ver
coldly he might have intended to receive the master of Cumber
Priory, his manner soon softened and grew more cordial. There was a
certain kind of charm about Angus Egerton, not very easily to be
described, which I think had a potent influence upon all who knew
him.

I fancied that Mr. Darrell felt this, and struggled against it, and
ended by giving way to it. I saw that he watched his daughter
closely, even anxiously, when she was talking to Angus Egerton, as
if he had already some suspicion about the state of her feelings
with regard to him. Mr. Egerton had caught sight of the open
portfolio, and had insisted on looking over the sketches--not the
first of Milly's that he had seen by a great many. I noticed the
grave, almost tender, smile with which he looked at the little
artistic 'bits' out of Cumber Wood. He went on talking to Mr.
Darrell all the time he was looking at these sketches; talking of
the neighbourhood and the changes that had come about of late years,
and a little of the Priory, and his intentions with regard to
improvements.

'I can only creep along at a snail's pace,' he said; 'for I am
determined not to get into debt, and I won't sell.'

'I wonder you never tried to let the priory in all those years that
you were abroad,' suggested Mr. Darrell.

Mr. Egerton shook his head, with a smile.

'I couldn't bring myself to that,' he said, 'though I wanted money
badly enough. There has never been a strange master at Cumber since
it belonged to the Egertons. I daresay it's a foolish piece of
sentimentality on my part; but I had rather fancy the old place
rotting slowly to decay than in the occupation of strangers.'

He was standing by the table where the open portfolio lay, with
Milly by his side, and one of the sketches in his hands, when Mrs.
Darrell came in at the window nearest to this little group, and
stood on the threshold looking at him. I think I was the only person
who saw her face at that moment. It was so sudden a look that came
upon it, a look half terror, half pain, and it passed away so
quickly, that I had scarcely time to distinguish the expression
before it was gone; but it was a look that brought back to my memory
the almost forgotten scene in the little study at Cumber Priory, and
set me wondering what it could be that made the sight of Angus
Egerton, either on canvas or in the flesh, a cause of agitation to
Milly's stepmother.

In the next moment Mr. Darrell was presenting his