ss. No, indeed! I will take good
care that it shall not be in a class."

XVII

BANANAS AND OATS

When Walter Lodloe walked to Lethbury because he could not talk to Mrs.
Cristie, it could not have been reasonably supposed that his walk would
have had more practical influence on his feelings towards that lady than
a conversation with her would have had; but such was the case.

It would have been very pleasant to talk, or walk, or chat, or stroll,
or play tennis, with her, but when he reached the quiet little village,
and wandered by himself along the shaded streets, and looked into the
pretty yards and gardens, on the profusion of old-fashioned flowers and
the cool green grass under the trees, and here and there a stone
well-curb with a great sweep and an oaken bucket, and the air of quaint
comfort which seemed to invade the interiors of those houses that were
partly opened to his view, it struck him, as no idea of the sort had
ever struck him before, what a charming and all-satisfying thing it
would be to marry Mrs. Cristie and live in Lethbury in one of these
cool, quaint houses with the quiet and shade and the flowers--at least
for a few years until his fortunes should improve.

He had a notion that Mrs. Cristie would like that sort of thing. She
seemed so fond of country life. He would write and she would help him.
He would work in the vegetable garden, and she among the flowers. It
would be Arcadia, and it would be cheap. Even with his present income
every rural want could be satisfied.

An infusion of feasibility--or what he looked upon as such--into the
sentimentality of such a man as Walter Lodloe generally acts as a
stiffener to his purposes. He was no more in love with Mrs. Cristie than
he had been when he left the Squirrel Inn, but he now determined, if he
saw any reason to suppose that she would accept them, to offer himself
and a Lethbury cottage to Mrs. Cristie.

He had a good opportunity to think over this matter and come to
decisions, for his companion walked half the way home without saying a
word.

Suddenly Lanigan spoke.

"Do you know," said he, "that I have about made up my mind to marry the
governess?"

"She isn't a governess," said Lodloe; "she is a nurse-maid."

"I prefer to invest her with a higher grade," said Lanigan; "and it is
pretty much the same thing, after all. Anyway, I want to marry her, and
I believe I can do it if nobody steps in to interfere."

"Who do you suppo