r.

"I must be alone just now," he murmured. "I could not bear Maurice's
chatter--it would jar upon me."

Then he put on his hat and strolled out. He looked in at the stables one
minute, and called the head groom to him.

"Wright, did not Mr. Beavan say, when I bought that new bay mare of him,
that she had carried a lady to hounds?"

"Yes, Sir John; Miss Beavan rode her last season."

"Ah, she is a good rider. Well, I wish you would put a side-saddle and a
skirt on her, and exercise her this morning. I might want to--to lend her
to a lady; but she must be perfectly quiet. You can take her out every
day this week."

Sir John went on his way, leaving the worthy Wright a prey to speculation
as to who the mysterious lady might be for whom the bay mare was to be
exercised.

His master, meanwhile, bent his steps almost instinctively to the
vicarage.

Vera was undergoing a periodical persecution concerning Mr. Gisburne
at the hands of old Mrs. Daintree. She was standing up by the table
arranging some scarlet berries and some long trails of ivy which the
children had brought to her in a vase. Tommy and Minnie stood by watching
her intently; Mrs. Daintree sat at a little distance, her lap full of
undarned socks, and rated her.

"It is not as if you were a girl who could earn her living in case of
need. There is not one single thing you can do."

"Aunt Vera can make nosegays of berries boofully, grandma," interpolates
Tommy, earnestly; "can't she, Minnie?"

"Yes, she do," assented the smaller child, with emphasis.

"I wasn't speaking to you, Tom; little boys should be--"

"Heard and not seen," puts in Tommy, rapidly; "you always say that,
grandma."

Vera laughs softly. Mrs. Daintree goes on with her lecture.

"Many girls in your position are very accomplished; can teach the piano,
and history, and the elements of Latin; but it seems to me you have been
brought up in idleness."

"Idleness is not to be despised in its way," answers Vera, composedly.
"Another bit of ivy, Tommy. What shall I do, Mrs. Daintree?" she
continues, whilst her deft fingers wind the trailing greenery round and
round the glass stem of the vase. "Shall I go down to the village school
and sit at the feet of Mr. Dee? I have no doubt he could teach me a great
many things I know nothing about."

"That is nonsense; of course I don't mean that you can educate yourself
to any purpose now; it is too late for that; but you need not, at all
events