of the day. Tom sat down with hope in his heart.

"It is only fair to you, Mr. Dimsdale," Girdlestone said, in a kindly
voice, "that I should express to you my appreciation of your honourable
conduct. You have kept your promise in regard to Miss Harston in the
fullest manner."

"Of course I kept my promise," said Tom bluntly. "I trust, however,
that you will soon see your way to withdrawing your prohibition. It has
been a hard trial to me."

"I have insisted upon it because it seemed to me to be my duty.
Every one takes his own view upon such points, and it has always been my
custom throughout life to take what some might think a stringent one.
It appears to me that I owe it to my deceased friend to prevent his
daughter, whom he has confided to me, from making any mistake.
As I said before, if you continue to show that you are worthy of her, I
may think more favourably of it. Exemplary as your conduct has been
since you joined us, I believe that I am not wrong in stating that you
were a little wild when you were at Edinburgh."

"I never did anything that I am ashamed of," said Tom.

"Very likely not," Girdlestone answered, with an irrepressible sneer.
"The question is, did you do anything that your father was ashamed of?"

"Certainly not," cried Tom hotly. "I was no milksop or psalm singer,
but there is nothing that I ever did there of which I should be ashamed
of my father knowing."

"Don't speak lightly of psalm singing. It is a good practice in its
way, and you would have been none the worse had you indulged in it
perhaps. However, that is neither here nor there. What I want you
clearly to understand is that my ultimate consent to your union depends
entirely upon your own conduct. Above all, I insist that you refrain
from unsettling the girl's mind at present."

"I have already promised. Hard as the struggle may be, I shall not
break my word. I have the consolation of knowing that if we were
separated for twenty years we should still be true to one another."

"That's very satisfactory," said the merchant grimly.

"Nevertheless it is a weary, weary time. If I could only write a
line--"

"Not a word," Girdlestone interrupted. "It is only because I trust you
that I keep her in London at all. If I thought there was a possibility
of your doing such a thing I should remove her at once."

"I shall do nothing without your permission," Tom said, taking up his
hat to go. He paused with his hand up