They walked across the bridge back to the hotel in the samo manner as before, the two girls going together with the young man after them, and so they went up the front steps of the hotel, through the hall, and on to the stairs. Here George handed Alice her candle, and as he did so he whispered a few words to her. My shivering fit has to come yet,' said he, ' and will last me the whole night.' She would have given much to have been able to answer him lightly, as though what he had said had meant nothing;-but she couldn't do it; the light speech would not come to her. She was conscious of all this, and went away to her own room without answering him at all. Here she sat down at the window looking out upon the river till Kate should join her. Their rooms opened through from one to the other, and she would not begin her packing till her cousin should come.

But Kate had gone with her brother, promising, as she did so, that she would be back in half a minute. That half minute was protracted beyond half an hour. If you'll take my advice,' said Kate, at last, standing up with her candle in her hand, you'll ask her in plain words to give you another chance. Do it to-morrow at Strasbourg; you'll never have a better opportunity.'

And bid her throw John Grey over!'

'Don't say anything about John Grey; leave her to settle that matter with herself. Believe me that she has quite courage enough to dispose of John Grey, if she has courage enough to accept your

offer.'

'Kate, you women never understand each other. If I were to do that, all her most powerful feelings would be arrayed in arms against me. I must leave her to find out first that she wishes to be rid of her engagement.'

'She has found that out long ago. Do you think I don't know what she wishes? But if you can't bring yourself to speak to her, she'll marry him in spite of her wishes.'

'Bring myself! I've never been very slow in bringing myself to speak to any one when there was need. It isn't very pleasant sometimes, but I do it, if I find occasion.'

'But surely it must be pleasant with her. You must be glad to find that she still loves you. You still love her, I suppose?' Upon my word I don't know.'

'Don't provoke me, George. I'm moving heaven and earth to bring you two together; but if I didn't think you loved her, I'd go to her at once and bid her never see you again.'

Upon my word, Kate, I sometimes think it would be better if you'd leave heaven and earth alone.'

"Then I will. But of all human beings, surely you're the most ungrateful.'

'Why shouldn't she marry John Grey if she likes him?"

'But she doesn't like him. And I hate him. I hate the sound of his voice, and the turn of his eye, and that slow, steady movement of his, as though he was always bethinking himself that he wouldn't wear out his clothes.'

'I don't see that your hating him ought to have anything to do with it.'

'If you're going to preach morals, I'll leave you. It's the darling wish of my heart that she should be your wife. If you ever loved anybody, and I sometimes doubt whether you ever did,—but if you did, you loved her.'

'Did and do are different things.'

'Very well, George; then I have done. It has been the same in every twist and turn of my life. In everything that I have striven to do for you, you have thrown yourself over, in order that I might be thrown over too. But I believe you say this merely to vex me.' Upon my word, Kate, I think you'd better go to bed.'

'But not till I've told her everything. I won't leave her to be deceived and ill used again.'

'Who is ill using her now? Is it not the worst of ill usage, trying to separate her from that man?'

'No;-if I thought so, I would have no hand in doing it. She would be miserable with him, and make him miserable as well. She does not really love him. He loves her, but I've nothing to do with that. It's nothing to me if he breaks his heart.'

'I shall break mine if you don't let me go to bed.'

With that she went away and hurried along the corridor, till she came to her cousin's room. She found Alice still seated at the window, or rather kneeling on the chair, with her head out through the lattice. Why, you lazy creature,' said Kate; 'I declare you haven't touched a thing.'

You said we'd do it together.'

'But he has kept me.

Oh, what a man he is! If he ever does get married, what will his wife do with him?'

'I don't think he ever will,' said Alice.

'Don't you? I dare say you understand him better than I do. Sometimes I think that the only thing wanting to make him thoroughly good, is a wife. But it isn't every woman that would do for him. And the woman who marries him should have high courage. There are moments with him when he is very wild; but he never is cruel and never hard. Is Mr. Grey ever hard?'

'Never;-nor yet wild.'

'Oh, certainly not that. I'm quite sure he's never wild.' 'When you say that, Kate, I know that you mean to abuse him.' 'No; upon my word. What's the good of abusing him to you? I like a man to be wild,-wild in my sense. You knew that before.' I wonder whether you'd like a wild man for yourself?'

'Ah! that's a question I've never asked myself. I've been often curious to consider what sort of husband would suit you, but I've had very few thoughts about a husband for myself. The truth is, I'm married to George. Ever since————

'Ever since what?'

'Since you and he were parted, I've had nothing to do in life but to stick to him. And I shall do so to the end,-unless one thing should happen.'

'And what's that?'

'Unless you should become his wife after all. He will never marry anybody else.'

'Kate, you shouldn't allude to such a thing now. You know that it's impossible.'

Well; perhaps so. As far as I'm concerned, it is all the better for me. If George ever married, I should have nothing to do ir. the world;-literally nothing-nothing-nothing-nothing!' 'Kate, don't talk in that way,' and Alice came up to her and embraced her.

Go away,' said she. Go, Alice; you and I must part. I cannot bear it any longer. You must know it all. When you are married to John Grey, our friendship must be over.

