
+"Yes," said the major, raising his claret to his lips, and setting the
+glass down again untouched, "we shall miss her dreadfully."
+
+Then, after a long conversation, Sir John had touched upon the subject
+of his brother's treatment of the bridegroom, and his conduct at the
+wedding.
+
+They sat sipping their claret for some time, Sir John being very silent;
+and at last the long pause was followed by the major saying,--
+
+"Well, don't let's leave our darling.  I suppose I may say `our
+darling,' Jack?"
+
+"My dear brother!" exclaimed Sir John, grasping his hand.
+
+"I say then, don't let's leave our darling alone any longer.  We shall
+have plenty of time to sip our wine of nights when we are alone, Jack.
+Let's go and let her pour out tea for us for what will pretty well be
+the last time."
+
+"Hah! yes!" said Sir John, rising slowly, "for pretty well the last
+time, Jem, and--and--"
+
+Sir John stopped short, for his voice broke, and the nerves in his fine
+florid face quivered.
+
+The major laid one hand upon his brother's shoulder in good old
+schoolboy fashion, caught his right hand in his own, and remained
+gripping it warmly--a strong, firm, sympathetic grip, full of brotherly
+feeling; but he spoke no word.
+
+Sir John was the first to break the silence.  "Thank you, Jem," he said,
+"thank you, Jem.  It's very weak and childish of me at my time of life,
+but it touches me home; it touches me the harder, too, that she is my
+only child; and--and--and, Jem, my lad, don't jump upon me--I must own
+it to you now, and I will--I feel that I am making a great mistake."
+
+"Thank God!" cried the major fervently.
+
+"Jem!"
+
+"I say, thank God," cried the major, "that you see the truth at last,
+Jack, before it is too late."
+
+"No, no, Jem," said Sir John sadly; "I have not seen it before it is too
+late.  It is too late.  We cannot alter it now.  I am in honour bound.
+I cannot interfere."
+
+"Hang honour!" cried the major excitedly.  "I'd give up all the honour
+in the world sooner than that girl's life should be blighted.  Jack,
+Jack, my dear brother, we are old men now.  We've had our fling of life.
+Let's think of our darling's happiness, and not of what the world
+thinks of us."
+
+"Too late, Jem! too late!" said Sir John.
+
+"I tell you it is not too late, Jack.  Hang it man, I'll do anything.
+I'll challenge and shoot this confounded Rolph sooner than he shall have
+her."
+
+"Don't talk nonsense, Jem--don't talk nonsense.  I've sounded Glynne
+well, and it is too late."
+
+"What!  Do you mean to tell me that she would insist upon having him if
+you forbade it?" cried the major.
+
+"She thinks that she is bound to him, and that it is impossible to
+retract, even if she wished."
+
+"But doesn't she wish to run back from this wretched business?"
+
+"No, she does not wish to run back from her promise."
+
+"I don't believe it," cried the major, over whose white forehead the
+veins stood up like a pink network.
+
+"It is true all the same," said Sir John sadly.  "If she had but
+expressed the slightest wish, I'd have seen Rolph, even at this eleventh
+hour, and, as he would have called it, the match should be off."
+
+"I will go and see her myself, Jack.  I don't want to insult you, my
+dear brother, but she does look up to me and my opinion a little.  Let
+me try and win her to my way of thinking, and let's get this wretched
+business stopped.  She would never be happy, I am sure."
+
+"Go and see her, Jem, by all means."
+
+"You give me your leave?"
+
+"I do."
+
+The major uttered a sigh of relief, and smoothing his beard, and with
+his eyes beaming, he walked straight into the drawing-room, where Glynne
+was seated, looking very pale and beautiful, with her head resting upon
+her soft white hand, gazing full at the lamp.  Marjorie and three lady
+friends were in the drawing-room, but they had evidently, out of respect
+for the young girl's saddened state, retired to the end of the room,
+where they were engaged in conversation in a low tone of voice.
+
+Glynne did not stir as the major entered, for she was deep in thought;
+but she turned to him with a sweet, grave smile as he laid his hand upon
+hers.
+
+"Will you come into the conservatory, my dear?" he said gently.  "I want
+to talk to you."
+
+She rose without a word, and laid her hand upon his arm, letting her
+uncle lead her into the great, softly-lit corridor of flowers; while, as
+the major realised the difficulties of the task he had before him, he
+grew silent, so that they had walked nearly to the end before he spoke.
+
+"My dear child," he said, in a husky, hesitating voice, for, though he
+had often dashed with his men at the charge full into the dangers of the
+battlefield, he felt a peculiar sensation of nervous dread now at having
+to broach the business upon which he had come.
+
+"My dear child," he began again.
+
+"My dear uncle," she answered, tenderly.
+
+"You know my feelings respecting your approaching marriage?"
+
+She looked up at him sadly, and the tears stood in her eyes.
+
+"Yes, uncle, dear, I know," she replied slowly.
+
+"Well, your father has now come over to my side, and he gives me his
+consent to see you, to win from you--"
+
+"Hush, uncle--dear uncle," said Glynne softly.  "I know you love me--
+dearly, as if I were your own child."
+
+"I do, I do indeed," he cried.
+
+"Then pray spare me all these painful words."
+
+"Plain words to save you pain in the future," he said tenderly.
+
+"It is too late, uncle.  I told my father that.  It is too late."
+
+"No, no, my darling, it is not too late," cried the major excitedly.
+"You are afraid of the talk and scandal.  Bah! let them talk and
+scandalise till they get tired.  What is it to us?  Look here; we'll
+start for the Continent to-morrow, and stay away till this business is
+forgotten.  A nine days' wonder, my child.  There, there, you consent.
+By George, we'll be off to-night--_now_.  I'll go and order the carriage
+at once.  It will be round by the time you have got a few things
+together in a bag."
+
+"Stop, uncle, dear uncle."
+
+"No, no; your father will go with us, too."
+
+Glynne shook her head, and, putting one arm round his neck, kissed the
+old man fondly.
+
+"Hush, dear," she said; "you forget.  I cannot--I will not hear another
+word.  I am determined that I will hold to my promise."
+
+"But, Glynne, my child," cried the major appealingly.
+
+"It is too late--it is too late," responded Glynne.  "And now, uncle, if
+you love me, spare me further suffering."
+
+He waited for a few minutes, and resumed the attack, but without effect;
+and just as he was gazing despairingly in his niece's face Sir John
+entered, looking inquiringly at both, when Glynne went smilingly to his
+side at once, and laid her hands upon his breast.
+
+"Dear father," she said tenderly, "let my last few hours at home be
+undisturbed by pain."
+
+"My darling," said Sir John softly, "you are mistress here.  Jem, old
+fellow, you have spoken."
+
+"Delivered my charge, Jack, and failed.  I retire broken from the
+field."
+
+Glynne held out her hand to him, and when he took it she leaned towards
+him to kiss his lips.
+
+About an hour later Mason the maid learned a secret which she afterwards
+confided to her intimates in the servants' hall.
+
+Mason went up to Glynne's bedroom to carry there a lately-arrived packet
+containing a portion of her mistress's _trousseau_.
+
+She had hardly entered the room when she noted that the door connecting
+it with Glynne's little study was ajar, and a sigh taught her that it
+was occupied.
+
+"I'll take it in, and she'll open it at once," thought Mason, who was
+burning with curiosity to see the contents of the package; and, going
+lightly across to the door, she pressed it open, and then stood
+petrified at the scene before her.
+
+For Glynne was kneeling before a chair with her face buried in her hands
+sobbing violently, while in piteous tones she breathed out the agony of
+her heart in the wild appeal,--
+
+"Heaven help me and give me strength!  It is more than I can bear."
+
+Volume 3, Chapter VII.
+
+A PROBLEM OF CONJUNCTION.
+
+Want of exercise and incessant study had placed their effects on
+Alleyne.  The greyness was showing in streaks in his hair, and the lines
+seemed deeper in his forehead, as Lucy came gently into the observatory
+where her brother was apparently intent upon some tremendous problem.
+
+Lucy, too, looked thinner than of old.  There was a careworn aspect in
+her face, and her eyes told tales of tears more often shed than is the
+custom with young ladies as a rule.
+
+As she entered the observatory and closed the door, she stood gazing at
+her brother with her hands clasped, thinking of the money that had been
+expended upon his scientific pursuits, keeping them all exceedingly
+poor, and, for result, helping to make Alleyne a worn and old-looking
+man.
+
+What a thing it seemed, she thought; how changed their home and all
+their simple life had become, and all through their proximity to
+Brackley.
+
+"I wish we had gone away from here months upon months ago," she said to
+herself impatiently.  "We might have been so happy anywhere else.  And I
+thought, too, that everything was going to be so pleasant, with Glynne
+for my companion, only people seemed to have leagued themselves against
+us; and I'm sure there's no harm in either poor Moray or myself, only we
+couldn't help liking someone else.  Heigho!"
+
+"Who's that?" cried Alleyne, starting, for Lucy's sigh had been uttered
+aloud.  "Oh, you, Lucy," he said, dropping his eyes again.
+
+"I've only come to see you, dear, for a little while, Moray, darling,
+how late you were last night."
+
+He started wildly, caught the hands she had laid caressingly upon his
+shoulders, and stared in her face.
+
+"How did you know?" he cried hoarsely.
+
+"Don't, dear; you hurt me."
+
+He relaxed his grasp, and she felt him trembling.
+
+"Don't be angry with me, Moray," she said, bursting into tears.  "It was
+only because I loved you and suffered with you.  I can't bear to see my
+darling brother like this."
+
+"You--you were watching me?" he stammered.
+
+"Don't call it by that unkind title, dear," she said.  "I cannot bear
+it.  I know how you grieve, and I have often sat at my window and seen
+you go out of a night, and waited till you came back.  One night--don't
+be angry with me, Moray," she cried, throwing her arms about his
+neck--"I followed you to the Fir Mount, to see you were up there
+watching Glynne's window."
+
+"Lucy!  Last night?"
+
+"No, no, dear," she cried in alarm.  "Don't--don't be so fierce with me.
+It was only once."
+
+He uttered a low, hoarse sigh as if of relief.
+
+"It was one night when you had quite frightened me by being so
+despondent.  I was afraid you meant to do yourself some mischief, and I
+stole out to see where you went.  As soon as I understood why you had
+gone there, I came back."
+
+"Was it so strange a thing for an astronomer to go out to a high place
+where he could see some planet rise?"
+
+Lucy was silent for a few moments.
+
+"No, dear," she said at last in a whisper, "nor for a man who loves to
+go and watch the house that holds all that is dear to him in life.  But,
+Moray, dear, what is the matter with your hand?"
+
+"Nothing," he said, hastily thrusting his bandaged hand into his pocket.
+"Only a cut--from a knife--nothing more.  There--that will do.  Why did
+you come?"
+
+"It is the twenty-fifth, Moray.  I thought I'd come and remind you."
+
+"Twenty-fifth," he said hurriedly; "twenty-fifth?"
+
+"Yes, dear, Glynne Day's wedding."
+
+She regretted speaking the next instant, as she saw her brother's head
+go down upon his hand; but he looked up at her directly, and, to her
+surprise, with a peculiar smile.
+
+"Thank you for reminding me, dear," he said.  "I hope she will be very
+happy."
+
+"I don't," cried Lucy petulantly, "and I'm sure she won't be.  Oh, how
+could she be so foolish as to engage herself to such a man as that!"
+
+Alleyne did not reply, but sat gazing before him at a broad band of
+sunlight which cut right across the portion of the great room where he
+was seated.  It seemed to him that Glynne was the bright bar of light
+that had been thrown across the dark, shadowy life that he had led; and
+to make the idea more real, the passing of a cloud cut the ray suddenly,
+and the great, chill room, with its uncouth instruments, its piles of
+scientific lumber, and its dust, was gloomy once again.
+
+The bright ray had come and gone.  It was but a memory now, and Alleyne
+uttered a sigh of relief, for he told himself that the past was dead,
+and he must divide it from his present existence by a broad, well-marked
+line.
+
+"Have you nothing to say, Moray?" whispered Lucy at last.  "Do you not
+understand?  Are you not going to make one more effort to make her
+change her purpose."
+
+"My dear Lucy!" he said tenderly.
+
+That was all, but he took her in his arms and kissed her, as if she were
+still the little child whom he used to pet and play with years before.
+
+As soon as he released her she stood looking at him with her brows knit
+for a few moments, and then said,--
+
+"Moray, should you mind very much if I were to go?"
+
+"Go?" he said dreamily.  "Go?"
+
+"Yes; to see Glynne married."
+
+She saw a twitching of the nerves of his face as he realised her
+meaning, and was regretting her question, when he said softly,--
+
+"No, my dear, no.  Go if you wish it.  Yes, go."
+
+He turned from her and resumed his work, making figures rapidly on a
+sheet of paper before him, and as he evidently wished to be alone, she
+stole softly out of the room.
+
+Half-an-hour later Alleyne, who had left his work as soon as Lucy
+quitted him, and gone to a window which overlooked the road, saw his
+sister, very plainly dressed in white, go along the lane towards
+Brackley Church.
+
+He did not stir, but stood watching till the white dress disappeared
+among the tall columnar fir trees.
+
+Then came another figure going in the same direction, and in his moody,
+despairing state, Alleyne hardly noted for a few moments who it was,
+till the figure stopped short to turn and talk to a tall, gaunt-looking
+man, whom Alleyne recognised as Hayle, the man he had seen when Oldroyd
+was attending him, and it was the latter now speaking.
+
+After a few minutes conversation, Alleyne saw Hayle shake his head, and
+go in one direction, while Oldroyd went in the other, that taken by
+Lucy, toward the church.
+
+Then Alleyne turned from the window with a blank look of despair in his
+eyes, a strange vacant wildness of aspect in his drawn and haggard
+countenance.  He walked to and fro.  He threw himself into his great
+chair, but only to spring up again and pace the room with eager, hurried
+steps.
+
+He sank helplessly down upon his chair once more, and rested his
+throbbing brow upon his hands, his misery so acute that he felt that he
+was going mad; but as the time went on, a dull feeling of lethargy came
+over him, and he sat there crouched together till Mrs Alleyne came into
+the room and touched him with her cold, thin hand, when he started.
+
+"My boy!" she said tenderly, as she laid her hands upon his shoulders,
+"is it so hard to bear?"
+
+"Hard?  Yes, cruelly hard," he said, with a sigh of misery.
+
+"And in turn we have to bear these agonies," she said softly.  "I have
+known them, too, my boy, hours of despair when life all looked too black
+to be faced, and there seemed to be nothing to do but die."
+
+He looked at her inquiringly.
+
+"Yes, my boy, these troubles have been mine at times, and I have thought
+like this--thought as you have thought since that woman came between us
+to blast our hearth."
+
+"Hush!" he cried, almost fiercely.  "Not one disloyal word against her,
+mother.  It was my ill-balanced nature led me wrong, and she never came
+between you and me."
+
+"Forgive me, my boy," cried Mrs Alleyne, as he took her in his arms.  "I
+know, I know.  Always my own true loving son.  But it seems so hard that
+she should have treated you as she did."
+
+"Hush, mother!  Hush!" he replied.  "She was not to blame."
+
+"Not to blame?" retorted Mrs Alleyne.  "You defend her, but, had she not
+led you on by her soft words and wiles, you had never come to think of
+her like this.  But she will repent: so sure as she marries that man,
+she will bitterly repent."
+
+"You are giving me cruel pain, mother," said Alleyne sadly.
+
+"My boy! my own brave boy!" cried Mrs Alleyne, clinging to him.  "I will
+say no more!  I will be silent, indeed.  No word on the subject shall
+ever leave my lips again.  There: forgive me."
+
+"Forgive you, mother!" he said softly, as he drew her more closely, and
+kissed her lips, "I have nothing to forgive.  You felt what you thought
+to be a just indignation on my behalf.  It is so easy to think those we
+love must be in the right, so hard to see when we alone are in the
+wrong.  There, let us talk about it no more, for--Why, Lucy! what is the
+matter?"
+
+Lucy hurried into the observatory, looking hot and excited, threw
+herself into a chair, sobbing hysterically, and for some time not a word
+could be obtained from her.
+
+Mrs Alleyne was the first to get an answer, as she at last exclaimed,--
+
+"Then someone has insulted you?"
+
+"No, no!" she cried; and then more emphatically, "No!  Glynne, Glynne!"
+
+Then her sobs choked her utterance, and she hid her face in her hands,
+sobbing in the most violently hysterical manner, till, utterly
+exhausted, she lay back in the chair so still and reduced that Alleyne
+grew alarmed, and, hurrying out of the room, he set off for Oldroyd.
+
+"Miss Alleyne?  Taken ill?" cried the young doctor excitedly.  "I'll be
+with you directly.  Has she heard of that terrible business?"
+
+"Business?  What business?" faltered Alleyne.  "What! haven't you
+heard?" cried Oldroyd in amazement.  "Why, about Miss Day."
+
+Alleyne gazed at him enquiringly, and Oldroyd leaned forward and said a
+few words in Alleyne's ear, making him sink back silent and ghastly into
+a chair.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter VIII.
+
+THE FALLEN STAR.
+
+"There, I think everything is in train," said Sir John, as he and his
+brother sat together over a final cigar before retiring for the night,
+for Glynne and the friends staying in the house had gone to their rooms,
+and the brothers were at last alone.
+
+"Yes, Jack, all seems ready for action."
+
+"Except you, Jem."
+
+"I?--I'm ready."
+
+"No; you ought to have had a new suit, Jem."
+
+"No; I said I would not," cried the major; "and I've kept to that, and
+that alone.  I've given way in everything else.  Let me alone there."
+
+"All right; all right.  I say no more.  Change the subject, Jem; we
+won't have words to-night.  Glynne looks lovely; doesn't she?"
+
+"Fit bride for a god," said the major.  "Bless her!"
+
+"Amen.  Calm, satisfied and happy in her choice."
+
+"H'm."
+
+The major coughed a little.
+
+"She does, Jem," cried Sir John hastily.  "Everybody said so to-night.
