have precipitated the step,
in order to end her suspense, but that perfect trust that she would not
accept him unless she could do so with a clear conscience always held
her back.

It was at this juncture that, one day when walking with her father,
there was a sudden stop at the sight of another elderly gentleman. 'Ha!
Hugh!' 'What, you here, Martindale!' were mutually exclaimed, there
was an ardent shaking of hands, and she found herself introduced to a
cousin, whom she had not seen since she was a child.

He and her father had been like brothers in their boyhood, but the
lines they had since taken had diverged far and wide. The hard-working
clergyman had found himself out of his element in visits to Martindale,
had discontinued them, and almost even his correspondence, so that Lord
Martindale had heard nothing of his cousin since his wife's death, two
years ago, till now, when he met him on the promenade at Baden, sent
abroad to recruit his worn-out health and eyesight.

All have either felt or beheld, how two such relations, on the verge of
old age, meet and refresh themselves with looking back, beyond the tract
of middle life, to the days shared together in youth! Lord Martindale
had not looked so bright, nor talked and laughed so much for years,
as over his boyish reminiscences, and his wanderings up and down the
promenade with his cousin seemed as if nothing could terminate them.

Clergymen and school-loving young ladies have a natural affinity,
and Theodora found a refuge from the Delavals and an opportunity for
usefulness. She offered to read to Cousin Hugh, she talked over parish
matters, and after relieving her mind with a conversation on the
question of how much the march of intellect ought to penetrate into
country schools, it was wonderful how much more equable and comfortable
she became. The return to the true bent of her nature softened her on
every side; and without the least attempt to show off, she was so free
from the morose dignity with which she had treated her own family since
going abroad, that Mr. Hugh Martindale could hardly believe the account
of her strange ungovernable character, as it was laid before him by her
father, in his wish for counsel.

He watched her anxiously, but made no attempt to force her confidence,
and let her talk to him of books, school discipline, parish stories,
and abstruse questions as much as she pleased, always replying in a
practical, sobering tone, that told up