And then again they fell into the talk which I could not fathom. And so
I left them in their brief happiness, for my time of idleness was over,
and I was ordered to attend Mrs. Milton-Cleave without a moment's delay.

MY FOURTH STAGE

Oh, the little more, and how much it is!

R. BROWING.

Mrs. Milton-Cleave had one weakness--she was possessed by an inordinate
desire for influence. This made her always eagerly anxious to be
interesting both in her conversation and in her letters, and to this end
she exerted herself with unwearying activity. She liked influencing Mr.
Blackthorne, and spared no pains on him that afternoon; and indeed the
curate was a good deal flattered by her friendship, and considered her
one of the most clever and charming women he had ever met.

Sigismund and Gertrude returned to the ordinary world just as Mrs. Milton-
Cleave was saying good-bye to the hostess. She glanced at them
searchingly.

"Good-bye, Gertrude," she said a little coldly. "Did you win at tennis?"

"Indeed we did," said Gertrude, smiling. "We came off with flying
colours. It was a love set."

The girl was looking more beautiful than ever, and there was a tell-tale
colour in her cheeks and an unusual light in her soft grey eyes. As for
Zaluski, he was so evidently in love, and had the audacity to look so
supremely happy, that Mrs. Milton-Cleave was more than ever impressed
with the gravity of the situation. The curate handed her into her
victoria, and she drove home through the sheltered lanes musing sadly
over the story she had heard, and wondering what Gertrude's future would
be. When she reached home, however, the affair was driven from her
thoughts by her children, of whom she was devotedly fond. They came
running to meet her, frisking like so many kittens round her as she went
upstairs to her room, and begging to stay with her while she dressed for
dinner. During dinner she was engrossed with her husband; but
afterwards, when she was alone in the drawing-room, I found my
opportunity for working on her restless mind.

"Dear me," she exclaimed, throwing aside the newspaper she had just taken
up, "I ought to write to Mrs. Selldon at Dulminster about that G.F.S.
girl!"

As a matter of fact she ought not to have written then, the letter might
well have waited till the morning, and she was over-tired and needed
rest. But I was glad to see her take up her pen, for I knew I should
come in most con