ds asked if he would not put it off till his
return, and preside himself.

'It won't hurt them to have one first. Let them make sure of all the
fun they can,' he answered; and the sentiment was greatly applauded by
Edward and Robert, who followed him about more than ever, and grew so
fond of him, that it made them very angry to be reminded of the spirit
of defiance in which their acquaintance had begun. Nevertheless they
seemed to be preparing the same spirit for his wife, for when their
mother told them they must not expect to monopolize him thus when he was
married, they declared, that they did not want a Lady Morville at all,
and could not think why he was so stupid as to want a wife.

Their father predicted that he would never have time to fulfil his old
engagement of taking them out to the Shag Rock, but the prediction was
not verified, for he rowed both them and Mr. Ashford thither one fine
May afternoon, showed them all they wanted to see, and let them scramble
to their heart's content. He laughed at their hoard of scraps of the
wood of the wreck, which they said their mamma had desired them to fetch
for her.

So many avocations came upon Guy at once,--so many of the neighbours
came to call on him,--such varieties of people wanted to speak
to him,--the boys followed him so constantly,--and he had so many
invitations from Mr. Wellwood and the Ashfords, that he never had any
time for himself, except what must be spent in writing to Amabel. There
was a feeling upon him, that he must have time to commune with himself,
and rest from this turmoil of occupation, in the solitude of which
Redclyffe had hitherto been so full. He wanted to be alone with his old
home, and take leave of it, and of the feelings of his boyhood, before
beginning on this new era of his life; but whenever he set out for a
solitary walk, before he could even get to the top of the crag, either
Markham marched up to talk over some important question,--a farmer
waylaid him to make some request,--some cottager met him, to tell of a
grievance,--Mr. Wellwood rode over,--or the Ashford boys rushed up, and
followed like his shadow.

At length, on Ascension day, the last before he was to leave Redclyffe,
with a determination that he would escape for once from his pursuers, he
walked to the Cove as soon as he returned from morning service, launched
his little boat and pushed off into the rippling whispering waters. It
was a resumption of the ways of his