ft her.

On the morrow they met again for a few minutes, when he came to say
good-bye. Miriam made no mention of the packet that had reached her.
She was distant, and her smile at leave-taking very cold.

So the three travelled northwards.

Their departure brought back Cecily's despondent mood. With difficulty
she restrained her tears in parting from Eleanor; when she was alone,
they had their way. She felt vaguely miserable--was troubled with
shapeless apprehensions, with a sense of desolateness.

The next day brought a letter from her husband, "Dear Ciss," he wrote,
"I am sorry its so long since I sent you a line, but really there's no
news. I foresee that I shall not have much manuscript to show you; I am
reading hugely, but I don't feel ready to write. Hope you are much
better; give me notice of your return. My regards to Mallard; I expect
you will see very little of him." And so, with a "yours ever," the
epistle ended.

This was all Reuben had to say to her, when she had been absent nearly
a month. With a dull disappointment, she put the arid thing out of her
sight. It had been her intention to write to-day, but now she could
not. She had even less to say than he.

He expressed no wish for her return, and felt none. Perhaps, it was
merely indifferent to him how long she stayed away; but she had no
assurance that he did not prefer to be without her. And, for her own
part, had she any desire to be back again? Here she was not contented,
but at home she would be even less so.

The line in his letter which had reference to the much-talked-of book
only confirmed her distrust. She had no faith in his work. The revival
of his energy from time to time was no doubt genuine enough, but she
knew that its subsequent decline was marked with all manner of
pretences. Possibly he was still "reading hugely," but the greater
likelihood was that he had fallen into mere idleness. It was
significant of her feeling towards him that she never made surmises as
to how he spent his leisure; her thoughts, consciously and
unconsciously, avoided such reflections; it was a matter that did not
concern her. He had now a number of companions, men of whom her own
knowledge was very vague; that they were not considered suitable
acquaintances for her, of course meant that Reuben could have no profit
from them, and would probably suffer from their contact. But in these
things she had long been passive, careless. Experience had taught her
how