the end of the pier
from view. The raw cold of the atmosphere made the child shiver. As Mr.
Sarrazin took her hand to lead her indoors, he turned and looked back
at the faint outline of the boathouse, disappearing in the fog. Kitty
wondered. "Do you see anything?" she asked.

He answered that there was nothing to see, in the absent tone of a man
busy with his own thoughts. They took the garden path which led to the
cottage. As they reached the door he roused himself, and looked round
again in the direction of the invisible lake.

"Was the boat-house of any use now," he inquired--"was there a boat in
it, for instance?" "There was a capital boat, fit to go anywhere." "And
a man to manage it?" "To be sure! the gardener was the man; he had been
a sailor once; and he knew the lake as well as--" Kitty stopped, at a
loss for a comparison. "As well as you know your multiplication table?"
said Mr. Sarrazin, dropping his serious questions on a sudden. Kitty
shook her head. "Much better," she honestly acknowledged.

Opening the breakfast-room door they saw Mrs. Presty making coffee.
Kitty at once retired. When she had been fishing, her grandmamma
inculcated habits of order by directing her to take the rods to pieces,
and to put them away in their cases in the lumber-room. While she was
absent, Mr. Sarrazin profited by the opportunity, and asked if Mrs.
Linley had thought it over in the night, and had decided on applying for
a Divorce.

"I know nothing about my daughter," Mrs. Presty answered, "except that
she had a bad night. Thinking, no doubt, over your advice," the old lady
added with a mischievous smile.

"Will you kindly inquire if Mrs. Linley has made up her mind yet?" the
lawyer ventured to say.

"Isn't that your business?" Mrs. Presty asked slyly. "Suppose you write
a little note, and I will send it up to her room." The worldly-wisdom
which prompted this suggestion contemplated a possible necessity for
calling a domestic council, assembled to consider the course of action
which Mrs. Linley would do well to adopt. If the influence of her
mother was among the forms of persuasion which might be tried, that wary
relative maneuvered to make the lawyer speak first, and so to reserve to
herself the advantage of having the last word.

Patient Mr. Sarrazin wrote the note.

He modestly asked for instructions; and he was content to receive them
in one word--Yes or No. In the event of the answer being Yes, he would
ask for a