elay, and did not again
say that it was a bore to have to wait for them. Meanwhile he spent a
great deal of his time with the Bowrings, and the acquaintance ripened
quickly towards intimacy, without passing near friendship, as such
acquaintance sometimes will, when it springs up suddenly in the shallow
ground of an out-of-the-way hotel on the Continent.

"For Heaven's sake don't let that man fall in love with you, Clare!"
said Mrs. Bowring one morning, with what seemed unnecessary vehemence.

Clare's lip curled scornfully as she thought of poor Lady Fan.

"There isn't the slightest danger of that!" she answered. "Any more than
there is of my falling in love with him," she added.

"Are you sure of that?" asked her mother. "You seem to like him.
Besides, he is very nice, and very good-looking."

"Oh yes--of course he is. But one doesn't necessarily fall in love with
every nice and good-looking man one meets."

Thereupon Clare cut the conversation short by going off to her own room.
She had been expecting for some time that her mother would make some
remark about the growing intimacy with young Johnstone. To tell the
truth, Mrs. Bowring had not the slightest ground for anxiety in any
previous attachment of her daughter. She was beginning to wonder whether
Clare would ever show any preference for any man.

But she did not at all wish to marry her at present, for she felt that
life without the girl would be unbearably lonely. On the other hand,
Clare had a right to marry. They were poor. A part of their little
income was the pension that Mrs. Bowring had been fortunate enough to
get as the widow of an officer killed in action, but that would cease at
her death, as poor Captain Bowring's allowance from his family had
ceased at his death. The family had objected to the marriage from the
first, and refused to do anything for his child after he was gone. It
would go hard with Clare if she were left alone in the world with what
her mother could leave her. On the other hand, that little, or the
prospect of it, was quite safe, and would make a great difference to
her, as a married woman. The two lived on it, with economy. Clare could
certainly dress very well on it if she married a rich man, but she could
as certainly not afford to marry a poor one.

As for this young Johnstone, he had not volunteered much information
about himself, and, though Mrs. Bowring sometimes asked him questions,
she was extremely careful not to ask