+I should have liked that little lassie, Lucy Alleyne, to have been asked
+to be a bridesmaid though; but after what has passed it was as well
+not."
+
+"Yes," said the major gruffly, "just as well not."
+
+"Pretty girl that Marjorie Emlin.  Best looking bridesmaid we shall
+have."
+
+"Humph! yes.  Can't say I like her, Jack."
+
+"Prejudiced? old man."
+
+"Perhaps so; but those white-faced red-haired girls always have a foxey
+look to me.  There, there, I've done, and I'll play cavalier to her
+to-morrow if I get the chance."
+
+"That you will, Jem, I know.  Trust you soldiers for that.  Sad dogs.
+Why, Jem, old chap, I never said anything to you before," chuckled Sir
+John, "but 'pon my soul, I thought once you were going to make play and
+get married before Glynne."
+
+The major moved uneasily in his chair, and suppressed a sigh.
+
+"Nice little girl, Jem," continued Sir John.  "I liked her myself; but
+only a woman.  There were rumours about her.  You didn't hear, I
+suppose?"
+
+"Yes, I did," said the major, biting hard at his cigar.
+
+"Well, no wonder.  It was enough to make the best girl in the world a
+little wild.  Shut up in that dreary house by herself, for you can't
+call it anything else."
+
+"Yes; dull life for a young girl," assented the major, "Never heard--
+er--er--who it was?"
+
+"I?  Wouldn't listen to the confounded scandal.  Some damned chatter
+about her getting up at daylight to go and meet a man.  Did you?"
+
+"Hah!" said the major, drawing a deep breath; "I wouldn't hear."
+
+"Right, Jem, right.  By the way, I think we've got every one here who
+ought to come, and we'll make the day go off with a swing, old fellow.
+Is there any fellow I ought to have asked on Miss Emlin's account?"
+
+"No," said the major grimly; "you've got him for another purpose."
+
+"Eh?  What do you mean?"
+
+"She wanted Rolph herself."
+
+"Impossible!  Why, the girl's devotedly attached to Glynne, affectionate
+in the extreme.  See what a beautiful diamond bracelet she has given
+her."
+
+"Yes, that kind of girl always is.  It's a way they have of showing
+their spite."
+
+"Nonsense!  Who told you that rubbish?"
+
+"The young lady's aunt--Rob's mother."
+
+"The deuce!"
+
+"But she was quite right.  She said such an union was better avoided,
+and that her niece had long ago acquiesced in the wisdom of the
+arrangement.  There, my cigar's nearly out, and I'm ready for bed."
+
+"Don't hurry.  I was thinking again of how well Glynne looked when she
+said good-night."
+
+"Lovely," said the major, with a sigh.
+
+"Rolph, too," cried Sir John enthusiastically, and as if he had wound
+himself up to make the best of everything.  "By George, what a specimen
+of a man and a soldier he looked when he went to-night.  Isn't he grand,
+Jem?  Wouldn't you have liked to have three or four hundred such fellows
+in the Indian war?"
+
+"Yes; in the ranks," said the major.
+
+"Jem!"
+
+"All right.  He's a grand specimen of humanity, and as he says hard as a
+brick."
+
+"Sorry to lose her, poor darling; but glad now when it's over, and all
+this mob of company gone.  Have another cigar?"
+
+"No; past twelve, and I want to get a good night's rest before this
+comes off.  Good-night, Jack!  God bless you, lad!  Happiness for our
+darling shall be my prayer to-night."
+
+Sir John started from his seat, and caught his brother's hands.  His
+lips moved, but no words came for some moments, and a couple of tears
+trickled slowly down his cheeks.
+
+"Thank you, Jem," he said at last hoarsely, and the brothers separated
+without another word.
+
+The butler came yawning into the little office-study to put out the
+lamp, and half-an-hour later the house, full as it was of relatives and
+wedding guests, was silent as the grave.
+
+The clock over the stables chimed the quarters and struck the hours,
+while everyone slept soundly except Marjorie Emlin, who lay motionless,
+thinking of the coming day, and burnt up as if by a fever.
+
+Only a few hours now and her last hope gone, and as she lay there a
+curious jangling sound as of the wedding bells being rung derisively by
+demons seemed to drive her mad.
+
+A few hours before she had been hanging about Glynne, smiling and
+talking of the happy days to come, and of how dear and good and brave a
+fellow Rob was, and how they must both try now to wean him from his love
+of athletic sports, till Glynne grew weary and frowned a little, seeking
+her father's society as much as attention to the friends staying in the
+house would allow.
+
+Then came the good-night of all, and silence fell upon the house.
+
+Major Day slept soundly enough, but his dreams were troubled.  Lucy
+Alleyne had a good deal to do with them, and he lay confused, and
+fighting hard to go after her, and bring her back, for she was getting
+into a bad habit of eloping every morning at daybreak, a habit which he
+felt ought to be stopped, but it was impossible he felt to bring it to
+an end.
+
+He was in the height of his trouble and perspiring freely when the
+object of Lucy's affections seized him roughly by the shoulder and shook
+him.
+
+"Jem, Jem, wake up, man; wake up!"
+
+The major started up in bed, and the light confused him, but he made out
+that his brother was there half dressed holding a bell glass flat
+candlestick over him.
+
+"What's the matter?"
+
+"Don't know.  Slip on your dressing-gown.  Someone ill, I'm afraid."
+
+"Tut, tut, tut!" ejaculated the major, hurrying on trousers and
+dressing-gown in prompt military fashion, while his brother explained.
+
+"I was fast asleep and awoke by a cry.  A few moments after it came
+again, and I slipped on some things, got a light, and came out into the
+corridor."
+
+"Fancy."
+
+"No, I'm sure of it.  Ready?"
+
+"Nearly."
+
+"Let's go and see then.  I don't like to be prowling about the house
+alone in the night."
+
+"Why?" said the major gruffly.  "Because it's your own?"
+
+"Don't banter.  I feel sure that the cry came from Miss Emlin's room."
+
+"Well, why not ring for the maids?"
+
+"Because I consider it to be my duty to see if anything is the matter
+first.  Ready?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Come on."
+
+Sir John led the way out into the corridor, and the brothers listened
+with their shadows thrown grotesquely on the walls; but all was
+perfectly silent, and the major looked enquiringly at his brother.
+
+"Well," he said; "isn't it a pity to disturb the house?"
+
+"Come this way."
+
+Sir John led the way to one of the doors, stopped listening a few
+moments, and then knocked softly.
+
+No answer, and he knocked again.
+
+"Yes," came in a quick musical voice; "who is there?"
+
+"I, my dear," said Sir John.  "Don't be alarmed.  I thought I heard a
+cry come from your room.  Are you quite well?"
+
+"Oh, yes, thank you.  I must have cried out in my sleep then.  I'm
+afraid I do sometimes."
+
+"Thank you, my child.  Sorry to have disturbed you.  Good-night, my
+dear."
+
+"Good-night, Sir John."
+
+"Humph!  Satisfied?" said the major gruffly.
+
+"No, come along."
+
+Sir John tapped at another door, but the inmate of the room made no
+reply.
+
+"Hang it all.  Jack, don't rouse up all the house," whispered the major.
+"There's nothing the matter, or someone else would have heard it."
+
+Just at that moment the deep baying of a dog was heard from the yard,
+followed by a long, low howl.
+
+"There is something the matter," cried Sir John, "or the dog wouldn't
+make that noise.  Here, let's wake Glynne, and let her go round and see
+who's ill."
+
+"No, no, don't do that, man," cried the major.
+
+But his brother was already at his child's door, where he knocked
+sharply.
+
+"Glynne, Glynne, my dear."
+
+A low smothered cry, coming as if from a distance, was the response, and
+the dog's baying recommenced.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter IX.
+
+TORN FROM HER SPHERE.
+
+The act was simultaneous.
+
+Moved as if by the same set of nerves, Sir John Day and his brother
+dashed themselves against the door again and again, but the panelling
+was strong, and it was evidently well fastened within, and, for the time
+being, the door refused to yield.  Then, as the brothers literally
+hurled themselves against it in their rage of disappointment, the
+fastenings gave way, and the door flew back with a crash, while Sir John
+fell forward into the darkness upon his knees.
+
+"Quick, Jem, the light," he cried, as he gathered himself up; but the
+major had forestalled him, and stepped back to take the candlestick from
+where it had been set down.
+
+He had just passed the threshold, casting the light before him into the
+chamber, when Sir John's hand was clapped upon his shoulder, and the
+candlestick snatched from his hand.
+
+"Stand back, Jem, and guard the door.  I am her father."
+
+The old officer promptly obeyed, and the door was swung to upon him, as
+others were being opened along the passage, and excited enquiries began
+to be heard on every hand.
+
+For Sir John, in his one quick glance, as the light flashed into the
+room, had seen that which caused his prompt action.  The door leading
+into Glynne's little studio was wide open, and the current of soft,
+moist night air which struck his cheek told that the conservatory and
+its windows must be open too.
+
+All this came to him in a flash as, after swinging to the door he had
+forced, Sir John ran to where, dishevelled, and with her face bleeding
+and distorted by the savage manner in which her cries for help had been
+stopped, lay Glynne by the bedside.  She was insensible now, though a
+faint groan escaped her as he tenderly raised her from the carpet, and
+laid her upon the bed, a pang of combined rage and horror shooting
+through him as he felt one arm drop in a strangely unnatural way, which
+told that the bone had snapped.
+
+One glance round, as he battled with his agony, showed how terrible a
+struggle had taken place; chairs were overturned, a little table, with
+its load of feminine knick-knacks, lay upon its side, and on every hand
+there were traces of the strife.
+
+Sir John, who was trembling violently, grasped all this as he hurried
+back to the door, to find that the whole house had now been alarmed, and
+people were gathering fast.
+
+"Find Morris, Jem," said Sir John, in a hoarse voice.  "Quick! send for
+Oldroyd."
+
+"Yes," said the major, with military promptitude; "but, one word--
+Glynne?"
+
+Sir John made an impatient gesture, and his brother ran down the
+corridor at once, the frightened women giving way at his approach, while
+their host looked sharply round at the scared faces of those present.
+
+"Ah, Mason," he cried, "go in to your mistress."
+
+"Sir John, what can I do?" cried a piteous voice.  "Dearest Glynne,
+pray, pray let me help."
+
+He turned sharply upon the speaker to see Marjorie, with her beautiful
+hair lightly looped up, but resting upon her long pale blue _peignoir_;
+and as the wild, troubled eyes met his, Sir John softened a little
+towards her.
+
+"Thank you," he said hastily.  "It is no place for you, my child.  Yes:
+go to her.  You are a woman, and your gentle face should be at her
+side."
+
+Marjorie darted into the room after Mason, and Sir John barred the door
+against further entrance.
+
+"Here, Miss Emlin," he whispered, "secure the door from within.  No one
+enters till the doctor comes."
+
+Then, gathering presence of mind, he hurriedly responded to the
+enquiries being made, and in a few minutes the passage was once more
+clear.
+
+The major returned then, and his eyes looked searchingly into his
+brother's.
+
+"This way," said Sir John.  "Her maid and Miss Emlin are with her.  We
+can do nothing there."
+
+Major Day made an impatient gesture, but his old discipline prevailed,
+and he followed his brother to the studio door, which opened upon the
+corridor.
+
+But it, too, was fastened, and Sir John stepped back to the bedroom door
+and tapped sharply.
+
+There was a rustling sound within, and the door was held ajar by Mason,
+whose face looked scared and drawn, while a low, piteous moan came to
+their ears.
+
+"Quick!" said Sir John.  "Go round and open the other door.  Shut this
+first, and admit no one, I say, but the doctor."
+
+The door was closed with a chain, and they heard the slipping back of
+the bolts of the little studio, Sir John waiting to give the maid time
+to go back into the bed-chamber before he opened the door, and entered
+with his brother.
+
+All was in its customary state here, but the conservatory door was open,
+and, upon entering there, it was to find that the window was wide, and a
+long strand of the wistaria lay upon the floor, as if it had been torn
+off by someone who had mounted from below, or else had become entangled
+by the climber's dress, and fallen from it when the inside of the window
+was reached.
+
+The major was at his brother's side, and together they looked out,
+holding a candle down to see plainly enough that the leaves and tender
+twigs of the beautiful climber that wreathed the place had been broken
+and torn down in several places, the big cable-like twisted main stem
+having evidently been utilised as a rope ladder by whoever had climbed
+up.
+
+The brothers looked at each other.
+
+"Her favourite creeper, Jem," said Sir John, with a groan--"her
+destruction."
+
+"Jack?" whispered the major, in an appealing voice.  Only the one word,
+but so full of question that Sir John bent toward him and whispered a
+few words.
+
+The major turned away, and marched for the door, but his brother
+overtook him.
+
+"To my room."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"My pistols."
+
+"Jem!"
+
+"I'll shoot him like a dog."
+
+Sir John's hand closed tightly upon his brother's arm, and they glared
+at each other in silence for a few moments, while twice over there came
+a feeble groan through the door from the adjoining chamber.
+
+"No," said Sir John at last, with his voice trembling from emotion; "I
+am her father.  It is my task, or her betrothed's.  Jem," he whispered
+excitedly, "what am I to say to Rolph?  Jem," he whispered again, with
+the hands which clung to his brother trembling violently, "you--you
+don't think--they were to be married to-day--he came to her window last
+night?"
+
+"No," said the major sternly; "give the devil his clue.  It was not he."
+
+There was silence in the little room, about which lay the many little
+books and drawings favoured by her who lay moaning and insensible in the
+next room.  Here was a sketch of the father; there one of the uncle;
+close by, arch and mocking of aspect, a clever representation of Lucy
+Alleyne; and, in a fit of fury, the major strode to the wall, tore it
+down, and stamped it under foot.
+
+"What cursed stroke of fate brought them here?" he said hoarsely.
+
+"Hush!  This is no time for loud anger, Jem.  We must act--like men--for
+her sake, old fellow!  My God, Jem! what sin have I committed that the
+punishment should be struck at me through her?  My poor, poor girl!"
+
+He sank into a chair, sobbing like a child; but as his brother's hand
+was laid upon his shoulder, he sprang up again.
+
+"Yes," he said huskily.  "I'm ready.  We need not search.  We know
+enough.  But, Jem, we must be silent.  I can't have all the horrible
+scandal spread abroad.  We must, for her sake, hush it up."
+
+"Hush it up!" said the major bitterly.  "Jack, the news is being spread
+already.  You sent one messenger out a quarter-of-an-hour ago."
+
+Just then the door leading into the bedroom opened, and Marjorie
+appeared, quite calm and self-possessed.
+
+"Brandy or sal-volatile!" she said in a quick, decisive whisper.  "She
+is coming to, but deadly faint and weak."
+
+Half-an-hour later, Oldroyd was there, and busy in attendance till
+daybreak; while Sir John and his brother sat waiting till he joined them
+in the library--the calm, business-like doctor, apparently with no
+thought outside the condition of his patient.
+
+He came into the room, bowed, looked from one brother to the other, and
+waited to be questioned.
+
+Sir John's lips parted, but no words came, and he turned his eyes
+imploringly to his brother, who drew himself up and began in his prompt
+military way; but his brief question was almost inaudible towards the
+end.
+
+"How is she?"
+
+"Suffering terribly from shock, sir, and exhaustion.  Her left arm is
+fractured above the elbow; but it is the mental strain we have to fear."
+
+"You will stay of course?" said the major.
+
+"I only came to you for a few moments, gentlemen, and am going back to
+my patient now."
+
+No further question was asked, and the brothers were left alone, to sit
+in silence till the major said,--
+
+"You must send some kind of message over to The Warren, Jack."
+
+"Eh?  Yes, yes, I suppose so," said Sir John bitterly; "and get rid of
+these people in the house.  Do that for me, Jem.  I'm broken, lad--
+twenty years older since we shook hands last night.  Who's there?" he
+cried with a start, as there was a tap at the door.
+
+Whoever knocked took this for a command to enter; and, looking very pale
+and wild-eyed, but perfectly self-possessed, Marjorie entered and fixed
+her eyes on Sir John.
+
+"Will you kindly order the carriage?"
+
+"Yes--yes, my dear," he said.  "Thank you for what you have done; but
+you wish to leave us?"
+
+She looked at the old man half-wonderingly before answering.
+
+"A message must be sent to my cousin," she said in her sweet, musical
+voice; "the wedding cannot take place to-day."
+
+"No, no; of course not," cried the major.
+
+"And I thought it would be kinder to him, poor fellow, for me to be the
+bearer of these terrible tidings.  A letter would be so cold and
+dreadful.  Oh, Sir John," she cried with a hysterical sob, as she flung
+herself at his knees, "it is too horrible to speak of.  Poor darling
+Glynne!  My poor cousin!  It will drive him mad!"
+
+"Hush, my dear; be calm; try and be calm," whispered Sir John, laying
+his hand gently upon her head.
+
+"Yes," she said amidst her sobs, "I am trying so hard, dear Sir John,
+for everybody's sake.  My poor aunt!  It will nearly kill her.  I
+thought it would be so much better if I went myself to break the
+dreadful news."
+
+"Yes," said Sir John, raising her.  "Heaven bless you for your
+forethought.  It is a time when we want a gentle woman's help."
+
+He looked at his brother, who read his wish.
+
+"I will order the carriage round," he said.  "In an hour?"
+
+"No, no, as soon as possible," said Marjorie wildly.  "They must not
+hear the news from the village.  Poor, poor, darling Glynne!" she cried,
+bursting into a fresh burst of sobs, which made her words almost
+inaudible.  "All her jewels gone, too.  She must have been trying to
+protect them when the wretches struck her down."
+
+Within half-an-hour Marjorie was on her way back to The Warren; and soon
+after breakfast, of the wedding guests not one was left, while the news
+rapidly spread that "Doctor" Oldroyd had been fetched suddenly in the
+night to Brackley, where he found Sir John's daughter in a violent
+fever, and that she was now delirious, and in danger of being taken to
+the church as a bride, indeed, but as the bride of death.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter X.
