ntly. Nor would she walk now with Michael through the
vineyards down to the shallow poplar-shadowed stream. Michael was seized
with a reverence for her tireless concentration, and he never tried to
make her break this rule of work, but would always wander away by
himself.

One day, when he was lying on a parched upland ridge, Michael had a
vision of Alan in green England. Suddenly he realized that in a few
weeks they would be setting out together for Oxford. The dazzling azure
sky of France lightened to the blown softness of an English April.
Cloistral he saw Oxford, and by the base of St. Mary's Tower the people,
small as emmets, hurrying. The roofs and spires were wet with rain, and
bells were ringing. He saw the faces of all those who from various
schools would encounter with him the greyness and the grace of Oxford,
and among them was Alan.

How familiar Oxford seemed after all!

* * * * *

The principal fact that struck Michael about Stella in these days of
practising for her concert was her capacity for renouncing all
extravagance of speech and her steady withdrawal from everything that
did not bear directly on her work. She no longer talked of her
brilliance; she no longer tried to astonish Michael with predications of
genius; she became curiously and impressively diligent, and, without
conveying an idea of easy self-confidence, she managed to make Michael
feel perfectly sure of her success.

During the latter half of September Michael went to stay with Alan at
Richmond, partly because with the nearness of Stella's appearance he
began to feel nervous, and partly because he found speculation about
Oxford in Alan's company a very diverting pursuit. From Richmond he went
up at the end of the month in order to pass Responsions without
difficulty. On the sixth of October was the concert at King's Hall.

Michael had spent a good deal of time in sending letters to all the
friends he could think of, inviting their attendance on this occasion
of importance. He even wrote to Wilmot and many of the people he had met
at Edwardes Square. Everyone must help in Stella's triumph.

At the beginning of October Mrs. Ross arrived at the Merivales' house,
and for the first time since their conversation in the orchard she and
Michael met. He was shy at first, but Mrs. Ross was so plainly anxious
to show that she regarded him as affectionately as ever that Michael
found himself able to resume his