.'

'And I shall most likely have a ride; we may meet.'

Nancy ordered a carriage for the afternoon, and with her friends drove
up the Teign valley; but they did not meet Tarrant. But next morning
he joined them on the pier, and this time Jessica had no choice but to
present him to her mother. Nancy felt annoyed that this should have come
about; Tarrant, she supposed, would regard poor Mrs. Morgan with secret
ridicule. Yet, if that were his disposition, he concealed it perfectly;
no one could have behaved with more finished courtesy. He seated
himself by Mrs. Morgan, and talked with her of the simplest things in a
pleasant, kindly humour. Yesterday, so he made known, he had ridden to
Torquay and back, returning after sunset. This afternoon he was going by
train to Exeter, to buy some books.

Again he strolled about with Nancy, and talked of idle things with an
almost excessive amiability. As the girl listened, a languor crept upon
her, a soft and delicious subdual of the will to dreamy luxury. Her
eyes were fixed on the shadows cast by her own figure and that of her
companion. The black patches by chance touched. She moved so as to part
them, and then changed her position so that they touched again--so that
they blended.

CHAPTER 5

Nancy had written to her father, a short letter but affectionate,
begging him to let her know whether the improvement in his health, of
which he had spoken before she left home, still continued. The answer
came without delay. On the whole, said Mr. Lord, he was doing well
enough; no need whatever to trouble about him. He wrote only a few
lines, but closed with 'love to you, my dear child,' an unwonted
effusiveness.

At the same time there came a letter from Horace.

'You will be surprised,' it began, 'at the address I write from. As you
know, I had planned to go to Brighton; but on the day before my holiday
commenced I heard from F. F., saying that she and Mrs. Peachey had had a
quarrel, and she was tired of Brighton, and was coming home. So I waited
a day or two, and then, as I had half promised, I went to see Mrs. D.
We had a long talk, and it ended in my telling her about F., and all the
row there's been. Perhaps you will think I had better have kept it to
myself, but Mrs. D. and I are on first-rate terms, and she seems
to understand me better than any one I ever met. We talked about my
holiday, and she persuaded me to come to Scarborough, where she herself
was going for