uch jealous creatures," she explained; "they always follow
me about, and fly at every dog that comes near me. Poor dog! that is
the one, I suppose, who killed Snarleyow. My father told me all about
it."

"Yes, it is easy to see that," said Arthur, laughing, and pointing to
Aleck, who, indeed, was in lamentable case, having one eye entirely
closed, a large strip of plaster on his head, and all the rest of his
body more or less marked with bites. "It is an uncommonly awkward
business for me, and your cousin will not forgive it in a hurry, I
fancy; but it really was not poor Aleck's fault--he is gentle as a
lamb, if only he is let alone."

"He has a very honest face, though his nose does look as though it
were broken," she said, and, stooping down, she patted the dog.

"But I must be going in to breakfast," she went on, presently. "It is
eight o'clock; the sun always strikes that bough at eight in spring,"
and she pointed to a dead limb, half hidden by the budding foliage of
the oak.

"You must observe closely to have noticed that, but I do not think
that the sun is quite on it yet. I do not like to lose my new-found
relations in such a hurry," he added, with a somewhat forced smile,
"and I am to go away from here this evening."

The intelligence was evidently very little satisfactory to Angela, nor
did she attempt to conceal her concern.

"I am very sorry to hear that," she said. "I hoped you were going to
stay for some time."

"And so I might have, had it not been for that brute Aleck, but he has
put a long sojourn with your cousin and the ghost of Snarleyow out of
the question; so I suppose I must go by the 6.20 train. At any rate,"
he added, more brightly, as a thought struck him, "I must go from
Isleworth."

She did not appear to see the drift of the last part of his remark,
but answered,

"I am going with my father to call at Isleworth at three this
afternoon, so perhaps we shall meet again there; but now, before I go
in, I will show you a better place than this to fish, a little higher
up, where Jakes, our gardener, always sets his night-lines."

Arthur assented, as he would have been glad to assent to anything
likely to prolong the interview, and they walked off slowly together,
talking as cheerfully as a sense that the conversation must soon come
to an end would allow. The spot was reached all too soon, and Angela
with evident reluctance, for she was not accustomed to conceal her
feelings, said that