me motionless, the tick of the tower clock
distinctly audible.

Mr. Power spoke first.

'Well, 'twould be a pity to make a mess here under such dubious
circumstances. Mr. Dare, I perceive that a mean vagabond can be as sharp
as a political regenerator. I cry quits, if you care to do the same?'

Dare assented, and the pistols were put away.

'Then we do nothing at all, either side; but let the course of true love
run on to marriage--that's the understanding, I think?' said Dare as he
rose.

'It is,' said Power; and turning on his heel, he left the vestry.

Dare retired to the church and thence to the outside, where he idled
away a few minutes in looking at the workmen, who were now lowering
into its place a large stone slab, bearing the words 'DE STANCY,' which
covered the entrance to the vault. When the footway of the churchyard
was restored to its normal condition Dare pursued his way to Markton.

Abner Power walked back to the castle at a slow and equal pace, as
though he carried an over-brimming vessel on his head. He silently let
himself in, entered the long gallery, and sat down. The length of
time that he sat there was so remarkable as to raise that interval of
inanition to the rank of a feat.

Power's eyes glanced through one of the window-casements: from a hole
without he saw the head of a tomtit protruding. He listlessly watched
the bird during the successive epochs of his thought, till night came,
without any perceptible change occurring in him. Such fixity would have
meant nothing else than sudden death in any other man, but in Mr.
Power it merely signified that he was engaged in ruminations which
necessitated a more extensive survey than usual. At last, at half-past
eight, after having sat for five hours with his eyes on the residence of
the tomtits, to whom night had brought cessation of thought, if not to
him who had observed them, he rose amid the shades of the furniture, and
rang the bell. There were only a servant or two in the castle, one of
whom presently came with a light in her hand and a startled look upon
her face, which was not reduced when she recognized him; for in the
opinion of that household there was something ghoul-like in Mr. Power,
which made him no desirable guest.

He ate a late meal, and retired to bed, where he seemed to sleep not
unsoundly. The next morning he received a letter which afforded him
infinite satisfaction and gave his stagnant impulses a new momentum. He
ente