+
+THE LITTLE ORB TURNS ROUND.
+
+There was but one thought in the minds of father and uncle at Brackley,
+and that was to silence busy tongues, get Glynne sufficiently well to
+move, and go right away abroad; and in Oldroyd they had a willing
+coadjutor, and one who seemed not to have a thought beyond his
+profession.
+
+The major had been half mad, and ready to follow the bent of his
+suspicions again and again; but robbery as well as outrage appeared to
+have influenced the man who had escaped unseen, since the greater part
+of the valuable jewels, including a diamond bracelet given by Marjorie
+to the bride, were missing, and he felt that he was wrong.
+
+Sir John prevailed.
+
+"Jem," he said, "if I knew who it was I'd shoot him ike a dog--curse
+him!  No: I couldn't wait to fire, I'd strangle him; but I can't have
+this published abroad if we can hush it up.  I won't have my child
+dragged into a witness box to give evidence against the devil who has
+wrought us this ill.  We must bear it, Jem, and wait."
+
+"But, my dear Jack--"
+
+"But, my dear Jem--I am her father.  What would our darling wish if she
+could speak to us--if we could speak to her upon what it would be best
+to do?"
+
+The major bowed his head, and as far as possible a veil was drawn over
+the events of that night.
+
+Rumour was pretty busy during the next month, during which period
+several stories were afloat, but only one bore the stamp of truth--that,
+out of despair some said, Captain Rolph obtained leave of absence, and
+went off to Norway, shooting, while Mrs Rolph and her niece accompanied
+him as far as Hull, and then continued their journey to Scarboro'.
+
+That was perfectly true, Mrs Rolph having her hands pretty full with
+Marjorie, who also turned ill having bad, nervous, hysterical fits, and
+refusing absolutely to go outside The Warren door without having tight
+hold of Mrs Rolph's arm; and even then she was constantly turning her
+eyes wildly round as if in expectation of seeing someone start out from
+behind bush or hedge.
+
+"The shock to her system," Mrs Rolph used to say to herself, and she
+became increasingly gentle toward the girl whose nerves had been
+shattered by the affair at The Hall.
+
+By this time the shutters were all closed at Brackley, for, after Sir
+John had been severely blamed for not getting down some big physician
+when Glynne's brain fever was at its worst, people came to the
+conclusion that he knew what he was about, for if ever a clever
+practitioner did settle down in a place, it was "Doctor" Oldroyd, who
+had cured the young lady in a wonderfully short space of time.  For the
+month at its end found the Days in Italy, where Glynne had been
+recommended to go on account of her health.
+
+Oldroyd consequently was on the road to fame--that is the fame which
+extended for a radius of six miles; but his pockets were very little the
+heavier, and he still looked upon men who kept banking accounts with a
+feeling akin to awe.
+
+Change in the neighbourhood of Brackley extended no further.  The
+blunt-eyed, resident policeman, somehow never managed to come across the
+poachers who made raids upon The Warren and upon Brackley during the
+absence of their owners; while over at Lindham, the doctor learned from
+old Mother Wattley, who grew more chatty and apparently younger, under
+her skilful medical man's care, that Ben Hayle--`my son-in-law'--had
+taken an acre of land, and was `goin' to make a fortun' there as a
+florist; but when Oldroyd met the ex-keeper one day, and went over the
+garden with him, it seemed improbable that it would even pay the rent.
+
+"Better turn to your old business, Hayle," said Oldroyd.
+
+"Easier said than done, sir," replied the man.  "Old master gave me my
+chance when I was a young fool, and liked to do a bit o' poaching,
+believing honestly then that all birds were wild, and that I had as good
+a right to them as anybody.  But I soon found out the difference when I
+had to rear them, and I served him honest, and Mrs Rolph too, all those
+years, till she discharged me because of the captain's liking for my
+Judith."
+
+"But surely there were other places to be found by a man with a good
+character."
+
+"Didn't seem like it, sir.  I tried till I was beat out, and then, in a
+kind of despairing fit, I went out with some of the lads, and you know
+what I got for my pains."
+
+"Yes," said the doctor, "and it ought to be a lesson for you, Hayle."
+
+"Yes, sir, it ought; but you see, once a man takes to that kind of work
+it's hard to keep from it."
+
+"But, my good fellow, you may be laid by the heels in gaol at any time.
+I wondered you were not taken over that affair."
+
+"So I should have been, if I'd had any other doctor, sir," said Hayle,
+with a meaning smile, "and the police had been a little sharper.  But
+you didn't chatter, and our fellows didn't, and so I got off."
+
+"But think, now; you, the father of a young girl like Miss Hayle, what
+would her feelings be if you were sent to prison like that young
+fellow--what's his name--was."
+
+"Caleb Kent, sir?"
+
+"Yes.  What's become of him?  I haven't seen him lately."
+
+"Racketing about somewhere, sir.  Me and him had a quarrel or two about
+my Judith.  He was always hanging after her; and it got so bad, at last,
+that I promised him a charge o' shot in his jacket if he ever came anigh
+our place again.  He saw I meant it, sir, and he has left the poor girl
+in peace."
+
+"Well, I must be off, Hayle."
+
+"Thankye for calling, sir.  Been to see the old mother-in-law?"
+
+"Yes; she keeps wonderfully well."
+
+"You mean you keep her wonderfully well, sir.  Poor old girl, she's not
+a bad one in her way."
+
+"No, and there's nothing the matter with her but old age."
+
+"Hear that the missus is coming back to The Warren, sir?"
+
+"Yes, and that the Brackley people are on their way too.  Look here,
+Hayle, shall I put in a word for you to Sir John?"
+
+"No thankye, doctor, let me bide; things 'll come right in time.  Think
+there'll be a wedding at the Hall, now, sir?  They tell me Miss Day's
+got well and strong again."
+
+"I've enough to do with my people when they want me, Hayle," said the
+doctor, drily, "and I never interfere about their private matters; but,
+as you ask me that question, I should say decidedly not."
+
+The ex-keeper smiled, as if the doctor's words coincided with his own
+thoughts, and he stood watching Oldroyd, as he rode off, getting a peep
+at Judith seated by the window working hard as he went by, the girl's
+face looking pale and waxen in the shade.
+
+"Fretting a bit, by the look of her, and those dark rings," said
+Oldroyd, as he rode away.  "How much happier a place the world would be
+if there were no marrying and giving in marriage--no making love at all.
+Causes more worry, I think, than the drink."
+
+Volume 3, Chapter XI.
+
+DRAWN TOGETHER.
+
+"Well, dearest," said Mrs Rolph, "have you been all round?"
+
+Rolph, who was leaning back in his chair in the library at The Warren,
+reading a sporting paper, uttered a growl.
+
+"Not satisfactory, dear?"
+
+"Satisfactory! the place has gone to rack and ruin.  I don't believe
+those cursed poachers have left a head of game on the estate; but I know
+who's at the bottom of it, and he'd better look out."
+
+"I'm very sorry, dear," said Mrs Rolph, going behind her son's chair to
+stroke his hair.  "The garden looks very nice; both Madge and I thought
+so.  Why didn't you run over now and then to see that the keeper was
+doing his duty."
+
+"Run over?" cried Rolph, savagely; "who was going to run over here for
+every fool one met to be pointing his cursed finger at you, and saying,
+`There goes the fellow who didn't get married.'"
+
+"My dearest boy," said Mrs Rolph, soothingly, as she laid her cheek on
+the top of his head, "don't fret about that now.  You know it's nearly
+eighteen months ago."
+
+"I don't care if it's eighteen hundred months ago--and do leave off,
+mother, you know I hate having my hair plastered down."
+
+Mrs Rolph kissed the place where her cheek had been laid, and then drew
+back, showing that the complaint had not been merited, for, so far from
+the hair being plastered down, there was scarcely any to plaster,
+Rolph's head being cropped close in athletic and on anti-Samsonic
+principles as regarded strength.
+
+"It was very, very hard for you, my dearest, and it is most unfortunate
+that they should have chosen the same time to return as we did.  You--
+er--heard that they are back?"
+
+"Of course I did, and if you'd any respect for your son, you'd sell this
+cursed hole, and go somewhere else."
+
+"Don't--don't ask me to do that, Rob, dear," said Mrs Rolph.  "I know
+your poor father looked forward to your succeeding to it and keeping it
+up."
+
+"I hate the place," growled Rolph rustling his paper; and Mrs Rolph
+looked pleased, but she said nothing for some time.  Then, very
+gently,--
+
+"Rob, dearest, you are going to stay now you are here?"
+
+"No; I'm going to Hounslow to-morrow."
+
+"Not so soon as that, dear," said Mrs Rolph, pleadingly, as she laid her
+hand upon his shoulder.
+
+"Why not?  What's the good of staying here?"
+
+"To please your mother, dearest, and--Madge, who is in a terribly weak
+state I had great difficulty in getting her back here."
+
+Rolph moved angrily, and crumpled up the paper, but Mrs Rolph bent down
+and kissed him.
+
+"There, all right," he said, "only don't bother me about it so.  I can't
+forget that other cursed muddle, if you can."
+
+"No, my dear, of course not, but you should try to.  And, Rob, dear, be
+a little more thoughtful about dearest Madge.  She has, I know, suffered
+cruelly in the past, and does so now at times when you seem neglectful--
+no, no, don't start, dear; I know you are not, but girls are exacting,
+and do love to spoil men by trying to keep them at their feet."
+
+"Like spaniels or pugs," growled Rolph, the latter being the more
+appropriate.
+
+"Yes, dear, but she will grow wiser in that direction, and you cannot be
+surprised at her anxiety.  Rob, dearest, you must not blame her for her
+worship of one whom she looks upon as a demigod--the perfection of all
+that is manly and strong."
+
+"Oh, no; it's all right, mother," said Rolph, who felt flattered by the
+maternal and girlish adulation; "I'll behave like a lamb."
+
+"You'll behave like my own true, brave son, dearest, and make me very
+happy.  When shall it be, Rob?"
+
+"Eh?  The marriage?"
+
+"Yes, dear," said Mrs Rolph, kneeling at his side and passing an arm
+about him.
+
+"Has Madge been at you about it?"
+
+"For shame, dearest!  She would die sooner than speak.  You know how she
+gave up to what you fancied would make you happy before.  Never a word,
+never a murmur; and she took that poor unfortunate girl, Glynne, to her
+heart as a sister."
+
+"Damn it all, mother, do let that cursed business rest," cried Rolph
+impatiently.
+
+"Yes, dearest, of course; pray forgive me."
+
+"Oh, all right!  But--er--Madge--she hasn't seen her--hasn't been over
+there?"
+
+"No, my love, of course not.  There must be no further communication
+between our families.  It was Sir John's own wish, as you know.  No one
+could have behaved more honourably, or with more chivalrous
+consideration than he did over the horribly distressing circumstances.
+But that's all dead, past and forgotten now, and you need not fear any
+allusions being made in the place.  It was quite wonderful how little
+was ever known outside the house.  But there, no more past; let's have
+present and future.  Time is flying, Rob, dearest, and I'm getting an
+old woman now."
+
+"And a deuced fine, handsome old woman, too," said Rolph, with an
+unwonted show of affection, for he passed his arm about her, and kissed
+her warmly.  "I tell you what it is, old lady, I only wish I could meet
+with one like you--a fine, handsome, elderly body, with no confounded
+damn-nonsense about her.  I'd propose in a minute."
+
+"My dearest boy, what absurd stuff you do talk, when the most beautiful
+girl for miles round is waiting patiently for you to say,--`Come, and I
+will recompense you with my life's devotion for all your long suffering,
+and the agony of years.'"
+
+"Just what I'm likely to say, mother," said Rolph, grimly.
+
+"But you will in your heart."
+
+"All right, I'll try.  She will let me have my own way.  But I say,
+mother, she has grown precious thin and old-looking while you have been
+on the Continent."
+
+"What wonder, dearest boy.  Can a woman suffer, as she has about you for
+two years now, without showing the lines of care.  But what of them.  It
+will be your pleasant duty to smooth them all out, and you can, dearest,
+and so easily.  A month after she is yours she will not look the same."
+
+Mrs Rolph's words were spoken in all sincerity, and there was a great
+deal in them as to their probabilities, but not in the direction she
+meant.
+
+"Rob, dearest," she whispered caressingly, soon after, "when shall it
+be?"
+
+"Don't know."
+
+"To set your mother's heart at rest--and hers."
+
+"Oh, very well, when you like; but hold hard a minute."
+
+"Rob!" cried Mrs Rolph in dismay, for her heart was beating fast with
+hope, and his words had arrested the throbbing.
+
+"I can't have two of my important meetings interfered with.  I've the
+Bray Bridge handicap, and a glove fight I must attend."
+
+"Rob, my darling!"
+
+"But I must go to them.  The confounded service takes up so much of my
+time, that I've neglected my athletics shamefully."
+
+Marjorie came in from the garden just then, and as she appeared at the
+French window, the careworn, hunted look in her eyes, and a suggestion
+of twitching about the corners of her lips, fully justified her athletic
+cousin's disparaging remarks.
+
+"Ah, my darling!" cried Mrs Rolph, rising.
+
+"I beg pardon, aunt dear.  I did not know you and Rob were engaged."
+
+"Don't go, dearest," said Mrs Rolph, holding out her hands, her tone of
+voice making Marjories eyes dilate, and as she began to tremble
+violently, a deathly pallor overspread her cheeks, and she tottered and
+then sank sobbing in Mrs Rolph's arms.
+
+"My darling--my darling!" whispered her aunt.  "There--there!  Rob,
+dearest, help me!"
+
+Rolph rose from his chair, half-pleased, half-amused by his mother's
+action, as she shifted the burden to his great muscular arms.
+
+"Help her to the couch, my love.  Why, she is all of a tremble.  I'll go
+and fetch my salts.  Rob, dearest, can't you bring back the colour to
+her cheeks?"
+
+She moved slowly toward the door in quite a stage exit, smiling with
+satisfaction as she saw her son make no effort to place the trembling
+woman upon the couch, but holding her to his breast, while, slowly and
+timidly, her hands rose to his neck, gained faith and courage, and by
+the time the door closed upon the pair, Madge was clinging tightly, and
+for the first time for two years felt that the arms which encircled her
+held her firmly.
+
+"Rob!" she cried wildly, as she raised her head to gaze wildly in his
+eyes.
+
+"All right, pussy," he said.  "The mater says we are to forget all the
+past, and forgive, and all that sort of thing, and the event is to be a
+fixture, short notice and no flam."
+
+"You mean it, Rob--darling?"
+
+"Of course," he cried; and his lips closed upon hers.
+
+"There," he said, after a time; "now let's go and have a quiet walk and
+talk."
+
+"In the garden?  Yes!"
+
+"Hang the garden! outside.  I don't want the old girl to be hanging
+about us, patting us on the back and watching for every kiss."
+
+"No, no," she whispered, as she clung to him, as if fearing to lose him
+before she had him fast.  "Except for this, Rob, dear, I wish we had not
+come back to The Warren."
+
+"Hallo!" he cried, boisterously; "jealous of Judy, pet?  Why, I haven't
+seen her for months?  That's all over, and I'm going to be your own good
+boy."
+
+"It wasn't that, Rob.  I was afraid."
+
+"What of?  Losing me?  Oh, you're safe now," he cried, with a boisterous
+laugh.
+
+"No, dear Rob; it was not that, but of something else."
+
+"What, Brackley?" he said roughly, and with an angry scowl.
+
+"Oh, no, Rob," she cried, with a frightened look and a shudder as she
+covered his lips with hers.  "Don't, pray, speak of that.  It is too
+horrible.  I didn't mean that."
+
+"What then?"
+
+"It was nothing about you, Rob, dearest.  It was about myself.  I was
+frightened, but no, not _now_," she whispered caressingly, as she
+nestled to him.  "I shall always have your brave, strong, giant's arms
+to be round me, to protect me against everybody."
+
+"Of course," he said, complacently, as he smiled down at her.  "But what
+are you afraid of?"
+
+"Oh; nothing," she whispered; "it's because I'm weak and foolish.  Oh,
+Rob, how grand it must be to feel big, and strong and brave.  It was
+some time before we went away, I was out walking, and a man came out
+from among the hazel bushes."
+
+"Eh?" growled Rolph.
+
+"It was that dreadful poacher who used to be about, and he asked for
+money, and I gave him some, dear, and then he became insulting, and
+tried to catch me in his arms, but I shrieked out and he ran away."
+
+"Caleb Kent?" growled Rolph.
+
+"I think that is what he was called," said Marjorie timidly; "but I need
+not be afraid of him now, need I, Rob?"
+
+"You may be afraid for him," said Rolph, fiercely; "for so sure as ever
+we meet any night, and he is poaching, I shall have an accident with my
+gun."
+
+"But you won't kill him, Rob.  Don't do that, dearest; it would be too
+dreadful."
+
+"No; I won't kill him if I can help it.  That would be too bad, eh?  I
+won't nail his ears to the pump."
+
+"Ah, my darlings! here still," said Mrs Rolph, who entered, smiling, but
+with the tears trickling down her cheeks.  "Madge, my child, what has
+become of my salts--you know, the cut-glass bottle with the gold top."
+
+"Never mind the salts, mother," said Rolph, boisterously; "sugar has
+done it.  I've quite brought Madge to--haven't I, pussy?"
+
+"Oh, Rob, dearest," cried Madge, hiding her face upon his breast, and
+shuddering slightly as she nestled there, as if a cold breath of wind
+had passed over to threaten the blasting of her budding hopes.
+
+"It's all right, mother, and--there as soon as you like.  Come, little
+wifey to be, begin your duties at once.  Big strong husbands want plenty
+of food when they are not training.  They are like the lawyers who need
+refreshers.  I'm choking for a pint of Bass.  No, no, mother; let her
+ring.  Satisfied?"
+
+"Rob, my darling, you've made me a happy woman at last--so proud, so
+very proud of my darling son."
