t no call to my house now, and as them as is there is in trouble,
I'll ax you to be so kind as--as just to leave us alone."

Toffy, pretending that he was satisfied with the information
received, and merely adding that Caroline Brattle must certainly,
at some future time, be made to appear before the magistrates at
Heytesbury, took his departure with more good-humour than the miller
deserved from him, and returned to the village.

CHAPTER LIV.

MR. GILMORE'S RUBIES.

Mary Lowther struggled hard for a week to reconcile herself to her
new fate, and at the end of the week had very nearly given way. The
gloom which had fallen upon her acted upon her lover and then reacted
upon herself. Could he have been light in hand, could he have talked
to her about ordinary subjects, could he have behaved towards her
with any even of the light courtesies of the every-day lover, she
would have been better able to fight her battle. But when he was
with her there was a something in his manner which always seemed to
accuse her in that she, to whom he was giving so much, would give him
nothing in return. He did not complain in words. He did not wilfully
resent her coldness to him. But he looked, and walked, and spoke,
and seemed to imply by every deed that he was conscious of being an
injured man. At the end of the week he made her a handsome present,
and in receiving it she had to assume some pleasure. But the failure
was complete, and each of the two knew how great was the failure. Of
course, there would be other presents. And he had already,--already,
though no allusion to the day for the marriage had yet been
made,--begun to press on for those changes in his house for which she
would not ask, but which he was determined to effect for her comfort.
There had been another visit to the house and gardens, and he had
told her that this should be done,--unless she objected; and that
that other change should be made, if it were not opposed to her
wishes. She made an attempt to be enthusiastic,--enthusiastic on the
wrong side, to be zealous to save him money, and the whole morning
was beyond measure sad and gloomy. Then she asked herself whether she
meant to go through with it. If not, the sooner that she retreated
and hid herself and her disgrace for the rest of her life the better.
She had accepted him at last, because she had been made to believe
that by doing so she would benefit him, and because she had taught
herself to think t