t, sir, I suppose you couldn't let me----"

"_Certainly not_--if you mean bring in a broom and a dust-pan! Just let
me catch you at it, that's all!"

The housekeeper shook her head with a resigned sigh.

"Ah, well! it can't last long; when Miss Vera comes she'll turn the whole
place inside-out, and all them nasty pipes, and dogs and things will be
cleared away."

"Do you think so?" suddenly sitting upright in his chair. "Wait a bit,
Mrs. Eccles; don't go yet. Do you think Miss Vera will have things her
own way with my brother?"

"Oh! sir, what do you ask me for?" she answered, with discreet
evasiveness. "Surely you must know more about Miss Vera than I can tell
you."

Mrs. Eccles went away, and Maurice got up and leant against the
mantelpiece looking down gloomingly, into the fire. Vic, dislodged from
his knee, sat up beside him, resting her little white paws on the edge of
the fender, warming her nose.

"What a fool I am!" said Maurice, aloud to himself. "I can't even hear
her name mentioned by a servant without wanting to talk about her. Yes,
it's clear he loves her--but does she love him? Will she be happy? Yes,
of course, she will get her own way. Will that be enough for her? Ah!"
turning suddenly round and taking half-a-dozen steps across the room. "It
is high time I went. I am a coward and a traitor to linger on here; I
will go. Why did I say to-morrow--why have I not settled to go this very
day? If I were not so weak and so irresolute, I should be gone by this
time. I ought never, knowing what I do know of myself--I ought never to
have come back at all." He went back to the fire and sat down again,
lifting the little dog back on to his knee. "I shall get over it, I
suppose," he murmured. "Men don't die of this sort of thing; she will
marry, and she will think me unkind because I shall never come near her;
but even if she knew the truth, it would never make any difference to
her; and by-and-by I too, I suppose, shall marry." The soliloquy died
away into silence. Maurice stroked the dog and looked at the fire
dreamily and somewhat drearily.

Some one tapped at the door.

"Come in! What is it, Mrs. Eccles?" he cried, rousing himself.

The door softly opened and there entered, not Mrs. Eccles, but Vera
Nevill.

Captain Kynaston sprang hastily to his feet. "Oh, Vera! I beg your
pardon--how do you do? I suppose you have come for John? You must have
missed him; he started for the vicarage half-an-hour ago.