+
+"All right," cried Rolph, gruffly; "but, look here, I'm not going to
+figure at Brackley over a business like this.  I'm off back to
+barracks."
+
+"So soon, Rob," cried Madge, and the scared look came into her eyes
+again, as she involuntarily glanced at the window as if expecting to see
+Caleb Kent peering in.
+
+"Madge, my darling!  Look at her, Rob."
+
+"Bah! what a cowardly, nervous little puss it is," cried Rolph, taking
+her in his arms, and she clung to him sobbing hysterically.  "Look here,
+mother; you'd better take a house, or furnished apartments in town at
+once, and we'll get the business done there.  Madge is afraid of bogies.
+Weak and hysterical, and that sort of thing.  Get her away; the place
+is dull, and the poachers are hanging about here a good deal."
+
+Marjorie uttered a faint shriek which was perfectly real.
+
+"Take us away at once, Rob, dear," she whispered passionately; "I can't
+bear to be separated from you now."
+
+"All right," he said.  "I'll stop and take care of you till you're ready
+to start, and see you safe in town.  You can go to a hotel for a day or
+two.  Will that do?"
+
+"Yes, dear; admirably," cried Mrs Rolph, eagerly; and Marjorie uttered a
+sigh of consent that was like a moan of pain.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter XII.
+
+RE THE FOCUS.
+
+News reaches the servants' hall sooner than it does the drawing-room,
+and before long it was known at Brackley that a wedding was in the air.
+
+Cook let it off in triumph one day at dinner.  She had been very silent
+for some time, and then began to smile, till Morris, the butler, who had
+noted the peculiarities of this lady for years, suddenly
+exclaimed,--"Now then, what is it?  Out with it, cook!"
+
+"Oh, don't ask me; it's nothing."
+
+"Yes, it is," said the butler, with a wink directed all round the table.
+"What are you laughing at?"
+
+"It does seem so rum," cried cook, laughing silently till her face was
+peony-like in hue.
+
+"Well, you might give us a bit, cook," said the major's valet.  "What is
+it?"
+
+"They've--they've found the focus again," cried cook, laughing now quite
+hysterically.
+
+"Eh?  Where?" cried Morris.
+
+"Over at The Warren."
+
+"What," cried the butler severely; "made it up?  Cook, I should be sorry
+to say unpleasant things to any lady, but if you were a man, I should
+tell you that you were an old fool."
+
+"Well, I'm sure!" cried cook, "that's polite, when I heered it only this
+morning from the butcher, who'd just come straight from The Warren,
+where he heered it all."
+
+"What?  That Captain Rolph had made it up with our Miss Glynne?
+Rubbish, woman, rubbish!  After the way he pitched the poor girl over
+and went off shooting, that could never be."
+
+"If people would not be quite so clever," said cook, addressing the
+assembled staff of servants round the table, "and would not jump at
+things before they know, perhaps they'd get on a little better in life.
+As if I didn't know that she'd never marry now.  I said as the captain
+had made up matters with his cousin, that carrotty-headed girl who came
+to be bridesmaid."
+
+"You don't mean it," cried Morris.
+
+"It's a fact," said cook, "and it's to come off at once."
+
+"What, her?  Disgraceful!"
+
+Cook smiled again, with the quiet confidence of knowledge, and ignoring
+the butler's remark, she fixed the maids in turn with her eye.
+
+"Mrs Rolph has taken a furnished house in London for three months, and
+they're going to it next week, and as Perkins' man says, it do seem
+hard, after getting on for two years without delivering regular joints
+at the house for them to be off again."
+
+"Well," said Mason, Glynne's maid, contemptuously, "I wish the lady joy
+of him.  A low, common, racing and betting man.  I wouldn't marry him if
+he was made of gold."
+
+"Right, Mrs Mason," said Morris.  "I don't know what Nature was thinking
+about to make him an officer.  No disrespect meant to those in the
+stables, but to my mind, if Captain Rolph--and I saw a deal of him when
+he was here--had found his--his--"
+
+"Focus," suggested cook, and there was a roar in which the butler
+joined, by way of smoothing matters over with his fellow-servant.
+
+"I meant to say level, cook.  He would have been a helper, or the driver
+of a cab.  He was never fit for our young lady."
+
+The servants' hall tattle proved to be quite correct, for within a week
+The Warren was vacant again, Rolph being back at barracks, and Mrs Rolph
+and her niece at a little house in one of the streets near Lowndes
+Square, busily occupied in preparing the lady's _trousseau_, for the
+marriage was to take place within a month.
+
+It was not long after that the news reached The Firs, and Lucy became
+very thoughtful, and ended by feeling glad.  She hardly knew why, but
+she was pleased at the idea of Captain Rolph being married and out of
+the way.
+
+And now, by no means for the first time, a great longing came over Lucy
+to see Glynne Day again.  She knew that the family had been for a year
+and a half in Italy, and only heard by accident that they had returned
+to Brackley, so quietly was everything arranged.  Then, as the days
+glided by, and she heard no more news, the longing to see Glynne again
+intensified.
+
+She felt the tears come into her eyes and trickle down her cheeks as she
+thought of the terrible catastrophe--never even alluded to at The Firs--
+a horror which had saved her from being Rolph's wife, but at what a
+cost!
+
+"Poor Moray!" she sighed more than once in her solitary communings.
+"Poor Glynne! and they might have been by now happy husband and wife.
+It is too horrible--too dreadful.  How could Fate be so cruel!"
+
+Lucy shivered at times as she mentally called up the careworn,
+beautiful, white face of her old friend, who had never been seen outside
+the walls of the house, so far as she could learn, since her return.
+And at last, trembling the while, as if her act were a sin, instead of
+true womanly love and charity, she wrote a simple little letter to
+Glynne, asking to see her, for that she loved her very dearly, and that
+the past was nothing to them, and ought not to separate two who had
+always been dear friends.
+
+She posted the letter secretly, feeling that mother and brother would
+oppose the act, and that day the rustic postman was half-a-crown the
+richer upon his promising to retain and deliver into her own hands any
+letter addressed to her which might arrive.
+
+Then she waited patiently for days in the grim, cheerless home, where
+her brother seemed to be settling down into a thoughtful, dreamy man,
+who was ageing rapidly, and whose eyes always looked full of some
+terrible trouble, which was eating away his life, while, if possible,
+Mrs Alleyne looked older, thinner, and more careworn than of yore.
+
+Oldroyd came at intervals professionally, but there was a peculiar
+distance observed between him and Lucy, who treated him with petulant
+angry resentment, and he was reserved and cold.
+
+But his visits did no good.  There were no walks with the doctor, no
+garden flowers bloomed at the astronomer's touch.  Alleyne studied
+harder than ever, and his name rose in reputation among the scientific,
+but he received no visitors, paid no calls, and only asked for one thing
+from those of his household--to be let alone.
+
+A week had elapsed before the postman, with a great deal of mysterious
+action, slipped a note into Lucy's hand, making her run to her room
+trembling and feeling guilty, to hold the letter open, illegible for the
+tears which veiled her eyes.
+
+At last, though, she read the few brief lines which it contained:--
+
+"Think of the past, Lucy, as of happy days spent with one who loved you,
+and who is now dead.  Better that we should never meet again.  Better,
+perhaps, if I had never lived.  God bless _you_, dear.  Good-bye."
+
+Poor Lucy was too ill to appear at dinner that day, and for several more
+she did not stir out.  Then Mrs Alleyne insisted upon her going for a
+walk, and, as if drawn by fate, she went straight toward the fir mount
+to climb to the top, where she could sit down and gaze at Brackley, and
+try to make out Glynne, who might be walking in the garden.
+
+No: she saw no tall white figure there, and she felt that unless she
+borrowed some "optick tube" from her brother's observatory, she was not
+likely to see her friend a mile away, and she stood there low-spirited
+and tearful.
+
+"If I could only see her, and say,--`Glynne, sister, what is all that
+terrible trouble to us?  You are still the only friend I ever loved,'
+and clasp her in my arms, and let her tears mingle with mine.  Oh,
+please God," she said, softly, speaking like a little child, as she sank
+upon her knees amongst the thickly-shed pine needles, and clasped her
+hands, "let there be no more sorrow for my poor, dear friend; make her
+happy once again."
+
+That fir-clad hill became Lucy's favourite resort by day, as it had been
+her brother's in the past, by night; and she went again and again, till
+one afternoon, following out an old habit, she was stooping to pick a
+plant from where it grew, when she became aware of someone approaching,
+and she started and coloured, and then recovered herself, and rose erect
+and slightly resentful, for Major Day, looking very sad and old stood
+before her, raising his hat.
+
+"May I see what you have there?" he said gravely.
+
+"I think it is an _Amanita_," said Lucy, trying hard to speak firmly, as
+she held out the whitish-looking fungus toward the old botanist, as if
+it had been a tiny Japanese parasol.
+
+Major Day fixed his _pince-nez_ on the organ it was made to pinch, and,
+taking the curious vegetable, carefully examined it, turning it over and
+over before saying decisively,--
+
+"Yes, exactly; _Amanita Vernus_, a very poisonous species, Miss Alleyne.
+I--er--I am very glad to see that you keep up your knowledge of this
+interesting branch of botany.  I have been paying a good deal of
+attention to it in Italy this past autumn and winter."
+
+"Indeed," said Lucy.
+
+"Yes, my dear--Miss Alleyne," said the major, correcting himself.  "The
+Italians are great eaters of fungi.  My brother found Rome and Florence
+very dull.  Of course he was longing to be back amongst his farming
+stock.  Great student of the improvement of cattle, Miss Alleyne.  I
+found the country about Rome and Florence most interesting.  It would
+have been far more so if I had had a sympathetic companion."
+
+"I must--I will tell him everything," thought Lucy; and then the colour
+came, and she felt that it would be impossible, and that her only course
+was to allow time to smooth away this little burr.
+
+"Are you finding truffles?" she said, with assumed cheerfulness.
+
+He looked at her in a curiously wistful manner for a few moments, and
+that look was agony to Lucy, as her conscience told her that she had had
+a fall from the high niche to which she had risen in the major's
+estimation.
+
+"Yes," he said, slowly, and there was an unwonted coldness and gravity
+in his manner; "at my old pursuit, Miss Alleyne--at my old pursuit.  So
+you have not quite given it up?"
+
+"Oh no," cried Lucy, trying to pass over the coldness, which chilled her
+warm young heart.  "I have been collecting several times lately, and--"
+
+Lucy stopped short, for the major was looking at her keenly, as if
+recalling the fact that when she had been mushrooming she had
+encountered Rolph sauntering about with a cigar in his mouth.
+
+"Yes," said the major, quietly; "and were you very successful?"
+
+It was a very simple question, just such a one as anyone might ask to
+help a hesitating speaker who had come to a standstill; but to Lucy it
+seemed so different from what she had been accustomed to hear from the
+major's lips.  His manner had always been tenderly paternal towards her;
+there had been such openness and full confidence between them, and such
+a warm pressure of hand to hand.  Now this was gone, and there was a
+cold and dreary gap.
+
+"Successful?" said Lucy, with her voice trembling and her face beginning
+to work.  "Yes--no--I--Have you many truffles, Major Day?"
+
+This last with an effort to master her emotion, and its effect, as she
+spoke sharply and quickly, was to give her time to recover herself, and
+the major a respite from what had threatened to be a painful scene.
+
+"Yes, yes; a fair number," he said, as if he were addressing one who was
+a comparative stranger, but towards whom he wished to behave with the
+greatest deference.  "They are very small, though--very small; not like
+those they dig in France.  May I send you a few, my--Miss Alleyne?"
+
+Lucy shook her head, for her emotion mastered her this time.  That
+alteration from what was to have been "my dear" to "Miss Alleyne" was
+too much for her, and she bowed hastily and hurried away.
+
+But the major hastened after her, and overtook her in the lane.
+
+"Miss Alleyne--Lucy," he cried.  "One moment, please."
+
+"Major Day!" she cried, in surprise.
+
+"And your very good old friend, my dear.  Since I saw you last I have
+been thinking a great deal, and many things which troubled me before we
+left home have gradually assumed an entirely fresh aspect.  I was hasty,
+and, to be frank, I used to think ill of you, and my conscience is so
+full of reproach that I--if you'll excuse me--I--I must beg your
+pardon."
+
+"Beg my pardon, Major Day?" said Lucy, and she turned red and white by
+turns as she began to tremble.
+
+"Yes, my dear, and ask you to forgive me."
+
+"Forgive you, Major Day?"
+
+"Yes, my dear, I fear I was too ready to believe you were weak and
+foolish, and did not give you credit for being what you are, and--there,
+there, my dear, I surrender at discretion, I leave it to your generosity
+to let me march off with colours flying."
+
+"Dear Major Day!  I didn't deserve that you should think so ill of me,"
+sobbed Lucy passionately, and laying her hands in the old man's she made
+no resistance as he drew her towards him, and kissed her forehead, just
+when, according to his unlucky custom, Oldroyd came into sight.
+
+At the moment when the major bent down and pressed his lips on little
+Lucy's white forehead, the pony's head was directed straight towards
+them; the next instant he had sprung round like a weather-cock, and his
+head was directed towards home, but only for a few moments, before it
+was dragged round again, and the doctor come slowly ambling towards
+them, looking indignant and fierce.
+
+"Then we are to be the best of friends again, eh, my dear, and I am
+quite forgiven?"
+
+"Oh, yes, dear Major Day," said Lucy; "but please don't think so ill of
+me again."
+
+"I'm a dreadful old scoundrel ever to have thought ill of you at all,"
+cried the major.  "There, we must forget all the past.  Ah, doctor, how
+are you?  When are you coming up to the hall?  My brother will be glad
+to see you, I'm sure."
+
+"I hope Sir John is not unwell?" said Oldroyd, trying to wither Lucy
+with a look, and bringing back upon himself such an indignant flash that
+he metaphorically curled up, as he muttered something to himself about
+the daring impudence some women could display.
+
+"Unwell? dear me, no," said the major.  "A little pulled down by too
+much inaction abroad; nothing hurts him though much.  I mean come as a
+visitor.  How is the health of the neighbourhood, eh?"
+
+"Excellent, Major Day, that is, excepting Mr Alleyne's."
+
+"What!  Mr Alleyne ill?  Bless my soul! you did not say anything about
+it, my dear."
+
+"My dear! my dear!" muttered Oldroyd between his teeth; "always my dear.
+Surely the old idiot is not going to marry the wicked little flirt."
+
+"I had not had time, Major Day," said Lucy eagerly, "but I don't think
+dear Moray is any worse than usual."
+
+"Worse than usual?  Then he has been unwell?"
+
+"He is ill," replied Lucy, "but it has been coming on so slowly that I
+am afraid we do not notice it so much as we should."
+
+"But is he confined to his bed?"
+
+"Oh, no!" cried Lucy.  "He is going on with his studies just as usual."
+
+"I'll come over and see him.  I meant to come, but I--er--I hesitated,
+my dear.  Do you think he would be pleased if I called?"
+
+"I'm sure he would, Major Day," cried Lucy.  "Pray come soon."
+
+"Indeed, I will, perhaps to-morrow.  Are you going my way?"
+
+"No, major, I am going back to The Firs.  I do not like to be away when
+Mr Oldroyd is going to see my brother."
+
+The major shook hands warmly, and went his way, saying to himself,--
+
+"What did she mean?  She did not like to be away when Mr Oldroyd visited
+her brother?  What she said, of course.  Ah, how prone men are to put a
+second meaning to other people's words.  How ready I was to think ill of
+the little lassie and her brother; and I am as ready now to own that she
+is innocence itself.  I used to think, though, that she cared for
+Oldroyd."
+
+Meanwhile, Lucy was walking straight along by the side of the road, back
+towards The Firs, with Oldroyd, on his disreputable-looking steed, a
+yard or two upon her left.
+
+By quitting the road and cutting across the open boggy land, amidst the
+furze and whortleberry scrub Lucy could have saved a quarter-of-a-mile,
+and left her companion behind; or even if he had elected to follow her,
+the softness of the soil and the constant recurrence of swampy patches
+about, which one on foot could easily avoid, would have necessitated so
+much care that he would have been left far behind.
+
+But Lucy trudged steadily on with her pretty little face trying to look
+stern and hard, but failing dis--no, not dismally, for hers was a type
+of countenance from which the prettiness could not be eliminated try how
+one would.
+
+Oldroyd was angry--bitterly angry.  But he was in love.  Once more
+jealous fear had attacked him.  For had not he plainly seen Lucy's face
+held up in the most matter-of-fact manner for the major to bend down and
+kiss?  Certainly he was an old man, old enough to be her grandfather,
+and the kiss had been given when he who witnessed it was two or three
+hundred yards away; but there was the fact and Oldroyd felt furious.
+
+All this time had passed since he had felt that he was growing very fond
+of Lucy, and his affection had been nipped and blackened like the top of
+a spring potato, by an unkindly frost, consequent upon the Rolph affair,
+while still like the spring potato, though the first shoots had been
+nipped, it was only for more and stronger ones to form and grow faster
+and faster than before.  But Lucy had made no sign.
+
+And so they went on towards The Firs on that delicious spring day, when
+the larks were singing overhead, the young growth of the pines shed a
+sweet odour of lemon to be wafted across the road, and at every step,
+Lucy's little feet crushed down a daisy, but the bright-eyed flower
+lifted its head again as soon as she had passed and did not seem to be
+trampled in the least.  Oldroyd did as Lucy did--stared straight before
+him, letting the reins--a much mended pair--rest on the pony's neck;
+while Peter hung his head in a sleepy, contemplative way, and sometimes
+walked, sometimes slowly ambled on, as if moved by his spirit to keep
+abreast of Lucy.
