de no pretence of being pleased,
but sat, unmoved by Matchin's speech, in scowling silence, and soon
went out without a word of comment. The scene he had witnessed in the
rose-house had poisoned his mind; yet, whenever he looked at Maud, or
tried to speak to her, he was met with an air of such fierce and
beautiful defiance, that his eyes fell and his voice stuck in his
throat. So the piece of good fortune, so anxiously awaited in the
household, brought little delight when it came. Maud reported for duty
next day, and soon learned the routine of her work; but she grew more
and more silent at home, and Saul's hope of a wedding in the family
died away.

Arthur Farnham walked away from the meeting with the feeling of a
school-boy who has finished a difficult task and who thinks he deserves
some compensating pleasure. The day had been fine and warm, but the
breeze of the late afternoon was already blowing in from the lake,
lending freshness and life to the air. The sky was filled with soft
gray clouds, which sailed along at a leisurely rate, evidently on very
good terms with the breeze. As Farnham walked up the avenue, he cast
about in his mind for the sort of dissipation with which he would
reward himself for the day's work and he decided for a ride.

But as he was drawing on his boots, it occurred to him, for the first
time in his life, that it was a churlish and unneighborly proceeding
for him to go riding alone day after day, and that he would be doing no
more than his duty to offer his escort to Miss Belding. He said Miss
Belding to his own thought--making it as formal and respectful as
possible. So, sending an order to his groom to keep his horse at the
stable for a moment, he walked over the lawn to the Belding cottage and
asked for the ladies.

"I believe they are upstairs, sir. Walk into the drawing-room, and I
will see," said the neat housemaid, smiling at Farnham, as indeed was
the general custom of women. He took his seat in the cool and darkened
room facing the door-way, which commanded a view of the stairs. He sat
in a large willow chair very much at his ease, looking about the pretty
salon, enjoying its pictures and ornaments and the fragrance of the
roses in the vases, as if he had a personal interest in them. The maid
came back and said the ladies would be down in a moment.

She had announced Farnham to Mrs. Belding, who had replied, "Tell him,
in a moment." She was in the summer afternoon condition whic