market-place, bringing home some fruit for
Mrs. Hicks, when she started, and nearly let
her basket fall. In front of her, barring her
road, stood Lowndes; and now he had hold
of both her hands, and was looking into
her eyes. A joy, which it was vain to
conceal, danced there, and hovered round her
lips. She reproached herself afterwards
for testifying thus her real feeling: it was
weak, but she could not help it.

"The six months are nearly past," he
began, "and I have obeyed you in never
writing. I shouldn't have been so patient
if I hadn't seen Lady Herriesson constantly,
and learnt two things; first, that you had
not left this, secondly, that—my jealousy
of a certain person was unfounded. And
now I'm come just to gladden my eyes by
a glimpse of you, to tell you that I am
unchanged in one thing, though changed, I
hope, in many others. I've not been idle;
I have really worked hard all this time—
keeping the fear of you before my eyes,"
he added, laughing.

"I am so glad to hear it," she replied.
"You could not tell me anything that
would give me greater pleasure."

"And now, will you trust me? Will
you be patient yet a little while, Maud?
My mother is in the hands of those devils
of servants. If there were only some
unprejudiced person to argue the case with
her! However, sooner or later she will
come round, I am confident. She has too
good a heart not to listen to its dictates."

Maud shook her head. "She will never
listen to them, in this case. Do not waste
your life on a chimera."

"I am not wasting my life. I am turning
it now to some account, with one hope
and object in view."

"It makes me happy," said Maud, gently,
"to think that any words of mine should
have tended to work this change. I did
not expect it. We won't talk about the
hope, we will put that aside. You will
grow happier, I am sure, every year by
working; you would have grown more
dissatisfied, more miserable, each year by
dissipation."

He stopped, as he walked along beside
her, and whispered with a smile:

"But as our friend the parson would
say, 'Man doth not live by bread alone.'"

'' Perhaps, in one sense, the happiest are
those who ask for nothing else but their
bread. By-the-bye, I am going out to work
for mine again. I leave this next week."

"Good Heavens! I thought you would
remain with this old lady until—in short,
for the present."

"'The present' has lasted six months.
She is the kindest, dearest old soul, but I
have no excuse for remaining any longer.
She is quite well again."

He kicked viciously at a stone that lay
in his path. "And where do you mean to
go?"

"To my old nurse in London. There I
can look about me, and see what there is to
be done."

He implored her to give up this idea.
He brought forward every argument against
it; but in vain.

"I had but one excuse to plead for
running away from Mortlands as I did. I
would not be dependent on Sir Andrew
any longer. Can I now be dependent on
Mrs. Hicks? I have been of service
during her illness and recovery, that I
know. But the necessity for her having a
companion is over, and with it I must go."

To this resolve she held fast, in spite of
all that Lowndes could urge. The utmost
concession he could gain was that she
promised to let him know when her course
of life was decided. They walked for a
long time under the broad-spreading trees
of the Close, so long, indeed, that the clock
had fully chimed the hour of Mrs. Hicks's
early dinner ere Maud had put her hand in
his, and bade him Godspeed. She had
promised nothing; she had repeated over
and over again that it was folly to live on
such hope as his; she had told him that
the wisest thing he could do was to go
away and forget her; but he left Salisbury,
for all that, more resolute than ever to
conquer the difficulties that lay in the way
of his happiness, though still at a loss how
to attack them.

MR. DICKENS'S NEW WORK.
Just Published, PRICE ONE SHILLING,
PART SIX OF
THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD.
BY CHARLES DICKENS.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY S. L. FILDES.
London: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, Piccadilly.

Just published, price 5s. 6d., bound in green cloth,
THE THIRD VOLUME
OF THE NEW SERIES OF
ALL THE YEAR BOUND.
To be had of all Booksellers.

The Right of Translating Articles from ALL THE YEAR ROUND is reserved by the Authors.