+
+Oldroyd's brow knit closely as he mentally wrote out a prescription to
+meet his new case, and then mentally tore it up again, ending by at last
+turning quite fiercely towards Lucy, giving the pony's ribs a couple of
+kicks as he snatched up the reins to force it forward, and then, as she
+started half frightened by his near approach, he said to her in a
+reproachful voice,--
+
+"How can you behave so cruelly to me, Lucy?"  According to all canons
+the rule in such a case was for Lucy to start, open her eyes a little
+more widely, stare, and say,--
+
+"Mr Oldroyd, I don't know what you mean!"  But this was out on a common,
+and not in a west-end drawing-room.  Her heart was full, and she was not
+disposed just then to fence and screen herself with maidenly
+conventionalities.  She knew well enough that Philip Oldroyd loved her
+very dearly, almost as dearly, she owned in her heart of hearts, as she
+loved him, and that he was alluding broadly to her conduct with Rolph,
+her long display of resentment, and also to her having given the major a
+kiss that day.  He was very angry and jealous, but that did not annoy
+her in the least.  It gave her pleasure.  He spoke very sharply to her
+just then--viciously and bitterly; but she did not mind that either.  It
+was piquant.  It gave her a pleasant little thrill.  There was a
+masterly sound about it, and she felt as if it was pleasant to be
+mastered just then, when she was in the most wilful and angry of moods.
+
+"You know what I mean," he said, quickly, "you know how I love you."
+
+"Oh!" said Lucy to herself very softly; but though every nerve tingled
+with pleasure, not a muscle stirred, and she kept her face averted.
+
+"You know," continued Oldroyd, "how long I have loved you; but you take
+delight in trampling upon my best feelings.  I suppose," he added
+bitterly, "it is because I am so poor."
+
+"Indeed it is not!" cried Lucy with spirit, as she kept her back to him;
+"how can you think me so pitiful and mean!"
+
+"Well, then, why do you treat me so badly?"
+
+"I don't treat you badly."
+
+This was very commonplace, and Lucy's continuous stare straight before
+her did not give it dignity.
+
+"You do treat me badly--cruelly--worse," exclaimed Oldroyd, kicking his
+pony's ribs so viciously, that the poor brute resented it by shaking his
+head, and wagging his tail.
+
+"You have treated me shamefully, Mr Oldroyd," cried Lucy.
+
+It was getting terribly commonplace now.
+
+"Indeed I have not," he replied.  "How could I help feeling hurt when I
+saw you as I did with that horse-jockey foot-racing animal?"
+
+"You might have known that I had a reason for it, and that I was
+behaving so on behalf of my friend," said Lucy.
+
+"How was I to be able to analyse the secrets of your heart?" said
+Oldroyd, romantically.
+
+"Then you looked insultingly at me just now, when dear old grandfatherly
+Major Day spoke to me, and behaved to me as he did.  Why--oh, I haven't
+patience with myself for speaking about it all as I do.  It is degrading
+and weak; and what right, sir," she panted, "have you to ask me for such
+explanations?"
+
+"I do it in all humbleness, Lucy," he whispered, with his voice
+softening.  "I have nothing to say in my defence, only that I love you
+so dearly that it cuts me to the heart to think that--that--oh, my
+darling, look at me like that again."
+
+It was all in a moment.  Lucy's eyes had ceased to flash, and had darted
+out such a confession of forgiveness, and love, and tenderness, all
+mingled, as made Oldroyd forget all about the laws of equitation, and
+fall off his pony on the wrong side, to catch Lucy's hand in his and
+draw it tightly through his arm.
+
+Peter began to nibble placidly at shoots, and everything was more
+commonplace than ever, for they walked slowly along by the roadside,
+with their heads down, perfectly silent; while the pony browsed along,
+with his head down, and the rein dragging on the ground, till after a
+bit he trod upon it, gave his head a snatch at the check, and broke it,
+making it very little worse than it was before.
+
+And so they went on, with the larks singing overhead, the grass and
+daisies springing beneath their feet, and the world looking more
+beautiful than it ever did before; what time Glynne was sitting, pale,
+large-eyed, and thin, in her own room, reading hard--some heavy work,
+which she jealously placed aside whenever she had finished perusing; and
+Moray Alleyne was alone in his observatory, gaunt, grey, and strange,
+busy over the calculations respecting the star he had been watching for
+nights past, that bright particular star that seemed somehow connected
+with the woman he had ventured to love.
+
+"Are you very angry, Mrs Alleyne?" said Oldroyd, as he took Lucy's hand
+in his and walked with her to where the mistress of The Firs was seated,
+busily stitching, in the very perfection of neatness, the pleats of a
+new garment for her son.
+
+"Angry?" said Mrs Alleyne, starting and flushing, and then turning pale
+as she dropped her work, and her hands began to tremble.  "Does this
+mean--does this mean--?"
+
+"That we love each other?" replied Oldroyd, glancing sidewise at Lucy.
+"Yes, madam, it does, and I feel dread and shame, I scarcely know what,
+when I speak to you like this, for I am so poor, and my prospects so
+extremely wanting in brightness."
+
+"We are used to being poor, Mr Oldroyd," said Mrs Alleyne, sadly.
+
+"Then you do not object?"
+
+"Why should I?" said Mrs Alleyne.  "It is natural that my child should
+some day form an attachment.  She has, I presume, done so?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes, yes, mamma," cried Lucy, "a long time now."
+
+"Then, knowing as I do, that the attachment is to a man of sterling
+worth," said Mrs Alleyne softly, as she held out her hand, "what more
+could I wish?"
+
+Oldroyd caught the hand in his and kissed it, hesitated a moment, and
+then bent down and kissed Mrs Alleyne's thin pinched lips.
+
+"It has given me the stimulus I wanted," he said, proudly.  "Mrs
+Alleyne, Lucy shall not be a poor man's wife, but--Ah, Alleyne."
+
+"Ah, Oldroyd," said the astronomer, in his soft, deep voice, and he
+smiled sadly; "come to prescribe for me again.  And I'm better than ever
+now--but--is anything wrong?"
+
+For the positions of the three occupants of the room he had entered
+struck him as being singular.
+
+"Yes," cried Oldroyd, "very wrong.  I, being a poor surgeon and general
+practitioner, have been asking your mother's consent to Lucy's becoming
+my wife."
+
+"And Lucy?" said Alleyne softly.
+
+"Oh, yes, Moray, dear Moray," she cried, hiding her face in his breast.
+
+"I am very glad, Oldroyd," said Alleyne, quietly.  "I have thought of it
+sometimes, and wondered whether it would come to this, and--and I am
+very very glad."
+
+He held out his hand and grasped the young doctor's very warmly, before
+kissing his sister, after which she escaped to her room, where she
+stayed for quite an hour before coming down shyly, and with a very happy
+look in her eyes.
+
+Oldroyd was not gone.  It was not likely.  He had been staying with
+Alleyne in the observatory--watching his case as he told himself, but
+not succeeding in his self-deceit, and some kind of natural attraction
+led him back into the dining-room just as Lucy entered from the other
+door.
+
+It must have been a further charge of natural attraction that led them
+straight into each other's arms, for the first long embrace and kiss,
+from which Lucy started back at last, all shame-faced, rosy-red, and
+with the sensation that she had just been guilty of something very
+wicked indeed.
+
+"Are you happy, Lucy?" said Oldroyd.
+
+"No," she said, looking at him earnestly, "and I shall not be till
+others are happy too."
+
+Volume 3, Chapter XIII.
+
+AS THROUGH A GLASS.
+
+"Love rules the court, the camp, the grove," says the poet; and there he
+stops, leaving the rest of the places under the pink little god's
+_regime_ to our imagination.
+
+He was busy as ever at Brackley, with people in a humbler walk in life
+and there was an attraction there for a person who plays no prominent
+part in this narrative, to wit, Thompson, private dragoon in Her
+Majesty's service, and valet and confidential man to Captain Rolph.
+
+He had long fixed his affections possibly in military temporary fashion
+upon Mason, Glynne's maid.  These affections had glowed during the many
+visits to Warren and Hall, cooled down during the activities of
+service--rubbing down his master as he would a horse, and helping him to
+train--sinking for a year and a half or so after "the upset" at
+Brackley, and turning up again when the captain came back to The Warren
+to be hitched on again, as he termed it.  For, truth to tell, it was
+known that Mason had one hundred and fourteen pounds deposited in
+consols with a certain old lady in Threadneedle Street.
+
+Thompson felt glad then, when one day the captain said to him,--
+
+"All packed up, isn't it?" and he replied that the luggage was ready.
+Whereupon the captain told him that he would not want him for a month.
+
+"And, by the way, go down to The Warren before my mother returns, and
+get my guns, a few books in my room, and the knick-knacks and clothes,
+and the rest."
+
+"Won't you want 'em, sir, next time you're going down?"
+
+"Mind your own business, fool, and get the things."
+
+Thompson stood at attention, winked to himself, and thought of how near
+he would be to Brackley, and how, in spite of the past he would be sure
+of a welcome in the servants' hall.  A month would be long enough to
+"pull that off;" and though he did not put it in words, to pull Mason's
+savings out of the great British bank.
+
+But then there was Sinkins, the village carpenter and parish clerk, who
+often did jobs at the Hall, a man with whom he had come in contact more
+than a year before, over the preparations for Glynne's wedding, and had
+seen talking to Mason more than once, and whom he held in utter
+contempt.
+
+It is of no use to disguise the truth, for no matter whether Matthew
+Sinkins was in his Sunday best, or in his regular carpenter's fustian,
+he always exhaled a peculiar odour of glue.  Certainly it was often
+dashed with sawdust, suggestive of cellars and wine, or the fragrant
+resinous scent of newly cut satin shavings; but the glue overbore the
+rest, and maintained itself so persistently that, even during the week
+when Sinkins had the French polishing job at Brackley, and the naphtha
+and shellac clung to his clothes, there, making itself perceptible, was
+the regular good old carpenter's shop smell of glue.
+
+Thompson said to Mason that it was disgusting, but she told him frankly
+that it was a good, clean, wholesome smell, and far preferable to that
+of the stables.
+
+This, with toss of the head soon after Thompson's arrival, for, in spite
+of bygones he found on getting himself driven over from The Warren,
+quite a warm welcome from old friends, one and all being eager to talk
+over the past and learn everything that could be pumped out of Thompson
+respecting his master's doings since that terrible night.
+
+Thompson was in the stable-yard smoking a cigar--a very excellent cigar,
+that had cost somewhere about a shilling--rather an extravagance for a
+young man in his position of life, but as it was one out of his master's
+box, the expense did not fall upon him; and had any one suggested that
+it was not honest for him to smoke the captain's cigars he would have
+looked at him with astonishment, and asked whether he knew the meaning
+of the word perquisites.
+
+It was a very excellent cigar, and being so it might have been supposed
+to have a soothing effect; but whatever may have been its sedative
+qualities they were not apparent, for Thompson's face was gloomy,
+consequent upon his having seen Matthew Sinkins go up to the side door
+with his basket of tools hanging from his shoulder, and kept in that
+position by the hammer being thrust through one of the handles, that
+handle being passed through its fellow.
+
+"Him here, again?" exclaimed Thompson.  "He's always hanging about the
+place.  Well, it's as free for me as for him, I suppose.  I shall go and
+see."
+
+Thompson who was a smart, dapper-looking swarthy man, with closely cut
+hair, very small mutton chop whiskers, and dark beady eyes, threw away
+the half-smoked cigar, gave a touch to his carefully-tied white cravat,
+glanced down at his brightly polished boots, and let his eyes rest upon
+his very closely fitting Bedford cord trousers before crossing the yard,
+whistling in a nonchalant manner, and walking into the servants' hall,
+where Matthew Sinkins was waiting with his tool basket on the floor by
+his side.
+
+"Hallo, chips!" said Thompson, condescendingly, "how's trade?"
+
+"Pretty tidy, Mr Thompson," said the carpenter, slowly, and taking out
+the two-foot rule which dwelt in a long narrow pocket down one leg of
+his trousers, but sheathing it again directly, as if it were a weapon
+which he did not at present need.
+
+"Glad of it," said Thompson.  "Haven't they asked you to have a horn of
+ale?"
+
+"Yes, Mr Thompson; oh, yes.  Miss Mason has gone to get one for me from
+Mr Morris."
+
+"Oh! has she?" said Thompson; and this news was of so discomforting a
+nature that he was taken a little aback.  "Job on?"
+
+"Yes, Mr Thompson, I'm wanted.  You're here again, then.  Thought you
+was going abroad."
+
+"No," said Thompson, thrusting his hands into his pockets, and
+see-sawing himself to and fro, from toe to heel and back.  "No, we're
+not gone yet, Mr Sinkins; and if it's any pleasure to you to know it, I
+don't see any likelihood of our going for some time to come.  What have
+you got to say to that?"
+
+Mr Sinkin's big hand went deliberately down the leg of his trousers, and
+he half drew out the rule again, as if he meant to measure the captain's
+attendant, but he allowed the narrow strip of boxwood to glide back into
+its place and breathed hard.
+
+"I say, what have you got to say to that, Mr Sinkins?" said Thompson,
+nodding his head a good deal, and unconsciously making himself
+wonderfully like a pugnacious bantam cock ruffling himself in the
+presence of a heavy, stolid, barn-door fowl.
+
+"Got to say to it?" replied Sinkins, calmly.
+
+"Yes, sir, got to say to it, sir," cried Thompson, with an irritating
+air of superiority that appeared to suggest that he had got the
+carpenter in a corner now, from which he did not mean to let him escape
+until he had answered the question put to him so sharply.
+
+Sinkins seemed to feel that his rule was necessary once again, but the
+boxwood was allowed to slip back as its master shook his head, and said
+in a slow serious way,--
+
+"I haven't got anything to say to it, Mr Thompson, sir."
+
+"Oh, you haven't."
+
+"No, sir," replied the carpenter stolidly.  "If I was to say a lot to
+it, I don't see as it would make any difference one way or the other."
+
+"No, sir, I should think it wouldn't," cried Thompson; and just then
+Miss Mason, the brisk-looking, dark-eyed, ale-bearing Hebe of
+two-and-twenty, came in, looking as if she were wearing an altered silk
+dress that had once been the property of Glynne Day.
+
+"Oh, you are here, Mr Thompson, are you?" she said with a voice full of
+acidity.
+
+"Yes, ma'am, I am here," said Thompson, sharply.
+
+"Perhaps you'll come up as soon as you've drunk your ale, Mr Sinkins,"
+said Miss Mason, sweetly.  "I'll show you which room."
+
+Matthew placed the horn at his lips, and removed it so reluctantly that
+it ceased to be a horn of plenty, and he set it back upon the table with
+a sigh.  He stooped then and took the handle of his hammer, lifting the
+tool basket, so that chisels and screws, and drivers, gimlets, saws, and
+planes, all jumbled up together, as they were swung round upon the
+strong man's shoulder, but only to be swung off again and carried in the
+hand, as being more suitable in so grand a place as Brackley Hall.
+
+"Are you quite ready, Mr Sinkins," said Miss Mason, in a tone of voice
+that seemed quite affectionate.
+
+"Yes, miss, I'm quite ready."
+
+"Come along, then, Mr Sinkins," said Mason; and with what was meant for
+a haughty look at the captain's man, she led the way through the door
+opening on to the back staircase, sending the said door back with
+unnecessary violence as Mr Thompson essayed to follow, but only essayed
+for fear of being ordered back.
+
+"There's something up," he said.  "That fellow's seen something about
+master, and been tale-bearing.  And so he's to go up there all alone,
+easing and repairing doors as the old major's 'most banged off the
+hinges in his passions, and she's to stand by a-giving of him
+instructions, and all to aggravate and annoy me."
+
+He took a turn up and down the hall, screwing his doubled-up fist in his
+left hand, and grinding his teeth with rage.
+
+"Yes; that's what it's for, just to aggravate and annoy me, and him
+smelling that awful of glue!  Bah!  It's disgusting.  A low, common,
+heavy-looking country bumpkin of a carpenter, as has never been hardly
+outside his village, and can only just sign his name with a square
+pencil, pointed up with a chisel.  I say it's disgusting."
+
+Thompson took another turn or two up and down the hall, to ease his
+wounded pride, and then went on again talking to himself till he caught
+sight of the empty, unoffending horn, which he smote with his doubled
+fist, striking out at it scientifically from the shoulder, and sent it
+flying to the other end of the hall.
+
+"Here, what I want to know," said Thompson, is this--"Am I going to pull
+this here off, or am I not?"
+
+There was no answer to the question, so the man sat down astride of a
+form, as if it had been a horse, folded his arms exceedingly tight, and
+scowled at the door that had been shut against him, devoured by
+jealously, and picturing in his mind other matters beside the easing of
+doors and tightening of hinges, for he was measuring other people's
+conduct, not by Mr Sinkins' footrule, but by his own bushel.
+
+"I can't stand it," he muttered at last.  "I must have a quiet pipe."
+
+Striding out of the hall as if he were on duty, he marched right out
+across the park and into the lane, from whence he struck into the first
+opening in the fir woods where the shade seemed to calm him; and, taking
+out a pipe-case, he extracted a very black _bruyere_ root pipe, filled
+it, stuck it in his mouth, and then, seeking for a match in his vest
+pocket, he lit it deftly by giving it a rub on the leg of his trousers,
+puffed his tobacco into incandescence, and then threw the glowing vesta,
+like a hand grenade, over his left shoulder.
+
+There was a sharp ejaculation, and then,--"Confound your insolence,
+fellow!"  Thompson started round, and found himself facing the major,
+trowel in one hand, malacca cane in the other.
+
+"That light hit me in the face, sir.  Do you know, sir, that you may set
+the woods on fire, sir?" cried the major.  "What!  Thompson!  'Tention!
+What the devil are you doing here?"
+
+The man gave a sharp look to left and right, and then, from old habit,
+obeyed the imperious military order, and drew himself upright, staring
+straight before him--"eyes front."
+
+"You scoundrel!" cried the major, seizing him by the collar, and holding
+his cane threateningly, as the idea of some peril to his niece flashed
+across his mind.  "You've brought a note or some message to the Hall."
+
+"No, sir! really, sir, I haven't, sir."
+
+"Don't dare to lie to me, you dog!" cried the major, with the stick
+moving up and down, and Thompson's eyes following it, in the full belief
+that at any moment it might fall upon his shoulders.
