anxious and worried lately. Nothing of any importance, my dear fellow.
By the by, have you been to see Lesley lately?"

"May I speak to her?" said Maurice, his face brightening. "I
thought----"

"Speak when you like," Caspar answered, curtly. "I almost wish you would
get if over. Get it settled, I mean."

"I shall get it settled as soon as I can, certainly," said Maurice.

And Mr. Brooke went away, thinking that after all he had found one way
of escape from his troubles. For if Lesley accepted Maurice, and lived
with him in a house opposite her father's, there would always be a
corner for him at their fireside, and he would not go to the grave
feeling himself a childless, loveless, desolate old man.

It must be conceded that Mr. Brooke had sunk to a very low pitch of
dejection when he was dominated by such thoughts as these.

CHAPTER XXV.

LESLEY'S PROMISE.

Maurice was no backward lover. He made his way to Lesley that very day,
and found her in the library--not, as usual, bending over a book, but
standing by the window, from which could be seen a piece of waste ground
overgrown with grass and weeds, and shaded by some great plane and elm
trees. There was nothing particularly fascinating in the outlook, which
partook of the usual grimness of a London atmosphere; but the young
green of the budding trees spoke, in spite of the blackness of their
branches, of spring and spring's delight; and there was a brightness in
the tints of the tangled grass which gave a restful satisfaction to the
eye. Lesley was looking out upon this scene with a wistfulness which
struck Maurice with some surprise.

"You like this window?" he said, interrogatively, when they had shaken
hands and exchanged a word or two of greeting.

"Yes, it reminds me in some way of my old convent home; I don't know why
it should; but there are trees and grass and greenness."

"Ah, you love the country?"

"Do not you?"

"Yes, but there are better things in the world than even trees and
grass."

"Ah, yes," said Lesley, eagerly. Then, with a little smile, she added;
as if quoting--"Souls of men."

"I was thinking of their bodies," said the young doctor. "But that's as
it should be. You think of the spiritual, I only of the material side.
Both sides ought to be considered that is where men and women meet, I
take it."

"I suppose so," said Lesley, a little vaguely.

"I'm afraid," Maurice went on, "that it will be a long time before I
ha