round you trod on? And right mad I have been with him for it. You can't
deny that he has been after you, wanting you to be his wife."

"I do not wish to deny it," she replied. "You and the whole world are
quite welcome to know all that has passed between me and Luke. He asked
to be allowed to come here to see me--to 'court' me, he phrased
it--which I distinctly declined. Then he took to following me about. He
did not molest me, he was not rude--I do not wish to make it out worse
than it was--but it is not pleasant, Mr. Roy, to be followed whenever
you may take a walk. Especially by one you dislike."

"What is there to dislike in Luke?" demanded the bailiff.

"Perhaps I ought to have said by one you do not like," she resumed. "To
like Luke, in the way he wished, was impossible for me, and I told him
so from the first. When I found that he dodged my steps, I spoke to him
again, and threatened that I should acquaint Mr. Verner. I told him,
once for all, that I could not like him, that I never would have him;
and since then he has kept his distance. That is all that has ever
passed between me and Luke."

"Well, your hard-heartedness has done for him, Rachel Frost. It has
drove him away from his native home, and sent him, a exile, to rough it
in foreign lands. You may fix upon one as won't do for you and be your
slave as Luke would. He could have kept you well."

"I heard he had gone to London," she remarked.

"London!" returned the bailiff slightingly. "That's only the first halt
on the journey. And you have drove him to it!"

"I can't help it," she replied, turning to the house. "I had no natural
liking for him, and I could not force it. I don't believe he has gone
away for that trifling reason, Mr. Roy. If he has, he must be very
foolish."

"Yes, he is foolish," muttered the bailiff to himself, as he strode
away. "He's a idiot, that's what he is! and so be all men that loses
their wits a-sighing after a girl. Vain, deceitful, fickle creatures,
the girls be when they're young; but once let them get a hold on you,
your ring on their finger, and they turn into vixenish, snarling women!
Luke's a sight best off without her."

Rachel Frost proceeded indoors. The door of the steward's room stood
open, and she turned into it, fancying it was empty. Down on a chair sat
she, a marked change coming over her air and manner. Her bright colour
had faded, her hands hung down listless; and there was an expression on
her face of