+
+"It's gospel truth, sir," he cried.  "I haven't got no note.  How could
+I have?"
+
+"Where's your master?"
+
+"Off, sir."
+
+"Off?  What do you mean?  Isn't he at The Warren?"
+
+"No, sir; he only sent me down to fetch his things."
+
+"Ah!" cried the major; "and here with some message."
+
+"No, sir, that he didn't, sir.  I come over here of my own self."
+
+"What do you mean by `off'?" cried the major.  "You don't go from here
+till you confess the truth.  After what happened how dare you set foot
+on these grounds!  I say, where is your master?"
+
+"Gone abroad, sir."
+
+"Is that the truth?--Here, I was a bit hasty.--A sovereign, my lad.--
+Now, then, tell me.  Your master sent you down here?"
+
+"Only to The Warren, sir, to fetch his things, because he wasn't coming
+down again."
+
+The major looked at him searchingly.
+
+"Let me see," he said, sharply; "he was to be married the other day,
+wasn't he?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Thompson, with a peculiar look as he held the sovereign
+in his pocket, and ran a finger nail round the milled edge.
+
+"What do you mean by that, sir?" cried the major suspiciously, and the
+stick was raised again.  "Wasn't he married?"
+
+"Well, he may have been since, sir, but that other didn't come off."
+
+"What?"
+
+"Well, sir, the fact is, master was going to be, but there was a little
+trouble, sir, about another lady who lived in these parts, and when it
+come out about the wedding as was to be very quiet in London, there was
+a bit of a fuss."
+
+"Humph! well, that is nothing to me, my man.  I made a mistake, and I
+ask your pardon."
+
+"It's all right, sir, and thank you kindly," said Thompson.  "It was Ben
+Hayle's daughter, sir, Miss Judith, who used to be at The Warren before
+they were sent away."
+
+The major had turned his back to go, but the man's words arrested him,
+and, in spite of himself, he listened.
+
+"Ben Hayle come to Long's, sir, in Bond Street, where we was staying,
+and got to see master.  I was packing up, because master was going on
+the Continong next day, and there was a tremenjus row, all in whispers
+like, because I was in the next room, but Ben Hayle got louder and
+louder, and I couldn't help hearing all the last of it."
+
+"There, that will do.  I don't want to hear any more."
+
+"No, sir, certainly not," said Thompson; "but master didn't go to the
+church with Miss Emlin, sir, and from what I heered he went abroad next
+night, sir."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"No, sir," said Thompson, smiling.
+
+"Poor Glynne!" muttered the major as he turned away.  "The man is a
+disgrace to the service.  An utter scoundrel.  Gone abroad.  No, he
+would not go alone."
+
+Thompson, left in the wood, took out and looked at the sovereign, and
+concluded that he would not go to the Hall again.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter XIV.
+
+FAR SEEING.
+
+"Poor old soul, she can't be long for this world," said Oldroyd one day
+on receiving a message from Lindham, and, mounting Peter, he rode over
+across the commons to the old cottage.
+
+"Oh, you've come at last, then," said the old woman, raising herself in
+bed and frowning heavily.  "There, don't you go telling me no lies.  I
+know where you've been wasting the parish time as you're paid for."
+
+"Wasting the time?" said Oldroyd, laughing.
+
+"Ah, it's nothing to make fun of.  When I told you to take to Miss Lucy,
+I didn't mean you to go courting for months, but to marry her and done
+with it, so as she might be a bit useful, visiting and nursing some o'
+the sick folk on your rounds."
+
+"Why, you dissatisfied old woman," cried Oldroyd merrily, "I rode over
+as soon as I got your message."
+
+"Well, then, why don't you do me some good at once, and not stand
+talking.  If you knowed the aggynies I suffer, you wouldn't stand
+talking.  You heered the news?"
+
+"What, about the French?"
+
+"Tchut!  What do I know about the French?  I mean about my grandbairn."
+
+"Miss Hayle?  No."
+
+"The captain took her off, and we thought he'd married her, you know,
+but he didn't."
+
+"Poor girl!" said Oldroyd, sadly.
+
+"Bah!  I haven't patience with her.  Got her head turned up at The
+Warren, being with that girl there; and then, in spite of all I said,
+and her father said, she must be always thinking of the captain, and
+breaking her heart when she heard he was going to marry first this one
+and then that.  She got so that at last he had only to hold up his
+finger and say come, and away she went; and now she's back in London,
+left to shift for herself, with lots of fine clothes.  She's writ home
+to her father for help.  But we shall see--we shall see."
+
+"A scoundrel!" exclaimed Oldroyd.
+
+"Yes, he's a bad un," said the old woman, "a reg'lar bad un, but he'll
+get his deserts; you see if he don't.  Ben Hayle arn't Sir John Day up
+at the Hall.  He won't let my gentleman off so easy; you see if he do.
+Ah, it's a strange world, doctor, and I begin to think it gets worse and
+worse."
+
+Oldroyd listened to a good deal more of the old lady's moralising about
+the state of the world, as he ministered to her "aggynies," and finally
+left, after undertaking to call again very soon.
+
+"Mind, you shut the door!" shouted the old woman; "the haps don't fit
+well.  You must try it after you've let go."
+
+"I'll mind," said Oldroyd good-humouredly; and, mounting Peter, he was
+thoughtfully jogging homeward, when the pony stopped in front of a gate,
+on which a man was seated--the pony having apparently recognised an old
+patient, and paused for the doctor to have a chat.
+
+"Do, sir?" said the man, getting down slowly and touching his hat.
+
+"Ah, Hayle, glad to see you looking so strong again."
+
+"Ay, sir," said the man, smiling sadly; "you ought to be proud o' me,
+and make a show of what you've done for me.  'Bout your best job, warn't
+I?"
+
+"Well, I suppose you were, in surgery," said Oldroyd, looking hard at
+the man's pinched face and settled frown; "but, I say, my man, hadn't
+you better drop that life now, and try something different?"
+
+"Easier said than done, doctor," replied Hayle grimly.  "Give a dog a
+bad name and hang him.  Nobody wouldn't employ me.  S'pose I said to
+you.  `Change your life and turn parson.'  Wouldn't be easy, would it?"
+
+Oldroyd shook his head.
+
+"Perhaps not," he said; "but you're too good a man for a poacher.  Look
+here, Hayle; Morton has left and gone to Lord Bogmere's.  Sir John Day
+is very friendly to me.  Let me go and state your case to him frankly."
+
+"Wouldn't be no good, sir."
+
+"Don't say that.  He's a thorough English gentleman, always ready to do
+anyone a good turn.  I believe in you, Hayle; and if I say to him that
+you would gladly come and serve him faithfully, I should say so
+believing honestly that you would.  Shall I speak to him?"
+
+"Thank you kindly, sir, but not now.  I've got too much else on my
+mind," said Hayle, gazing at the doctor searchingly.  "Been to see the
+old lady?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did--did she tell you any news?"
+
+Oldroyd nodded.
+
+"Ah, she would," said the ex-keeper thoughtfully.  "Hah! he's a bad un;
+but I didn't think he'd be quite so bad as that to her; for she's a
+handsome gal, doctor--a handsome gal."
+
+"More's the pity," thought Oldroyd, though he did not speak.
+
+"It's well for him that I haven't run again him, I can tell you.  Don't
+happen to know where the captain is, do you, sir?"
+
+"No, I have not the least idea; and if I had, I don't think I should
+tell you."
+
+"S'pose not, doctor," said the man, with a strange laugh, "seeing what's
+coming off."
+
+"Why; what are you going to do?"
+
+"Do, sir," said Hayle slowly, as he leaned on the gate, and looked down
+the dark path in the wood.  "When I was a young man, and made up my mind
+to trap a hare or a fezzan, or p'raps only a rabbud, I trapped it.
+P'r'aps I didn't the first time; p'raps I didn't the second or third;
+but I kept on at it till I did, and I'm going to trap him."
+
+"What, Captain Rolph!  Make him pay for the injury to your daughter?"
+
+"I'm going to see if he'll make it up to her first.  If he won't, I'll
+make him pay."
+
+"Make it up!  Do you mean marry her?"
+
+"Yes; that's what I mean, sir," said Hayle slowly, and then, turning
+round to face the doctor, and fix him with his big dark eyes.  "He shall
+pay his debt if he don't marry her!"
+
+"Do you mean in money--breach of promise?"
+
+"No," said the man, speaking to him fiercely.  "No money wouldn't pay my
+gal nor me.  He took a fancy to her, and she liked him, and I forgive
+him for his cunning way of following her when I was laid by.  I forgive
+him, too, for what he did to me.  It was fair fight so far, but it was
+his gun as shot me that night.  I didn't bear no malice again him for
+all that, as long as he was square toward Judith; but he's thrown her
+off, and I'm going to see him about it."
+
+"Man, man, what are you going to do?" cried Oldroyd.
+
+"What am I going to do?" roared Hayle, blazing up into sudden fury.
+"You're going to marry sweet young Miss Lucy, yonder.  S'pose eighteen
+or nineteen years, by-and-by, doctor, there's another Miss Lucy as
+you're very proud on.  You're genteel people, we're not; but the stuff's
+all the same.  I was proud o' my Judith, same as you'll be proud of your
+Miss Lucy when she comes.  What am I going to do?  What would you do to
+the man as took her from you, and when his fancy was over sent her off?"
+
+Oldroyd stood gazing at the fierce face before him.
+
+"Doctor, when I heerd first as he'd thrown her over, I said to myself,
+`He's a proud chap--proud of his strong body, and his running and
+racing: he shall know what it is to suffer now.  Curse him, I'll break
+him across my knee.'  Then I stopped and thought, doctor, and made up my
+mind that he should marry her, and if he don't--"
+
+Hayle stopped short, with his lips tightened and his fists clenched; and
+then, in a curiously furtive way, he turned his face aside, sprang
+lightly over the gate into the wood, and disappeared from the doctor's
+sight.
+
+"If I had done that fellow a deadly wrong I should not feel very happy
+and comfortable in my own mind," said Oldroyd, as he looked in the
+direction in which the man had disappeared.  "Ah, well, it's no business
+of mine; and, thank goodness, I lead too busy a life to have many of the
+temptations talked of by good old Doctor Watts."
+
+"Now, then, I've taken my physic," he added, after a few minutes'
+thought, and with a cheery smile on his countenance, "so I'll go and
+have my sugar.  Go on, Peter."
+
+Peter went on, and, as if knowing where to go, took the doctor straight
+to The Firs.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter XV.
+
+THE IMAGE FADES.
+
+"Oh, how you startled me."
+
+"Can't help being ugly," said Oldroyd merrily.  "Eliza said you had come
+in, and were down the garden, so I took the liberty of following."
+
+"Does mamma know?" said Lucy, with a guilty look at the house.
+
+"I really can't tell," said Oldroyd, smiling.  "I shall not look for her
+permission now, since I consider myself your duly qualified medical
+attendant, your life physician, I hope."
+
+"Really, Mr Oldroyd," said Lucy, "you need not feel my pulse to-day."
+
+"Indeed, but I must," he said; "and look into your eyes to see if they
+are clear."
+
+"What nonsense!" said Lucy.  "I suppose next you'll want me to put out
+my tongue."
+
+"No," he said laughing, "your lips will do."
+
+"Philip!  For shame!  Anyone might have seen.  You shouldn't."
+
+"Save that I would not have anyone witness of so holy a joy as that kiss
+was to me," whispered Oldroyd, "the whole world might see my love for
+you, little wife to be.  There's no shame in it, Lucy.  I am so happy.
+And you?"
+
+"I'm very, very miserable," she cried, looking in his face with eyes
+that denied the fact.
+
+"Then you are to tell me your trouble," he whispered, fondly, "and I am
+to console you."
+
+"But I don't think you can, Philip."
+
+"Well, let us hear," he said.  "What is the trouble?"
+
+"It is about poor Moray."
+
+"Ah!  Yes!" said Oldroyd slowly.
+
+"And Glynne!"
+
+"Whom you have just been to see, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"I once knew a case," said Oldroyd, "where two people were most tenderly
+attached to each other--the gentleman far more so than the lady; but
+they, loving as they did, were kept apart by foolish doubts and
+misconceptions and pride."
+
+"It is not true," said Lucy sharply.
+
+"That they were kept apart like that?"
+
+"No; that--that--"
+
+"The gentleman was more deeply touched than the lady?  No; that part is
+not true.  It was just the reverse."
+
+"And that is not true either," said Lucy archly.
+
+"Well, we'll not argue the point," said Oldroyd, laughing.  "But I'll go
+on.  In their case no one interfered to set matters straight, and they
+only came right through the tender affection and good heart of the
+dearest little girl who ever lived."
+
+"You may say that again, Philip," said Lucy, nestling to him, and
+looking up through a veil of tears; "but it isn't a bit true.  I'm
+afraid I was very, very weak, and proud and foolish, and I feel now as
+if I could never forgive myself for much that I have done."
+
+"I'll forgive you, and you shall forgive me," said Oldroyd.  "And now I
+don't think I need go on speaking in parables.  I only wanted to point
+out the difference.  Our trouble arranged itself without the help of
+friends.  That of someone else ought soon to be set right, with two such
+energetic people as ourselves to help."
+
+"But sometimes interference makes matters worse," sighed Lucy.
+
+"Yes; because those who see about these matters are ignorant pretenders.
+Now, we are both duly qualified practitioners, Lucy, and, I think, can
+settle the matter right off, and cure them both."
+
+"But how?  It is so dreadful."
+
+"Lucy, Lucy!"
+
+It was a sharp, agonised call, as of one in extreme anguish, and,
+startled by the cry, Lucy sprang up and ran towards the house, closely
+followed by Oldroyd.
+
+"Mamma, dear mamma, what is it?" she cried.
+
+"Your brother.  Oh, thank heaven, Mr Oldroyd, you are here."
+
+"What is it?" cried Oldroyd, catching Mrs Alleyne's white and trembling
+hand.
+
+"I--I went--I ventured to go into the observatory just now, my son
+seemed so quiet, and--oh, heaven, what have I done that I should suffer
+this?"
+
+It was a wild appeal, uttered by one in deep agony of spirit, as Mrs
+Alleyne reeled, and would have fallen, had not Oldroyd caught her in his
+arms, and gently lowered her on the carpet.
+
+"Only fainting," he whispered.  "Let her lie; loosen her dress, and
+bathe her face.  I'll run on to your brother."
+
+Satisfied that he was not wanted there, and, giving Lucy an encouraging
+nod, Oldroyd ran quickly along the passage to the observatory, whose
+door he found open, but almost in total darkness, for the shutters were
+carefully closed, and the shaded lamp gave so little light, save in one
+place on the far side of the table, that he was compelled to cross the
+great room cautiously, for fear of falling over some one or other of the
+philosophical instruments, whose places the student often changed.
+
+On reaching the table, he could see that Alleyne was lying prone upon
+the well-worn rug before his chair; and, making his way to the window,
+Oldroyd tore open the shutters, admitting a burst of sunshine, and
+completely changing the aspect of the great dusty place.
+
+Going back to the table, he took in the position at a glance.  There
+were bottles there, in a little rack such a chemist would use, and one
+stood alone.
+
+He caught it up, removed the stopper, then put it down with an impatient
+"Pish!" and was turning to the prostrate man, when, previously hidden by
+a book, another stopper caught his eye, and, drawing in his breath with
+a loud hiss, he sprang to Alleyne's side, to find that the fingers of
+his right hand tightly clasped a small cut-glass bottle, the one to
+which the stopper belonged.
+
+"I was afraid so," muttered Oldroyd, with his eyes scanning the white,
+fixed countenance before him.  "He must have taken it as he stood by the
+table, and fallen at once.  Poor fellow!  Poor fellow!  He must have
+been mad."
+
+These words were uttered as, with all the prompt decision of a medical
+man, Oldroyd was examining his friend; his first act being to ascertain
+what the little bottle had contained.
+
+It was no easy task to free it from the stiffened fingers; but he tore
+it away at last, held it to the light, to his nostrils, and then set it
+quickly upon the table, with an impatient exclamation.
+
+"And I call myself a practised doctor," he muttered, "and let my fancy
+carry me away as it did.  Poor fellow!  He must have felt it coming on,
+and tried that ammonia to keep off the sensation.  Suffered from it
+before, perhaps," he continued, as he laid Alleyne's head more easily,
+tore open his handkerchief and collar; and then, after drawing up the
+lids and examining the pupils of his eyes, he hurriedly threw open both
+windows, and caught up a chart from a side table.
+
+His next act was to ring the bell furiously, and then return to
+Alleyne's side and begin fanning his head vigorously.
+
+It was Lucy who answered the bell, running in exclaiming,--
+
+"Oh, Philip, what is it, pray?"
+
+"Don't make a fuss, darling," he said, quickly.  "Be a firm little
+woman.  I want your help.  Cold water, a big basin, sponge, brandy,
+vinegar.  Quick?"
+
+Lucy made an effort to compose herself, and the prompt order had its due
+effect, for she ran out, to return in a few minutes laden with all
+Oldroyd had demanded.
+
+"That's right," he said, quickly; and in answer to Lucy's inquiring
+eyes, "A fit, dear.  He has overdone it.  Exhaustion.  Brain symptoms.
+Over pressure.  That's well.  Now, the brandy.  Here, you take this card
+and keep on fanning, while I bathe his head with the spirit and water.
+We must cool his head.  Fan away.  Be calm now.  A doctor's wife must
+not cry.  That's brave."
+
+All the while he was applying the sponge, saturated with spirit and
+water, to Alleyne's temples, and checking Lucy when she seemed disposed
+to break down, the result being that she worked busily and well.
+
+"Well done, brave little woman," he cried, encouragingly.  "It is a
+regular fit of exhaustion, and we must not let it come to anything more.
+Give me the fan, dear.  No, go on.  I'll apply some more water.
+Evaporates quickly, you see, and relieves the brain.  Spirit stimulates,
+even taken through the pores like that.  Good heavens, what a mat of
+hair.  Quick!  Scissors.  I must get rid of some of this."
