t out with me, instead of brooding
over it with dark imaginings, and thinking bitter things of me, as many
women would have done!' He succinctly told the whole story of his little
adventure with Tabitha that morning; and the sky was clear on both sides.
'When shall I be able to claim you,' he added, 'and put an end to all
such painful accidents as these?'

She partially sighed. Her perception of what the outside world was made
of, latterly somewhat obscured by solitude and her lover's company, had
been revived to-day by her entertainment of the Bishop, clergymen, and,
more particularly, clergymen's wives; and it did not diminish her sense
of the difficulties in Swithin's path to see anew how little was thought
of the greatest gifts, mental and spiritual, if they were not backed up
by substantial temporalities. However, the pair made the best of their
future that circumstances permitted, and the interview was at length
drawing to a close when there came, without the slightest forewarning, a
smart rat-tat-tat upon the little door.

'O I am lost!' said Viviette, seizing his arm. 'Why was I so
incautious?'

'It is nobody of consequence,' whispered Swithin assuringly. 'Somebody
from my grandmother, probably, to know when I am coming home.'

They were unperceived so far, for the only window which gave light to the
hut was screened by a curtain. At that moment they heard the sound of
their visitors' voices, and, with a consternation as great as her own,
Swithin discerned the tones of Mr. Torkingham and the Bishop of
Melchester.

'Where shall I get? What shall I do?' said the poor lady, clasping her
hands.

Swithin looked around the cabin, and a very little look was required to
take in all its resources. At one end, as previously explained, were a
table, stove, chair, cupboard, and so on; while the other was completely
occupied by a diminutive Arabian bedstead, hung with curtains of pink-and-
white chintz. On the inside of the bed there was a narrow channel, about
a foot wide, between it and the wall of the hut. Into this cramped
retreat Viviette slid herself, and stood trembling behind the curtains.

By this time the knock had been repeated more loudly, the light through
the window-blind unhappily revealing the presence of some inmate. Swithin
threw open the door, and Mr. Torkingham introduced his visitors.

The Bishop shook hands with the young man, told him he had known his
father, and at Swithin's invita