ed.

'I will, by Jove!' he said within himself at last. 'Just to prove I
have complete command of myself. It's to be a display of strength, not
weakness.'

At the house door he inquired for Mr Alfred Yule. That gentleman had
gone in the carriage to Wattleborough, half an hour ago, with his
brother.

'Miss Yule?'

Yes, she was within. Jasper entered the sitting-room, waited a few
moments, and Marian appeared. She wore a dress in which Milvain had
not yet seen her, and it had the effect of making him regard her
attentively. The smile with which she had come towards him passed from
her face, which was perchance a little warmer of hue than commonly.

'I'm sorry your father is away, Miss Yule,' Jasper began, in an animated
voice. 'I wanted to say good-bye to him. I return to London in a few
hours.'

'You are going sooner than you intended?'

'Yes, I feel I mustn't waste any more time. I think the country air is
doing you good; you certainly look better than when I passed you that
first day.'

'I feel better, much.'

'My sisters are anxious to see you again. I shouldn't wonder if they
come up this afternoon.'

Marian had seated herself on the sofa, and her hands were linked upon
her lap in the same way as when Jasper spoke with her here before, the
palms downward. The beautiful outline of her bent head was relieved
against a broad strip of sunlight on the wall behind her.

'They deplore,' he continued in a moment, 'that they should come to know
you only to lose you again so soon.

'I have quite as much reason to be sorry,' she answered, looking at him
with the slightest possible smile. 'But perhaps they will let me write
to them, and hear from them now and then.'

'They would think it an honour. Country girls are not often invited to
correspond with literary ladies in London.'

He said it with as much jocoseness as civility allowed, then at once
rose.

'Father will be very sorry,' Marian began, with one quick glance towards
the window and then another towards the door. 'Perhaps he might possibly
be able to see you before you go?'

Jasper stood in hesitation. There was a look on the girl's face which,
under other circumstances, would have suggested a ready answer.

'I mean,' she added, hastily, 'he might just call, or even see you at
the station?'

'Oh, I shouldn't like to give Mr Yule any trouble. It's my own fault,
for deciding to go to-day. I shall leave by the 2.45.'

He offered his hand.

'I s