+
+He now took the extemporised fan from Lucy's fingers, using it
+energetically, while she rose from her knees, and ran to get a pair of
+her sharpest scissors, with which Oldroyd remorselessly sheared off the
+long unkempt locks from his patient's temples.
+
+Meanwhile Alleyne lay there perfectly motionless, breathing heavily, and
+with a strange fixed look in his eyes.  At times a slight spasm seemed
+to convulse him, but only to be succeeded by long intervals of rigidity,
+during which Lucy plied the fan, gazing at her brother with
+horror-stricken eyes, while Oldroyd continued the cold bathing in the
+most matter-of-fact manner.
+
+"If we could get some ice," muttered Oldroyd, as as he laid a cool hand
+upon his patient's head; and just then Mrs Alleyne, looking very white
+and weak, came into the room.
+
+"I am better now," she whispered.  "It was very foolish of me.  What can
+I do?"
+
+"Nothing, at present," replied Oldroyd.  "Yes; send to the Hall.  I know
+they have ice there.  Ask Sir John Day to let us have some at once."
+
+Mrs Alleyne darted an agonised look at her son, and then glided out of
+the room, when Lucy looked up piteously at Oldroyd.
+
+"Pray, pray, tell me the truth," she whispered; "does this mean--death?"
+
+"Heaven forbid!" he replied, quickly.  "It is a bad fit, but a man may
+have several such as this and live to seventy.  Lucy, we were looking
+about for a means to a certain--keep on fanning, my dear, that's right--
+certain end."
+
+"I don't understand you," she said piteously.
+
+"Alleyne--Glynne--to bring them together.  This is her work--thinking of
+her and over-toiling.  Surely her place is here."
+
+Lucy heaved a sigh, but she held her peace, and busily wafted the cool
+air to her brother's forehead.
+
+Mrs Alleyne returned, to kneel down a short distance away, in obedience
+to a whisper from the doctor; and then an hour passed, and there was no
+change, while hope seemed to be slowly departing from poor Lucy's eyes.
+
+Suddenly a horse's feet were heard coming at a gallop, and a minute or
+two later there was a tap at the door.
+
+"I came on at once," said Sir John, entering on tiptoe.  "My brother is
+having the ice well opened, and he will be over directly with one of the
+men.  Now, Mr Oldroyd, what can I do?  I have the cob outside.  Shall
+I--don't be offended, you might like help--shall I gallop over and get
+Doctor Blunt."
+
+"It is not necessary," said Oldroyd thoughtfully, "but it would be more
+satisfactory to all parties.  I should be glad if you could go, Sir
+John."
+
+"Yes; exactly.  How is he?"
+
+"There's no change, and not likely to be for some time," replied
+Oldroyd, quietly.
+
+Sir John looked pityingly at Alleyne, turned to Mrs Alleyne, took her
+hand and pressed it gently.  Then, bending over Lucy, he took her hand
+in his.
+
+"Keep a good heart, my dear," he whispered.  "He'll be better soon;" and
+going out on tiptoe, it hardly seemed a minute before the regular beat
+of his horse's hoofs could be heard dying away in the distance.
+
+A few minutes later the rumble of wheels was heard, and directly after
+Eliza came to the door with a pail of ice.
+
+"And Major Day's in the dining-room, please, ma'am," whispered the girl,
+in a broken voice; "and is master better, and can he do anything?"
+
+"Go and speak to him, Lucy.  Here, your handkerchief first.  That's
+right!" said Oldroyd sharply.  "Now, the smallest pieces of the ice.
+That's right.  Go and say--No change.  Perhaps he'll sit down and wait."
+
+As he spoke, with Mrs Alleyne's help, he was busily arranging the
+smaller fragments from the pail of ice in a couple of handkerchiefs, and
+applying them to his patient's head.
+
+"There," he said, "that's better than all our fanning.  Now, I hope to
+see some difference."
+
+The change was long in coming, Alleyne remaining perfectly insensible
+for hour after hour.  Towards evening the principal physician of the
+neighbourhood arrived, and was for some time with the sick man,
+returning afterwards to where Mrs Alleyne, Lucy, Sir John, and the major
+were, waiting impatiently for news.
+
+He said he was not surprised at the seizure, upon learning the history
+of the case from his friend, Mr Oldroyd, upon whose treatment he could
+make no change whatever.
+
+"Then you think the worst!" cried Mrs Alleyne piteously.
+
+"Pardon me, my dear madam; not at all.  There are cases that time alone
+can decide.  The ailment has been growing for many months.  Your son
+must have had premonitory warnings, attacks of faintness, and the like;
+for he had provided himself with a strong preparation of ammonia; but he
+has not been leading a life that would improve the general state of his
+health.  Over-study and general mental anxiety have, no doubt, been the
+causes of this attack; and as it has taken months to reach this
+culmination, it will take a long time to bring him back to health."
+
+"Then you think there is no danger?" said Sir John eagerly.
+
+"I think there is great danger, Sir John; but I hope that we shall be
+able to successfully ward it off."
+
+Oldroyd and Mrs Alleyne resumed their places by the patient, the
+observatory being turned into a sick chamber, and mattresses and bedding
+were brought down; and there the astronomer lay, in the midst of the
+trophies of his study, his instruments and his piles of notes; the great
+grim tubes pointing through the opened shutters at the far-off worlds,
+towards which it almost seemed as if--weary with the struggle to reach
+them while chained to earth--he was about to wing his flight.
+
+Lucy came in on tiptoe to bend forward over her brother, but Oldroyd
+rose.
+
+"Go back, dear," he said, "and get some refreshment.  It is time you
+dined."
+
+"Dined!--at a time like this!" she said reproachfully.
+
+"Yes; at a time like this.  It will be a case of long nights of
+watching.  He must not be left, and we must have strength to attend him
+through it all.  Leave it to me, dear, and do as I wish."
+
+Lucy bent down and kissed his hand in token of obedience, and soon after
+joined Sir John and the major in the dining-room.
+
+"Can I do anything else now?" said Sir John; "if not, I'll go.  I
+promised Glynne to go back with news as soon as there was any to carry.
+Are you coming, Jem?"
+
+"No," said the major quietly.  "I'm going to stop and help, if it's only
+to see that Miss Lucy here has rest and food."
+
+Volume 3, Chapter XVI.
+
+CELESTIAL MATTERS.
+
+Sir John nodded and went straight back to Brackley to find Glynne
+dressed and impatiently pacing the drawing-room, pale even to
+ghastliness, and with eyes dilated and looking large and wild.
+
+"How long you have been!" she panted, catching his hand.  "Tell me
+quickly--how is he?  Tell me the worst."
+
+"The worst is that he is very bad.  It is a serious seizure, my dear,
+but the doctors give hope."
+
+"Father, this long waiting has been more than I could bear," she cried
+hysterically.  "I felt as if I should go mad.  Now take me there--at
+once."
+
+"Take you--to The Firs?"
+
+"Yes; now.  The carriage is ready.  I told them to have it waiting."
+
+"But, Glynne--my darling, is it--is it quite right that you should go?
+Well, perhaps as Lucy's friend."
+
+"I am not going as Lucy's friend, father," cried Glynne; "this is no
+time for paltry subterfuge.  I am going to him who is stricken down.  I
+must go; I cannot stay away."
+
+Sir John looked serious, but beyond knitting his brows, he said nothing,
+only rang for the carriage, and then hurried away to fortify himself
+with a tumbler of claret and some biscuits.
+
+In a few minutes they were being rapidly driven to The Firs, Glynne
+remaining perfectly silent till they were near the gates, when she laid
+her hand upon her father's.
+
+"Don't think me strange," she said in a low voice.  "I feel as if I must
+go to him now.  I may never hear his voice again."
+
+They were shown into the drawing-room, where, at Oldroyd's wish, Mrs
+Alleyne had been taken by Lucy to partake of some refreshment, and, as
+Glynne advanced into the dimly-lighted room, their neighbour rose from
+her seat and stood confronting her.
+
+"Well?" she said bitterly; "have you come to see your work?"
+
+Glynne did not speak, but catching at Mrs Alleyne's hand, sank upon her
+knees, while Sir John drew back with Lucy.
+
+"Why do you come here?" said Mrs Alleyne, after a pause, painful in its
+silence to all.
+
+The door closed softly just then, and Glynne started and glanced round
+to see that she was alone with Mrs Alleyne.  Then she uttered a low,
+weary cry.
+
+"You do not know--you do not know how I have suffered, or you would not
+speak to me like this," she whispered.
+
+"Suffered!" retorted Mrs Alleyne, bitterly; "what have your sufferings
+been to his?  Woman, you came upon this house like a curse, to play with
+his true, noble heart; and when you had, with your vile coquetry, won
+it, you tossed it from you with insult, leaving him to suffer patiently,
+till nature could bear no more; and now you have come to look upon the
+wreck you have made.  But you were not to go unpunished.  Do you hear
+me, woman--he, my brave, true son, is stricken to his death."
+
+"No, no, no," cried Glynne, flinging her arms round Mrs Alleyne; "it is
+not true--he is not dying--he shall not die, for I love him; I love him
+with all my weary heart."
+
+"You?" cried Mrs Alleyne, striving to free herself from the frantic
+grasp that was about her.
+
+"Yes; I--even now," cried Glynne, rising and clinging to her firmly; "it
+is true that I loved him from the first.  How could I help loving one so
+wise and true?"
+
+"And yet you trifled with him," cried Mrs Alleyne fiercely.
+
+"No; it was with my own heart," sobbed Glynne, "I did not know.  What
+could I do?  You know all.  I seemed to wake at last standing upon the
+brink of an abyss;" and then, "Mrs Alleyne, is there to be no pardon for
+such as I?  Was my act such a crime in the sight of Heaven that the rest
+of my life was to be blasted, for he loved me--he loved me with all his
+heart."
+
+Mrs Alleyne shuddered and shrank away.  "Are you, too, pitiless?" cried
+Glynne.  "You must know all--how he loved me, and loves me still.  Has
+he told you all?"
+
+"Told me--all?  What do you mean?"
+
+"Must I speak to you?" whispered Glynne hoarsely, as she sank upon her
+knees and clung to Mrs Alleyne's dress, "I would have given the world to
+go back upon my promise, for I knew how he loved me, but in my blindness
+I said it was too late."
+
+"Yes; it was too late," said Mrs Alleyne coldly.  "But you will let me
+see him.  Let me go to him.  I ask no more.  Let me be at his side, for
+it may be that I can save his life.  Then--send me away, and let me have
+but one thought--that I have given life to him I loved.  Mrs Alleyne,
+have I not suffered enough?  Have some pity on me.  Have pity on your
+son."
+
+Mrs Alleyne caught her by the shoulder and drew her nearer, so that she
+could gaze into the thin, white face; and, as she studied its lines of
+care, her fierce look softened, and she caught Glynne tightly to her
+breast, sobbing over her wildly, and crying from time to time, "My
+child!--my poor child!"
+
+Some time had passed before they went in softly, hand in hand, to where
+Oldroyd sat by his patient's head.
+
+The doctor did not look in the least surprised, but nodded his head as
+if it was exactly what he had expected, and, after bending down over
+Alleyne for a moment, he left the room.
+
+And so it was, that when reason began to resume its seat in Moray
+Alleyne's mind, his eyes rested upon the pale, careworn face of Glynne.
+For she had stayed.  There was no question of her leaving The Firs while
+the patient was in danger, and when the peril seemed past she still
+stayed, to glide large-eyed, pale and patient about the quiet chamber,
+Mrs Alleyne giving up to her, as her hand smoothed the pillow and lent
+support, when, feeble as an infant, Moray lay breathing the summer
+breeze which came perfumed through the pines.
+
+It was when speech had returned that Glynne sat near him one evening,
+watching his white face with its grey silken hair, and the heavy beard
+which had been spared by the doctor when his patient was at the worst.
+
+Neither had spoken for some time, but gazed, each with a strange
+yearning, in the other's eyes.  For it had been coming for days, and
+instinctively they knew that it must come that night--the end, and with
+it a long farewell, perhaps only to meet again upon the further shore.
+
+Glynne was the first to speak, and it was in a whisper.
+
+"Moray, when I knew that you were stricken down, I prayed that I might
+come to you, and struggle with the deadly shade to save your life."
+
+He looked at her with a wistful gaze, and his lips trembled as he closed
+his eyes.
+
+"My work is done now.  Forgive me for coming.  I cannot touch your hand
+again."
+
+"No," he said sadly; and his voice was so low and deep that she bent
+forward to hear his words, and lowered her face into her hands that she
+might not let him see the agony and despair working, as she bent to her
+unhappy fate.
+
+For there had been some vague, undefined idea floating through her
+brain, that he might have said one gentle, sorrowing, pitying sentence
+before she went--he, the man whom she knew now to have loved her
+tenderly and well.  But he had acquiesced so readily.  That simple
+little "no" had gone to her heart like a stiletto thrust.  She, degraded
+as she was, could not take him by the hand again.
+
+Then she started up to gaze at him wildly and reproachfully, for he
+repeated the negative, and added,--
+
+"Better, may be, dear, that I had died, as perhaps I shall before long.
+But, before you go, take with you the knowledge that I loved you dearly
+from the first.  Ah, Glynne, what might have been!"
+
+"Yes, what might have been!" she said sadly.  "Better too that I had
+died, as I have often prayed that I might; but I was mad to offer such a
+prayer, for my work in life was not at an end.  I did not know then.  I
+know now, and my task is done."
+
+He was silent then, and she rose to go.
+
+"Good-bye," she whispered.  "We shall never meet again."
+
+She had glided to the door, and her hand was raised to the fastening,
+when he cried faintly,--
+
+"Stop!"
+
+A low sigh escaped her lips.
+
+Was he, then, going to speak one loving word to soften the bitterness of
+the last farewell?  Her eyes brightened at the thought, and she turned
+and took a step or two towards him, with outstretched hands, which fell
+to her sides as she uttered a groan full of the despair at her heart.
+
+"No, no: don't touch me," he cried wildly.  "You--innocent and sinned
+against--cannot take me by the hand again.  Listen, Glynne, I must tell
+you before you go.  It will be our secret, dear, for the confession to
+another, and my punishment, would mean fresh suffering and agony to
+you."
+
+"I--I do not understand you," she faltered, as she looked at him wildly.
+
+"No; it has been my secret until now.  Glynne, dear, in my mad despair,
+I had gone to watch your window from the fir wood, as I had watched it
+scores of times before, and I said.  `It is for the last time.
+To-morrow she belongs to him, and I will not degrade the idol of my love
+by thoughts that are not true.'  I reached the place sacred to me for my
+sorrow, but that night I could not rest there.  It was as if something
+impelled me, against which I fought for hours before it mastered me, and
+as if by a strange magnetism--an evil planet attracted to a good--I was
+drawn nearer and nearer to the spot which contained all I held dear in
+life."
+
+A faint ejaculation, half wonder, half horror, escaped Glynne's lips,
+and, with one quick movement she was close to his side, bending over him
+and gazing with wildly dilated eyes at the dimly-seen face upon the
+pillow, the faint smile upon his lips, as he referred to her in his
+astronomical simile, seeming almost repellent at such a time.
+
+"I felt guilty, dear," he went on, and she shivered while he turned his
+face a little toward the faint light of the window, and was silent for a
+few moments, while a fit of trembling came upon Glynne, and she had to
+catch at the bed and support herself.
+
+"I was not master of myself, dear.  I loved you, and in my madness, weak
+from my bitter struggle with the power which led me on, I stole like
+some guilty wretch across the park till I reached the garden, and there
+I once more paused to renew the fight--to master the desire to be near
+you for the last time and then go back."
+
+"Oh, Moray, Moray," she cried, with a piteous moan, and she sank upon
+her knees, uttering low, hysterical sobs.
+
+"My poor lost love!" he whispered faintly; and his hand was laid feebly
+upon her bent head, which sank lower at his touch.  "It was in vain.  I
+can hardly recall it dear, for I tell you I must have been mad, but I
+crept closer and closer till I was beneath your window, and could touch
+the long, rope-like stems that reached from where I stood praying for
+your happiness, and a wild and guilty joy thrilled me, for I touched the
+tendrils which clung around the chamber which held you, my love--my
+love!"
+
+"Moray!" she cried wildly; and in ecstasy of horror, wonder, and
+confused thought mingled, she clasped her arms about his neck, and
+buried her burning face in his breast.
+
+"Ah!" he sighed; and his trembling hands rose to press her head closer
+and closer to his fluttering heart.
+
+A few moments only, and then she started from him.
+
+"No, no," she cried wildly, as she cast back the thought which, for a
+moment, she had gladly harboured.  "Impossible!  It could not be."
+
+"I speak the truth," he said gently.  "I must tell you now--while there
+is time."
+
+She clasped her hands, and her fingers seemed to grow into her flesh
+with the agonised pressure as she crouched there, trembling, by his bed,
+her lips apart, her throat dry, and her breath coming and going with a
+harsh laboured sound, while his came feebly, and his words were harder
+to hear in the darkness which now shrouded them.
+
+"Yes," he sighed; "I must tell you before it is too late."
+
+He was silent for a moment or two, and then went on, with every word
+sending a pang of agony and shame through his listener's ears.
+
+"Glynne, dearest, since that night I have often prayed that I might die,
+but death is long in coming to those who ask its help.  I had raised my
+hand to steal one leaf from the creeper, when it fell to my side.  Yes,"
+he said, with a hurried intensity now taking the place of his feeble
+whisper, "I remember--I see all clearly now.  I had raised my hand, but
+it fell to my side, and a pang of horror shot through me, for there was
+the noise of struggling overhead, faint, half-stifled cries, and then
+the baying of a dog.  For a moment I was dazed, then I turned to run to
+the door and raise an alarm, when a cry rang out again, and, for the
+first time, I knew that it came from your window above my head."
+
+He stopped, panting heavily, and Glynne, trembling violently now, drew
+nearer and nearer to him, with the darkness closing in, and Alleyne's
+face dimly seen on the grey pillow.
