d you take us round by the front road? Miss Trent hasn't never
seen the sea, and she'd like to as soon as she can; it's only natural.'

Mrs. Ormonde had cast one or two discreet glances at Thyrza. As she did
so her smile subdued itself a little; a grave thought seemed to pass
through her mind. She at once gave an order to the coachman in
compliance with Bessie's request.

'Mr. Grail is quite well, I hope?' she said, feeling a singular
embarrassment in addressing Thyrza.

Thyrza replied mechanically. To ride in an open carriage with a lady,
this alone would have been an agitating experience; the almost painful
suspense with which she waited for the first glimpse of the sea
completed her inability to think or speak with coherence. Her eyes were
fixed straight onwards. Mrs. Ormonde continued to observe her,
occasionally saying something in a low voice to the child.

The carriage drove to the esplanade, and turned to pass along it in the
westerly direction. The tide was at full; a loud surge broke upon the
beach; no mist troubled the blue line of horizon. Mrs. Ormonde looked
seawards, and her vision found a renewal in sympathy with the thought
she had read on Thyrza's face.

You and I cannot remember the moment when the sense of infinity first
came upon us; we have thought so much since then, and have assimilated
so much of others' thoughts, that those first impressions are become as
vague as the memory of our first love. But Thyrza would not forget this
vision of the illimitable sea, live how long she might. She had
scarcely heretofore been beyond the streets of Lambeth. At a burst her
consciousness expanded in a way we cannot conceive. You know that she
had no religion, yet now her heart could not contain the new-born
worship. Made forgetful of all else by the passionate instinct which
ruled her being, she suddenly leaned forward and laid her hand on Mrs.
Ormonde's. The latter took and pressed it, smiling kindly.

Bessie, happy in her superior position, looked about her with a
satisfied air. She sat with Mrs. Ormonde on the fore-seat; presently
she leaned aside to look westward, and informed Thyrza that the
promontory visible before them was Beachy Head. Thyrza had no response
to utter.

The carriage turned inland again. Thyrza lost sight of the sea. As if
she cared to look at nothing else, her eyes fell.

When they arrived at The Chestnuts, Mrs. Ormonde led her companions to
an upper room, where Mrs. Mapper sat