indeed, of but little
value save to the giver; but thee gave nothing; thee remembered nothing
of what was given thee."

"It is not so, it is not so," he urged eagerly, nervously. "I gave, and
I still give."

"In those old days, I did not understand," she went on, "what it
was thee wanted. I know now. It was to know the heart and mind of a
woman--of a woman older than thee. So that thee should have such sort
of experience, though I was but a foolish choice of the experiment.
They say thee has a gift for chemistry like thy father; but if thee
experiments no more wisely in the laboratory than with me, thee will not
reach distinction."

"Your father hated my father and did not believe in him, I know not why,
and you are now hating and disbelieving me."

"I do not know why my father held the late Earl in abhorrence; I know he
has no faith in thee; and I did ill in listening to thee, in believing
for one moment there was truth in thee. But no, no, I think I never
believed it. I think that even when thee said most, at heart I believed
least."

"You doubt that? You doubt all I said to you?" he urged softly, coming
close to her.

She drew aside slightly. She had steeled herself for this inevitable
interview, and there was no weakening of her defences; but a great
sadness came into her eyes, and spread over her face, and to this was
added, after a moment, a pity which showed the distance she was from
him, the safety in which she stood.

"I remember that the garden was beautiful, and that thee spoke as though
thee was part of the garden. Thee remembers that, at our meeting in the
Cloistered House, when the woman was ill, I had no faith in thee; but
thee spoke with grace, and turned common things round about, so that
they seemed different to the ear from any past hearing; and I listened.
I did not know, and I do not know now, why it is my duty to shun any
of thy name, and above all thyself; but it has been so commanded by my
father all my life; and though what he says may be in a little wrong, in
much it must ever be right."

"And so, from a hatred handed down, your mind has been tuned to shun
even when your heart was learning to give me a home--Faith?"

She straightened herself. "Friend, thee will do me the courtesy to
forget to use my Christian name. I am not a child-indeed, I am well
on in years"--he smiled--"and thee has no friendship or kinship for
warrant. If my mind was tuned to shun thee, I gave proof that it w