satisfied looks at this reply sent a pang
through Stephen as great as any he had felt at the sight of Elfride. The
words about shortness of time were literally true, but their tone was
far from being so. He would have been gratified to talk with Knight as
in past times, and saw as a dead loss to himself that, to save the woman
who cared nothing for him, he was deliberately throwing away his friend.

'Oh, I am sorry to hear that,' said Knight, in a changed tone. 'But
of course, if you have weighty concerns to attend to, they must not be
neglected. And if this is to be our first and last meeting, let me say
that I wish you success with all my heart!' Knight's warmth revived
towards the end; the solemn impressions he was beginning to receive
from the scene around them abstracting from his heart as a puerility any
momentary vexation at words. 'It is a strange place for us to meet in,'
he continued, looking round the vault.

Stephen briefly assented, and there was a silence. The blackened coffins
were now revealed more clearly than at first, the whitened walls and
arches throwing them forward in strong relief. It was a scene which was
remembered by all three as an indelible mark in their history. Knight,
with an abstracted face, was standing between his companions, though a
little in advance of them, Elfride being on his right hand, and Stephen
Smith on his left. The white daylight on his right side gleamed faintly
in, and was toned to a blueness by contrast with the yellow rays from
the candle against the wall. Elfride, timidly shrinking back, and
nearest the entrance, received most of the light therefrom, whilst
Stephen was entirely in candlelight, and to him the spot of outer sky
visible above the steps was as a steely blue patch, and nothing more.

'I have been here two or three times since it was opened,' said Stephen.
'My father was engaged in the work, you know.'

'Yes. What are you doing?' Knight inquired, looking at the note-book and
pencil Stephen held in his hand.

'I have been sketching a few details in the church, and since then I
have been copying the names from some of the coffins here. Before I left
England I used to do a good deal of this sort of thing.'

'Yes; of course. Ah, that's poor Lady Luxellian, I suppose.' Knight
pointed to a coffin of light satin-wood, which stood on the stone
sleepers in the new niche. 'And the remainder of the family are on this
side. Who are those two, so snug and close tog