If you became

George's wife I should become nobody. I've nothing else in the world. You and he would be so all-sufficient for each other, that I should drop away from you like an old garment. But I'd give up all, everything, every hope I have, to see you become George's wife. I know myself not to be good. I know myself to be very bad, and yet I care nothing for myself. Don't Alice, don't; I don't want your caresses. Caress him, and I'll kneel at your feet, and cover them with kisses.' She had now thrown herself upon a sofa, and had turned her face away to the wall.

Kate, you shouldn't speak in that way.'

'Of course I shouldn't,-but I do.'

You, who know everything, must know that I cannot marry your brother, even if he wished it.'

'He does wish it.'

'Not though I were under no other engagement.'

'What is there to

And why not?' said Kate, again starting up. separate you from George now, but that unfortunate affair, that will end in the misery of you all. Do you think I can't see? Don't I know which of the two men you like best?'

'You are making me sorry, Kate, that I have ventured to come here in your brother's company. It is not only unkind of you to talk to me in this way, but worse than that-it is indelicate.'

'Oh, indelicate! How I do hate that word. If any word in the language reminds me of a whited sepulchre it is that;-all clean and polished outside with filth and rottenness within.

Are your

thoughts delicate? that's the thing. You are engaged to marry John Grey. That may be delicate enough if you love him truly, and feel yourself fitted to be his wife; but it's about the most indelicate thing you can do, if you love any one better than him. Delicacy with many women is like their cleanliness. Nothing can be nicer than the whole outside get up, but you wouldn't wish to answer for anything beneath.'

'If you think ill of me like that

'No; I don't think ill of you. How can I think ill of you when I know that all your difficulties have come from him? It hasn't been your fault; it has been his throughout. It is he who has driven you to sacrifice yourself on this altar. If we can, both of us, manage to lay aside all delicacy and pretence, and dare to speak the truth, we shall acknowledge that it is so. Had Mr. Grey come to you while things were smooth between you and George, would you have thought it possible that he could be George's rival in your estimation? It is Hyperion to a Satyr.'

'And which is the Satyr?'

'I'll leave your heart to tell you. You know what is the darling wish of my heart. But, Alice, if I thought that Mr. Grey was to you Hyperion,-if I thought that you could marry him with that sort of worshipping, idolatrous love which makes a girl proud as well as happy in her marriage, I wouldn't raise a little finger to prevent it.' To this Alice made no answer, and then Kate allowed the matter to drop. Alice made no answer, though she felt that she was allowing judgment to go against her by default in not doing so. She had intended to fight bravely, and to have maintained the excellence of her present position as the affianced bride of Mr. Grey, but she felt that she had failed. She felt that she had, in some sort, acknowledged that the match was one to be deplored;-that her words in her own defence would by no means have satisfied Mr. Grey, if Mr. Grey could have heard them;-that they would have induced him to offer her back her troth rather than have made him happy as a lover. But she had nothing further to say. She could do something. She would hurry home and bid him name the earliest day he pleased. After that her cousin would cease to disturb her in her career.

It was nearly one o'clock before the two girls began to prepare for their morning start, and Alice, when they had finished their packing, seemed to be worn out with fatigue. If you are tired, dear, we'll put it off,' said Kate. Not for worlds,' said Alice. For half a word we'll do it,' continued Kate. 'I'll slip out to George and tell him, and there's nothing he'd like so much.' But Alice would not consent.

About two they got into bed, and punctually at six they were at the railway station. 'Don't speak to me,' said George, when he

met them at their door in the passage. I shall only yawn in your face.' However, they were in time,-which means abroad that they were at the station half an hour before their train started,and they went on upon their journey to Strasbourg.

There is nothing further to be told of their tour. They were but two days and nights on the road from Basle to London; and during those two days and nights neither George nor Kate spoke a word to Alice of her marriage, nor was any allusion made to the balcony at the inn, or to the bridge over the river.

CHAPTER VII.

AUNT GREENOW.

KATE VAVASOR remained only three days in London before she started for Yarmouth; and during those three days she was not much with her cousin. 'I'm my aunt's, body and soul, for the next six weeks,' she said to Alice, when she did come to Queen Anne Street on the morning after her arrival. And she is exigeant in a manner I can't at all explain to you. You musn't be surprised if I don't even write a line. I've escaped by stealth now. She went up-stairs to try on some new weeds for the sea-side, and then I bolted.' She did not say a word about George; nor during those three days, nor for some days afterwards, did George show himself. As it turned out afterwards, he had gone off to Scotland, and had remained a week among the grouse. Thus, at least, he had accounted for himself and his movements; but all George Vavasor's friends knew that his goings out and comings in were seldom accounted for openly like those of other men.

It will perhaps be as well to say a few words about Mrs. Greenow before we go with her to Yarmouth. Mrs. Greenow was the only daughter and the youngest child of the old squire at Vavasor Hall. She was just ten years younger than her brother John, and I am inclined to think that she was almost justified in her repeated assertion that the difference was much greater than ten years, by the freshness of her colour, and by the general juvenility of her appearance. She certainly did not look forty, and who can expect a woman to proclaim herself to be older than her looks? In early life she had been taken from her father's house, and had lived with relatives in one of the large towns in the north of England. It is certain she had not been quite successful as a girl. Though she had enjoyed the name of being a beauty, she had not the usual success which comes from such repute. At thirty-four she was still unmarried. She had, moreover, acquired the character of being a flirt; and I fear that the stories which were told of her, though doubtless more than half false, had in them sufficient of truth to justify the character. Now

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