touched his arm before Newcome had perceived any one near
him. Then he drew back with a start.

'Elsmere, you here! I had an idea you were away for a holiday!'

'Oh dear, no!' said Robert, smiling. 'I may get away in September,
perhaps--not till then.'

'Mr. Wendover at home?' said the other, his eyes turning to the Hall, of
which the chimneys were just visible from where they stood.

'No, he is abroad.'

'You and he have made friends, I understand,' said the other abruptly,
his eagle look returning to Elsmere; 'I hear of you as always together.'

'We have made friends, and we walk a great deal when the squire is
here,' said Robert, meeting Newcome's harshness of tone with a bright
dignity 'Mr. Wendover has even been doing something for us in the
village. You should come and see the new Institute. The roof is on, and
we shall open it in August or September. The best building of the kind
in the country by far, and Mr. Wendover's gift.'

'I suppose you use the library a great deal?' said Newcome, paying no
attention to these remarks, and still eyeing his companion closely.

'A great deal.'

Robert had at that moment under his arm a German treatise on the history
of the Logos doctrine, which afterwards, looking back on the little
scene, he thought it probable Newcome recognised. They turned towards
the rectory together, Newcome still asking abrupt questions as to the
squire, the length of time he was to be away, Elsmere's work, parochial
and literary, during the past six months, the numbers of his Sunday
congregation, of his communicants, etc. Elsmere bore his catechism with
perfect temper, though Newcome's manner had in it a strange and almost
judicial imperativeness.

'Elsmere,' said his questioner presently, after a pause, 'I am going to
have a retreat for priests at the Clergy House next month. Father
H----,' mentioning a famous High Churchman, 'will conduct it. You would
do me a special favour'--and suddenly the face softened, and shone with
all its old magnetism on Elsmere--'if you would come. I believe you
would find nothing to dislike in it, or in our rule, which is a most
simple one.'

Robert smiled, and laid his hand on the other's arm.

'No, Newcome, no; I am in no mood for H----.'

The High Churchman looked at him with a quick and painful anxiety
visible in the stern eyes.

'Will you tell me what that means?'

'It means,' said Robert, clasping his hands tightly behind him, his pace
slackenin