+
+"Listen," he went on; "it was dark--so dark that I could hardly see that
+your window was thrown wide; but it was as if a horrible scene were
+being flashed into my brain, as I ran back over the short grass to stand
+beneath and begin to climb up by the thick rope-like stems that ran
+above.  Then, as I grasped them, they were shaken violently; a man who
+had climbed out slipped rapidly down, and I seized him.  But he was
+lithe and active, as I was slow, heavy, and unused to such an effort.
+He shook himself free, but I grasped him again, and once more he escaped
+me.  But again I tried to seize him, and this time he struck at me, and
+I felt a sharp blade pass through my hand.
+
+"It gave him a few moments' start, but not more; and as he ran, a madman
+was at his heels.  Yes, a madman, for the passion within me was not that
+of one in the full possession of his senses."
+
+Alleyne paused for a few moments, and, as Glynne's hands once more,
+tremblingly and with a pleading gesture, stole to his breast, his, cold
+and dank in their touch, slowly pressed them to his heart, and held them
+there.
+
+"Guilty," he murmured, "but for your sake, dearest, and there must be
+forgiveness.  For my love was strong, and the maddening feeling within
+me burned, as in my rage I tore on after the dark shadow that was
+hurrying away."
+
+He was silent again for a few minutes, and once more Glynne's head went
+down till her forehead rested upon the cold, dank hands which prisoned
+hers against the labouring heart beneath.
+
+He spoke again, hurriedly and excitedly now, but the coherency of his
+narrative was at an end.
+
+"Some day," he babbled hurriedly, "she shall know--my sweet, pure
+angel--what--who says that?--a lie--pure--pure as heaven above.  No--
+never take her hand in mine--a murderer's hand.--Hah! dog--at last.
+Mother--Lucy--it has eaten my heart away--what do you say--her disgrace?
+I tell you she is pure as those above--but there is his blood upon my
+hands.  I cannot--dare not go to her now.  What--they have found him?
+Yes, I know you--Caleb Kent--no use to struggle--there--wretch--venomous
+hound--down into the black slime.  Dead?  Who said that?  I did not know
+till I loosened my grasp.  There, amongst the cotton rushes--my hands
+all wet and numbed--blood?  No, the cold, black bog water.  I killed
+him--I did not know till he was dead, mother.  There, dear, I have told
+you.  Nearly two years now.  Let them find him.  For her sake I could
+not speak.  Can you say, dear, that it was guilt?  There--some day she
+must know--some day, when we are old and grey, and life's passions have
+burned to their sad, grey ashes, and once more I can tell her how I
+loved."
+
+He was silent again, and Glynne tried to raise her head, but he held it
+fast pressed down to his labouring breast.  Then, feebly and hurriedly,
+he went on,--"These figures--all wrong--I cannot--so vast--so grand.
+Who's this?"
+
+"I, Moray, my own, own love," she whispered, as she clung to him wildly
+now.  "Ah!"
+
+One long, deep sigh of content.  "Some day--I must tell you--but look--
+there--so far--so vast--so grand--the dazzling stars--the tiny
+glittering point--then the faint golden dust--and beyond--the infinite.
+Who spoke?  Glynne?  Forgive me, dear--I loved you--so--"
+
+"Help! help!"
+
+Wild, agonised shrieks, and there were hurried footsteps.  Mother,
+sister, and a light, which gleamed upon dilated eyes, gazing straight up
+into the infinite he had so long tried to pierce.
+
+Volume 3, Chapter XVII.
+
+THE LAST LOOK AROUND.
+
+About two years after his marriage, Philip Oldroyd was some five miles
+from home on the capital cob, a present from Sir John, one of his own
+breeding, when temptation fell in his way, for the Queen's hounds came
+along in full cry, and after them a very full field.
+
+"I must have a gallop for once in a way," said the doctor, and, yielding
+to the temptation, away he went, till, feeling he had done enough, he
+was about to draw rein, when he saw that something was wrong on his
+left.  Cantering up, he was directly after one of a group helping to
+free a lady from her fallen horse, which was struggling frantically to
+extricate itself from a ditch into which both had come down.
+
+A gate was brought, the lady borne to the nearest cottage, and Oldroyd's
+services eagerly accepted.
+
+"Badly injured," he said, after a rapid examination.  "Someone had
+better ride over and get a carriage from the nearest place--an open
+carriage in which a hurdle and mattress can be laid.  I'll stay and do
+my best, but I should telegraph to town for Sir Randall Bray.  An
+operation will be necessary.  Are any of the lady's friends here?"
+
+"No; but I saw Major Rolph leading the field half-an-hour ago.  This is
+Mrs Rolph."
+
+Oldroyd started, and bent down over the insensible woman for a moment,
+at the same time softly pressing back the thick, dark hair from her
+clammy brow, and there were the lineaments he had not before recognised;
+it was the face of the keeper's daughter, softened and refined, though
+now terribly drawn with pain.
+
+"Yes, doctor, she's gettin' over it," said Hayle, one day when Oldroyd
+met him close to Brackley.  "But she's had a near shave.  It's you,
+though, as saved her life, same as you did mine."
+
+"I'm glad she's better, I'm sure," said Oldroyd.  "And you--do you ever
+feel your old wound?"
+
+"Oh, yes, just a twinge or two when the weather changes.  But Sir John's
+very kind, and things go very easy with me now, thanks to you, sir--
+thanks to you."
+
+"Oh, all right, Hayle, all right.  Got a good show of pheasants this
+winter?  Plenty left?"
+
+"Heaps, sir.  Oh, you may trust me.  I look pretty sharp after 'em, I
+can tell you.  I know, I do."
+
+The great dark fellow gave a solemn wink as he stood before Oldroyd, in
+his brown velveteen coat and buttons, with a capital double gun under
+his arm.
+
+"Yes, I suppose you do," said the doctor.  "Game-keeping is better than
+poaching, eh?"
+
+"When you've got a good master, sir.  But, look here, sir, when are you
+coming over?  Sir John said you were last week."
+
+"As soon as I can; too busy yet."
+
+"When you do, sir, you shall have as fine a bit o' shooting as a
+gentleman could wish to have.  Talk about a warm corner, sir; it shall
+be the best in the whole preserves."
+
+"Well, I'm glad your daughter is getting better.  Is there any prospect
+of her coming down here?"
+
+"Not a bit, sir, and I don't know as I want her.  They don't want me,
+and I don't want them.  You see I'm not a fool, doctor.  I know well
+enough that if I went seeing 'em, it would look bad before the servants.
+I shouldn't be comfortable.  I should want to go down in the kitchen to
+have my meals, so I don't go."
+
+"Perhaps it is wise," said Oldroyd.  "I'm sure it is, sir.  He's made a
+lady of her, and, of course, he couldn't make a gentleman of me.  Judy
+sends me some money now and then, but I allus have it sent back.  I
+couldn't take his money.  He don't like me, and has never forgiven me,
+and I don't like him.  Poor lass!  She'd have done better and been
+happier if she'd stopped at home, and took to some stout young chap of
+our lot."
+
+"Poacher?"
+
+"Well, no, sir," said the great dark fellow, smiling grimly; "keeper,
+sir.  There's not many poachers about here now.  I told all I knowed as
+they must clear out, for I meant to do my dooty; and they saw that it
+was sense, for there'd be no chance for them again a man as knowed as
+much as I did, so they went off."
+
+"By the way, Hayle," said the doctor, "didn't you go to the major on the
+day before his appointed wedding?"
+
+"Night, sir, night?  I went to him straight as soon as I knew it for
+certain; but it was days before I could get to him.  When I did get face
+to face with him, I says, `It's my Judith, captain,' I says, `or one of
+us is going to be hung for this night's work.'  He blustered a bit, and
+tried to frighten me; but he couldn't do that; and when he found I meant
+mischief, he gave in.  He swore he'd marry her, but he cheated me then.
+Next time I got hold of him, there was no nonsense, I can tell you.  He
+rang for his man to fetch the police, and I went off; but he never
+stirred after that without seeing me watching him, and at last he gave
+in out of sheer fright, and come to where I'd got Judith waiting, and he
+married her.  If he hadn't, I'd have--"
+
+The man's lips tightened, and he involuntarily cocked the double gun he
+carried, but only to lower it once more beneath his arm.
+
+"I'm not a boasting man, sir," said the keeper huskily; "but I loved
+that gal, and the man who did her harm was no better than so much varmin
+to me.  I should have stopped at nothing, sir; I was that wound up.
+He'd give me nothing but treachery, leading my gal astray, making her
+lie and say she was going to nurse the old granny out there on the
+common, when it was only to go off in the woods to him.  I told him of
+it all, and that I was a father--her father.  I told him a rat would
+fight for its young, and that if he expected, because I was a common
+man, I was not going to do my duty by my gal, he was mistaken.
+
+"`Why, what will you do?' he says.
+
+"`Do?'  I says to him; `do you think I've forgotten that you shot me
+down out there in the fir wood that night?'
+
+"`It was an accident,' he says.
+
+"`It was no accident,' I says.  `There was light enough for me to see
+you take aim at me; and then, when I was lying half dead there in my
+bed, you took advantage of it to lead my child away.  It's no use for
+you to pretend you didn't know.  She told you fast enough that I was
+lying there, and that made it safe.'
+
+"`Look here, sir,' I says at last, `there shall be no more shilly-shally
+between you and me.  As I say, I'll let bygones be bygones, if you'll do
+the right thing.  If you don't--well, p'r'aps it won't be this year, nor
+next year.  My chance will come some day, and then--'"
+
+There was a pause, and Oldroyd marked the strange glare in the keeper's
+eyes as he drew in his breath with a loud hiss.
+
+"Yes, doctor," he said, after looking round him for a few moments, as if
+in search of the object he named, "he'd have been like so much varmin to
+me, and if he hadn't married my poor lass, I should have shot him as I
+would a stoat."
+
+Time ran on after its fashion, but few changes took place at Brackley.
+Sir John Day used to thank Oldroyd for introducing to him the best
+keeper who ever stepped, for Hayle was the higher in favour from his
+being a man who was a capital judge of stock, and one who could keep a
+good eye upon the farm when the squire went away year by year for a long
+stay abroad.  When at home, Glynne was her uncle's constant companion in
+his botanical walks, and these generally ended in her being left at the
+cottage where Mrs Alleyne, widowed of son as well as husband, took up
+her residence in full view of the gloomy old Firs, lately taken by a
+famous astronomer, who vastly altered the former occupant's position by
+his eagerness to acquire Moray Alleyne's costly instruments which had
+been carefully cared for by his mother's hands.
+
+At The Warren, Mrs Rolph, grown careworn and grey, resided still with
+her niece for companion, her son never having been there since Marjorie
+was left to her despair.  The servants were not above talking, and
+rumours reached Brackley Hall that Mrs Rolph had cursed her son, and was
+never going to see him again, that it was a place no servant could stop
+in, for the old lady's temper was awful, and Miss Marjorie as mad as a
+March hare; while even Oldroyd hinted to his wife, after being called
+in, that Miss Emlin was rather flighty and strange.
+
+"They never go out anywhere," he said; "and from what I saw, I should
+say they are always either quarrelling or making it up.  Seem fond of
+one another though, all the same."
+
+"But what do you mean by flighty and strange?" said Lucy.  "You don't
+mean ready to flirt with men?"
+
+Oldroyd burst into a hearty laugh, and caught up his youngest child.
+
+"Don't be alarmed," he cried.  "Never will I be false to thee.  How does
+the song go?  She's got the complaint that ladies have who have been
+crossed in love as folks call it.  Seriously, dear, I should not be
+surprised if she did turn a little crazy."
+
+"Oh, Phil; how horrible!"
+
+"Yes; my dear," he said seriously, but with a humorous twinkle in his
+eye; "I understand these things.  I knew a young doctor once who very
+nearly became a candidate for a private asylum."
+
+"Phil!--Yes; what is it?"
+
+"Messenger, ma'am, from Brackley.  Would master be kind enough to step
+over."
+
+"Oh, Phil, dear; Glynne is ill," cried Lucy, piteously.  "I had a
+presentiment last night.  Here, I'll take the children over to mamma,
+and come with you."
+
+"Wait a moment," cried Oldroyd, and he ran out to speak to Sir John's
+groom and came back.
+
+"All right," he said.  "No one ill?  Something about Hayle the keeper
+the man says.  Wanted directly."
+
+"Poor fellow's wound has broken out again," thought Oldroyd, as he
+jumped into the dog-cart the groom had waiting, and he questioned the
+man, who only knew that the keeper had come in to see Sir John that
+morning, and then he had been sent off to fetch the doctor.
+
+"Terrible dry time, sir," said the man as the horse sped along toward
+the park.  "We out of the stables had all to go and help the gardeners
+two whole days watering."
+
+"Yes; the crops are suffering badly, my man."
+
+"They just are, sir.  The lake's half empty, and the fish getting sick,
+and Hayle says the boggy bits beyond the park where they get the snipe
+in winter's nearly all dried up."
+
+"The conversation ended as the dog-cart was rattled up the lime avenue,
+and there, at the great porch, stood Sir John, the major, and Hayle the
+keeper."
+
+"Morning!  Glad you've come," said Sir John, shaking hands.  "That will
+do, Smith."
+
+The groom, who was eager to know what was the matter, drove sulkily
+round to the stables, while Sir John took the doctor's arm.
+
+"Look here, Oldroyd," he said; "the keeper has made a discovery in the
+bog wood over yonder."
+
+"Poacher shot!" exclaimed the doctor.
+
+"Wait and see," said Sir John, who was looking pallid; while the major
+had a peculiarly stern look in his fierce face.
+
+Oldroyd bowed, and they walked rapidly across the park, and through some
+of the preserves.  Then in and out among the pines till an open moorland
+patch was reached, dotted here and there with scrubby pines, and here
+Sir John turned.
+
+"Now, Hayle," he said; "you lead."
+
+The keeper went in front, and Sir John followed; while the major came
+abreast of the doctor.
+
+"We thought it better to have you with us, doctor," whispered the major.
+"It's a terrible business--a clearing up of a sad event from what I can
+see."
+
+Oldroyd felt more mystified than ever, but he was soon to be illumined,
+for the keeper led them over the dry cotton rushes and rustling reeds to
+a dried up pool, half in the open, half hidden by a dense growth of
+alder.
+
+Here he paused and pointed.
+
+"On yonder, Sir John, about fifty yards."
+
+The baronet walked straight forward, parting the growth with his stout
+stick, till he stopped short at the edge of a dried up pool, where the
+first thing Oldroyd saw was Marjorie Emlin seated on the edge, where a
+wiry tuft of rushes grew, with her feet amongst the dried confervae and
+crowfoot at the bottom of the pool.  She had taken off her hat, and the
+sun turned her rich, tawny, red hair to gold as she bent over something
+which glittered in her hands; and this she transferred to one wrist as
+they came up.
+
+It was not till they were close beside her that she turned her head, and
+nodded and smiled in a childish, vacant way, and then held up the
+glittering bracelet upon her wrist for them to admire.
+
+"Better speak to her," whispered Sir John.  "Hayle says she's quite
+mad."
+
+Oldroyd stooped and picked up the hat and handed it to the girl.
+
+"The sun is very powerful," he said; "had you not better put it on."
+
+She snatched the hat with childish petulance, and then held up the
+bracelet again.
+
+"It's the one she gave to Glynne," said Sir John involuntarily.
+
+Marjorie looked at him sharply, and then pointed down at something
+covered partially by the dried scum of the pool.
+
+"Quick, for God's sake, get her away, Oldroyd!" whispered the major,
+stepping between the wretched woman and the ghastly remains at her feet.
+
+The task did not prove an easy one, for Marjorie resented the doctor's
+interference, and seemed determined to stay, but suddenly turned upon
+her heel and walked away, looking back once to smile and nod at the
+group standing by the bed of the dried up pool.
+
+"I found her here, sir, this morning, soon after breakfast, and tried to
+persuade her to come away," said Hayle; "but, poor girl, she didn't seem
+to know me a bit, and I didn't like to go and tell Mrs Rolph, for I'm
+afraid she's crazed."
+
+"He came on and told us, Oldroyd," said Sir John; "and we thought it
+would be better to have you here.  How long is it since you were by
+here, Hayle?"
+
+"Close upon three weeks, Sir John," said the keeper; "and there was a
+little water left in the pool then.  Shall I try and find out who it
+is?"
+
+Sir John looked at the remains with horror.  "Better leave it to the
+police," he said.  "They must be told, of course.  Try, though, if there
+are any means of identification, and pick up the loose cases.  Jem," he
+whispered, with a look of horror, "has judgment come upon this man as we
+see?"
+
+The major made no reply, but eagerly watched the keeper who picked up
+case after case, rotted and stained by the mud in which they had lain.
+These were placed together, and then Hayle stooped to cut open a
+discoloured piece of velveteen which had once been brown.
+
+From this he extracted a rusty knife, and a tobacco-box of brass, which
+set all at rest directly, for Hayle held the latter before Sir John.
+
+"Don't want any further search to find out that, Sir John," he said
+sharply.  "A man has been missing from these parts for years now, and
+there's his name."
+
+Sir John looked at the tarnished metal box, with a shudder of disgust
+and horror for the memories it revived, and read there roughly scratched
+upon the lid--"Caleb Kent."
+
+"Remember what I said to you one day, Lucy?" said Oldroyd, about a year
+later.  "I think it was that day when I was called over to Brackley
+about something being found."
+
+"Oh, Phil, don't bring that up," cried Lucy, with a shudder; "but what
+do you mean?"
+
+"About Miss Emlin.  I've just come from there."
+
+"Yes, dear.  Some fresh trouble?"
+
+He nodded his head gravely.
+
+"They've taken her to a private asylum.  I did not say anything to you
+before, for fear of upsetting you, but she was not fit to be left with
+poor old Mrs Rolph, and she has tried to drown herself twice."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Star-Gazers, by George Manville Fenn
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STAR-GAZERS ***
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