other you will know all. In the mean time,
whatever you may hear about me, say
nothing of my having written to you—even
to your future husband." This letter she
placed in the bag with her own hands.

On the third afternoon, Mrs. Cartaret
went forth in state to return some neighbours'
visits, and Maud was left alone in
her mistress's room, to complete a piece
of work which the old lady was particular
in her injunctions should not be removed
from the apartment. The girl sat by the
open window, it was so mild, and looking
up from time to time, over the bare tops of
the elms, and the troops of crows cawing
round the house, to the blue line of
distance which she knew to be Salisbury
Plain, and the streaky straw-coloured sky
above it, she stitched away; and, as she
stitched, she broke out every now and then
into little snatches of Good-bye,
Sweetheart, Good-bye.

"Are you fond of that song?" said a
voice close to her.

She half started up, and let drop her
work. Lowndes Cartaret—for it was he who
had entered the room without her hearing
him—picked up the reels of cotton, which
had rolled out of her reach, and threw himself
down on a sofa near her.

"So you sing, Mary, in addition to your
other accomplishments?" he continued,
smiling.

"No, I don't, sir."

"But you do. Don't deny it. I should
have thought you above that weakness,
you have such a frank face and manner. I
am sorry I interrupted you now."

"And I am sorry you have nothing better
to do, sir," she said, rather sharply; for
his manner, no less than the accusation,
annoyed her.

"No, we have done shooting for today.
If I wasn't here, I should be playing at
billiards. I don't think that is much better
employment, do you?"

"At least you would be entertaining
your friends, which I suppose is your
business, sir—and you have none here."

"I wasn't wrong in thinking you were
frank," he said, laughing. '' But why
haven't I any business here? This is my
mamma's room, and I suppose I may talk
to her maid, mayn't I?"

"I doubt whether Mrs. Rouse would
think so. You had better go and find her
—if you must talk to one of your mother's
maids."

"Mrs. Rouse be—  No. I beg your pardon.
But we haven't quite got to such
a pass yet that I can't come and sit in my
mother's room without that old devil's
permission. How do you and madame get on,
Mary? Do you think you shall stay?"

"If Mrs. Cartaret likes me well enough
to wish to keep me, I hope to stay—I only
wish—" Here she stopped dead short.

"What is it you wish, eh?"

"Nothing, sir. I have thought better
of it."

"That is a decided snub. So you won't
place any confidence in me?"

"Why should I, sir? I am your mother's
servant, and if I want anything, I can apply
to her."

"Well, I have a knack of guessing.
Shall I tell you what it is you want? To
be taken away from the dominion of Rouse,
to have no other mistress but madame."

Maud went on stitching, without reply.

"Is that it? Come, tell me."

"No, that is not it; only a very small
part of it."

He looked puzzled for a moment; then
cried out:

"I have it; Dapper has already begun to
make love to you; he always does. He is a
deuce of a fellow with the ladies, and I
believe they generally find there is no
resisting him; but you—"

"—Do not appreciate Mr. Dapper's
civilities," said Maud, quickly, with a flushed
cheek, " and the fewer I have, in my position,
from any one, the better."

"As to that," said Lowndes, laughing,
"why, 'in your position,' you are to enjoy
an immunity from the common lot of
humanity, I don't know. Love is the
universal law, isn't it? Every one must come
to it sooner or later."

"I thought that you—" she began,
with her usual impulsiveness. Then she
felt as if she could have bitten out her
tongue. She knew she had committed an
irreparable blunder; and sat silent, growing
scarlet. But the young man was not
going to let her off so easily. With an
expression of amused interest and curiosity,
he said:

"Well? I am waiting. What is it
you thought that I did, or did not do, eh?"

"I thought the other day you said—I
heard you say to Mrs. Cartaret—that you
were ' case-hardened ' against such
weakness." She blurted it out, without looking
up from her work, and felt absolutely
relieved when she heard him laugh. He
attached no serious importance, then, to
her indiscretion.

"A statement of that sort is good for