nd nice
complexities of conscience, was well aware of the existence of such
properties in her cousin. She neither admired nor despised him for
possessing them; they were of unknown value, indifferent to her,
indeed, until she became aware of the practical use that might be made
of them. Like most narrow-minded girls, she became a shrewd reader of
character, when her affections and interests were concerned, and could
calculate Julian's motives, and the course wherein they would lead him,
with much precision. She knew too well that he did not care for her in
the way she desired, but at the same time she knew that he was capable
of making almost any sacrifice to spare her humiliation and trouble,
especially if he felt that her unhappiness was in any way caused by
himself.

Thus it came about that, on the Tuesday evening of the ensuing week,
Julian was startled by his landlady's announcing another visit from
Miss Smales. Harriet came into the room with a veil over her face, and
sank on a chair, sobbing. What she had feared had come to pass. The
lodger had told Mrs. Ogle of what had taken place in her absence on the
Sunday afternoon, and Harriet had received notice that she must find
another place at once. Mrs. Ogle was a woman of severe virtue, and
would not endure the suspicion of wrong-doing under her roof. To whom
could she come for advice and help, but to Julian?

Julian was overwhelmed. His perfectly sincere nature was incapable of
suspecting a far more palpable fraud. He started up with the intention
of going forthwith to Gray's Inn Road, but Harriet clung to him and
held him back. The idea was vain. The lodger, Miss Mould, had long
entertained a spite against her, Harriet said, and had so exaggerated
this story in relating it to Mrs. Ogle, that the latter, and her
husband, had declared that Casti should not as much as put foot in
their shop again.

"If you only knew what they've been told!" sobbed the girl, still
clinging to Julian. "They wouldn't listen to a word you said. As if I
could have thought of such a thing happening, and that woman to say all
the bad things of us she can turn her tongue to! I sha'n't never get
another place; I'm thrown out on the wide world!"

It was a phrase she had got out of her penny fiction; and very
remarkable indeed was the mixture of acting and real sentiment which
marked her utterances throughout.

Julian's shame and anger began to turn to compassion. A woman in tears
was a