elpiece, his hands over
his eyes. 'We ought never to have met, Lizzy,' he said. 'It was an ill
day for us! I little thought there was anything so hopeless and
impossible in our engagement as this. Well, it is too late now to regret
consequences in this way. I have had the happiness of seeing you and
knowing you at least.'

'You dissent from Church, and I dissent from State,' she said. 'And I
don't see why we are not well matched.'

He smiled sadly, while Lizzy remained looking down, her eyes beginning to
overflow.

That was an unhappy evening for both of them, and the days that followed
were unhappy days. Both she and he went mechanically about their
employments, and his depression was marked in the village by more than
one of his denomination with whom he came in contact. But Lizzy, who
passed her days indoors, was unsuspected of being the cause: for it was
generally understood that a quiet engagement to marry existed between her
and her cousin Owlett, and had existed for some time.

Thus uncertainly the week passed on; till one morning Stockdale said to
her: 'I have had a letter, Lizzy. I must call you that till I am gone.'

'Gone?' said she blankly.

'Yes,' he said. 'I am going from this place. I felt it would be better
for us both that I should not stay after what has happened. In fact, I
couldn't stay here, and look on you from day to day, without becoming
weak and faltering in my course. I have just heard of an arrangement by
which the other minister can arrive here in about a week; and let me go
elsewhere.'

That he had all this time continued so firmly fixed in his resolution
came upon her as a grievous surprise. 'You never loved me!' she said
bitterly.

'I might say the same,' he returned; 'but I will not. Grant me one
favour. Come and hear my last sermon on the day before I go.'

Lizzy, who was a church-goer on Sunday mornings, frequently attended
Stockdale's chapel in the evening with the rest of the double-minded; and
she promised.

It became known that Stockdale was going to leave, and a good many people
outside his own sect were sorry to hear it. The intervening days flew
rapidly away, and on the evening of the Sunday which preceded the morning
of his departure Lizzy sat in the chapel to hear him for the last time.
The little building was full to overflowing, and he took up the subject
which all had expected, that of the contraband trade so extensively
practised among them. H