o sweet,' thought Bryda, and then she recalled
the elegy on the dead lamb, and the same shrinking from the unknown and
the inevitable oppressed her.

One morning, when the dreaded month had nearly expired, Bryda was
dispatched on a message to a shop celebrated for Bath buns, to buy a
shilling's worth for the 'tea company' Mrs Lambert expected that
afternoon. And she was also to call in at the grocer's and buy some
allspice and orange peel for a tasty pudding which Mr Lambert wanted for
a supper he was to give to some friends. Bryda looked as fresh as a rose
just gathered as she set out on her errand, Mrs Lambert's large leather
purse in her hand, and the directions as to her purchases in her mind,
which had been repeated at least a dozen times.

'Mind you insist on having the buns puffy at the top. Don't let them
press on you those with a sink in the middle where the comfits lie. They
are sure to be heavy; and take care you get the narrow blue ribbon from
a roll that is not faded outside at the haberdasher's in the College
Green.'

'Mrs Lambert ought to think twice before she sends out that girl
a-shopping,' Mrs Symes said to Sam the footboy. 'She is a vast deal too
dainty to walk Bristol streets alone. I've seen the fellows turn and
stare at her as she crosses the square, and as to Chatterton, he has
eyes for nothing when she is by. I declare if ever eyes were like evil
eyes they are that mad boy's.'

Then Mrs Symes wiped her face with her apron, and said the kitchen was
enough to stifle her, proceeded to pursue her scrubbing and cleaning
with great vehemence.

Meanwhile Bryda went gaily on her way. She was very susceptible of the
circumstances of the moment, and the summer air playing amongst the
sails of the ships, as she got to the quay, and the water rippling at
their sides, where the sunbeams danced and sparkled, gave her a sense of
life and gladness which for the moment made her forget how near she was
standing to the day when the Squire would again put before her the
alternative of seeing her grandfather's stock sold, and so ruining him
for the future as a farmer--or marrying him.

The idea seemed preposterous to her, and she shrank from it with the
shrinking of a pure, high-minded girl.

She had finished her purchases, and carefully counted the change in the
large leather purse, when the cathedral bells, chiming as she passed,
made her think she would go in for the service.

There were not more than h