nothing here but the latest novels."

"As to that," she responded, "the bishop reads everything, from the
Talmud to a Nick Carter detective story."

"Neither of the classics you mention will fit the present case,
however."

"I know!" she cried. "'The Bible in Spain.' You need n't look
dubious; it is n't a Sunday-school book, as you might think from the
title. You may be sure that Felicity Wycliffe would n't like insipid
literature, and this is one of her favourite books."

Leigh's dubious look had not been due to ignorance of the book, but to
a doubt as to whether his father possessed it. On reflection, he
thought the choice a safe one, and his reply left his adviser
undisturbed in her conviction that she was admitting him into the
select circle of Borrovians.

"The recommendation goes," he said. "Not," he corrected himself, "that
I would not have purchased it upon yours alone, Mrs. Parr."

"Oh, I'm not vain of my knowledge of books," she assured him. "Miss
Wycliffe is my literary conscience. I do miss her so much! When she
's away, I 'm only half a person, I declare; and when she 's here, I 'm
just nobody at all, because I lose myself in her."

"You make the friendships of men pale into insignificance," he remarked
jestingly, yet not without a new respect, inspired by this glimpse of
her capacity for loyalty to one who overshadowed her.

"If you only knew her!" she said. "But you don't."

He could not help wondering which of them knew the more about one great
incident in her life, but he merely echoed her words with a rueful
conviction of his own: "No, I don't."

She regarded him with sympathetic understanding. Of course he was
infatuated with Felicity, like many others, and undoubtedly his chances
were as remote as theirs.

"Now tell me," she said, "what you are going to get for the rest of
your family."

"That's what I want you to tell me," he answered.

"Follow me, then," she said brightly, "and I 'll see that you don't get
imposed upon."

He took the book and her bundles, and they left the counter on the best
of terms. Though he was hopelessly in love with another, a knowledge
of Mrs. Parr's partiality for him lent a certain charm to his manner.
Without attaching any weight to the fancy Miss Wycliffe had told him
of, he was sufficiently human to enjoy being liked and to make some
response. At his first meeting with Mrs. Parr she had seemed merely
insignificant; at Littleford's he had f