he people at the Hall. His mother began to guess that he
must be annoyed with business, and the girls to fancy that he and I had
quarrelled. And I silently let them think that it was so, the better to
keep his secret.

My own heart was aching, but I would not speak. I had promised not to
doubt him, and I feared lest he should think, even by my face or manner,
that I was weak enough to break my word.

CHAPTER VII.

Several weeks passed before I saw anything more of Rachel Leonard than
my passing glimpse of her in the snow at sunrise. Mrs. Hollingford, who
never had been in any but the poorest houses on the estate, walked over
with me, at Mrs. Hill's request, to pay a morning visit at the Hall. On
that occasion no Miss Leonard was to be seen. She must have gone out
walking--so said the maid who went to seek her in her room; and we came
back to the farm without having seen her. Then arrived Mrs. Hill to
return the visit, but no Miss Leonard accompanied her. Rachel was
confined to bed with a cold. The girls, who had hoped for a sight of
her, were disappointed.

And so the days went on, till it happened that I went to stay at the
Hall. I had received two or three invitations, and had always found an
excuse to stay away. At last it seemed ungracious to stay away any
longer, and I went.

How the house was changed since the quiet time of our "reading days,"
when the solitary wreath of smoke went up from Mrs. Beatty's chimney,
and the echo of one's step on the stone stair rang round the gallery
above! Now the hall, that had used to look so wide and chilly with its
grim ornaments of busts of authors, was decorated with flowers from the
hothouse, and cheered by a blazing fire. A soft murmur of prosperity was
heard throughout the house, as if Luxury were gliding about in her
velvet slippers, giving orders in her modulated voice, and breathing her
perfumed breath into all the corners. The presence of life had wrought
upon the handsome sticks and stones that furnished the rooms, and
transformed them into household gods. Firelight twinkled in all the
chambers, bringing out the lustre of coloured glass and costly hangings
into the sallow daylight of the winter noon. I do not know how it was
that on the day of my arrival at the Hall I made my appearance at an
earlier hour than they expected me. I learned afterwards, by chance,
that they had not looked for me till the dinner hour, whilst I
understood that it was desired of