d
talking, and then we all went back to the house together, and my quiet
time was over. I liked Kenneth better than his brother Hugh, who
seemed to me to be too sarcastic and supercilious for any one to be
comfortable in his presence; but there was a look of mischief in
Kenneth's eyes which puzzled me, as again and again this afternoon his
glance met mine.

At dinner I was enlightened. It was a merry home party that night.
Captain Gates and another man, a Mr. Stroud by name, had come to stay
for a few days' shooting, and they certainly proved lively additions to
our gathering. In the midst of a buzz of conversation and laughter,
there was, as so often happens, a sudden lull, and then Kenneth from
the other side of the table suddenly broke the silence:

'Miss Thorn, Nell here wants to know the name of the book you were
studying so deeply this afternoon in the corn-field?'

My cheeks flushed a little; for one moment I hesitated, and every one
seemed to be waiting for my answer; then I said in a tolerably steady
voice,

'It was my Bible.'

I felt, rather than saw, the astonishment depicted on the faces of
those at the table.

Nelly, who was always overflowing with fun, burst out laughing:

'You don't mean to say that you are religious?' she said; but her
mother hushed her rather sharply, and changed the subject at once.

I felt I had difficult times coming. Later on in the evening, when
music was going on, Captain Gates came over to me as I sat looking out
into the dusky garden by one of the long French windows, and said,

'I see you have no difficulty in showing your colours, Miss Thorn.'

I looked up at him gravely. 'I ought to have no difficulty,' I said;
'it is nothing to be ashamed of.'

He smiled, and leaning against the half-open window seemed to regard me
with some amusement.

'Is it a rude question to ask with whom you have been living before you
came here?'

I told him, and then he said reflectively,

'It's a strange thing why the Bible should be thought so out of place
sometimes; but I wonder now if you read it out of pure pleasure, or
only from a sense of duty?'

'Why, I love it!' I exclaimed; then a little impulsively I added,

'I don't mind telling you, Captain Gates, or any one else, for that
matter, it is only just lately that I have felt so differently about
it. I used to think it dull and tedious, but it has changed now, or
rather, I have changed, and there is nothing I like bet