y sent him about
his business, and took a third. And if you consider that nothing, Miss
Swancourt,' she continued, drawing closer; 'it led on to what was very
serious indeed. Have you forgotten the would-be runaway marriage? The
journey to London, and the return the next day without being married,
and that there's enough disgrace in that to ruin a woman's good name far
less light than yours? You may have: I have not. Fickleness towards a
lover is bad, but fickleness after playing the wife is wantonness.'

'Oh, it's a wicked cruel lie! Do not say it; oh, do not!'

'Does your new man know of it? I think not, or he would be no man
of yours! As much of the story as was known is creeping about the
neighbourhood even now; but I know more than any of them, and why should
I respect your love?'

'I defy you!' cried Elfride tempestuously. 'Do and say all you can to
ruin me; try; put your tongue at work; I invite it! I defy you as a
slanderous woman! Look, there he comes.' And her voice trembled greatly
as she saw through the leaves the beloved form of Knight coming from the
door with her hat in his hand. 'Tell him at once; I can bear it.'

'Not now,' said the woman, and disappeared down the path.

The excitement of her latter words had restored colour to Elfride's
cheeks; and hastily wiping her eyes, she walked farther on, so that by
the time her lover had overtaken her the traces of emotion had nearly
disappeared from her face. Knight put the hat upon her head, took her
hand, and drew it within his arm.

It was the last day but one previous to their departure for St.
Leonards; and Knight seemed to have a purpose in being much in her
company that day. They rambled along the valley. The season was that
period in the autumn when the foliage alone of an ordinary plantation is
rich enough in hues to exhaust the chromatic combinations of an artist's
palette. Most lustrous of all are the beeches, graduating from bright
rusty red at the extremity of the boughs to a bright yellow at their
inner parts; young oaks are still of a neutral green; Scotch firs and
hollies are nearly blue; whilst occasional dottings of other varieties
give maroons and purples of every tinge.

The river--such as it was--here pursued its course amid flagstones as
level as a pavement, but divided by crevices of irregular width. With
the summer drought the torrent had narrowed till it was now but a thread
of crystal clearness, meandering along a central chann