Margaret Vincent

sks that she found delightful, since they kept her a prisoner in the window-seat of the best parlor, whence, looking up, she could see him bending over his papers. He even arranged to take

quite an event a

rgaret play," Mrs. Vincent said, as

eing mother, who had suggested that Hannah would have the farm and a bit of money some day, and make a thrifty wife into the bargain. This accounted for what might be called an investigation visit that Mr. Garratt paid her grandparents one Sunday afternoon when Hannah was at Petersfield, and his asking her to take him across the field to see a tree that had been struck by lightning the previous fortnight. Afterwards he had been pressed to stay for tea, and his tone was significant when he remarked on leaving that he had enjoyed himself very much, and hoped to get over to Chidhurst one Sunday for the morning service, and to see the grave of his aunt

cape round them, just as in the first years of his coming Gerald Vincent had watched it alone from the porch. They called the beech wood their cathedral-the great elms and beeches and closely knit oak-trees made its roof and the columns of its aisles-and it seemed as if in their hearts they celebrated a silent service there to a mysterious God who had made joy and sorrow and all the beauty of the e

t haughty looking, dreams in her eyes, and gold in the brown of her hair, and a mouth that had her mother's sweet, curved lips. A girl's face and simple, but eager and even thoughtful, the impulses of youth characterized her still, but womanhood was on its way, and now and then, in spite of her happy laugh, her blue eyes looked as if unconsciously they knew that tragedy dwelt somewhere in the world, and feared lest they should meet it. But as yet Hannah's scoldings were the only trouble that had beset her. These were not to be taken lightly, for as she grew older Hannah's tone became harsher, her manner more dominant, and the shrinking from Margaret and her father, that she had always felt, did n

eaching out to England. His early career had been a disgrace, his marriage had proved a ghastly failure, and the least he could do was to cover it up, together with his own life, on the other side of the world. Gradually he had developed a strong sense of social and moral obligation that had made him hate himself when he remembered the advantages to which he had been born. Of what use had

nking it over when Hannah pushed back her chair with a grati

Liphook this afternoon

. "You might call at the post-office and a

up the breakfast things and carried them to the kitchen. Hannah was there already, se

you had better do them, Margaret. I never see why you sh

and I like ironing, esp

ll put down the irons. Till they are hot, perhaps you had better run out a bit," she added, impatiently; "you always make so much

. "Shall I come to you for a minute, father?" she asked him. Since Margaret's birth she

wered, without lookin

nd him and touched his shoulder. Time had accentuated the differenc

," he said, and turned reluctantly towards

in any

in trouble,

ness in her voice. "If it's money, we can help him. There's a good bit saved

n quickly: "He made a foolish marriage before he left England; but I don't know that

ildren to loo

N

had to be done, and nerving herself to speak. "It isn't for me to know wha

," he answer

s have been upset by things there was no need to tell-" She stopped again, and then went on bravely. "But what I am com

s of a prison-a friendly prison, in which he was well content-but it seemed as if he had suddenly come in sight of a door

uldn't be more than a year gone, I expect. It must be terribly dul

er arm while he answered, "Al

lways been half ashamed of loving him as she did-a staid woman of middle age, with homely

e belonging to me, and that really you know nothing abou

ays felt that your family was what it should be; an

before her had lived-that and no other. Strangers might come into it, might be welcomed, served, and cared for, even loved; but she herself did not want to go beyond its boundaries, and though she treated all people with deference, it was deference given to their strangerhood and bearing, and to the quality of their manners, rather than to their social standing. Her husband knew it and respected her for it, and felt ashamed to remember that his father had been a spendthrift and a company promoter, and that his brother had made a hideous marr

sy with their own thoughts, then he spoke. "I fea

t enough. That's why I feel I ought to give in to her a bit, and let her do what she thinks is right, when it doesn't clash with you. I wouldn't be surprised if s

g man about the place, I'd better get out of the way," he said. "I'