most courteous of tones, and
the gray hat was off in a moment, showing a very dark, cropped head,
"but I do not look for the church. I only ask for the way to the house
of the pastor, Mr. Alwynn."

Mrs. Eccles gave full and comprehensive directions in a very high key,
accompanied by much gesticulation, and then the gray hat was replaced,
and the gray figure, followed by the black poodle, marched down the
little garden path again, and disappeared from view.

Mrs. Eccles drew a long breath, and turned to her visitor again.

"Well, my dear, and did ye ever see the like of that? And his head, Miss
Ruth! Did ye take note of his head? Not so much as a shadder of a
parting. All the same all the way over; and asking the way to the
rectory. Why, you ain't never going yet? Well, good-bye, my dear, and
God bless ye! And now," soliloquized Mrs. Eccles, as Ruth finally
escaped, "I may as well run across to Jones's, and see if _they_ know
anything about the gentleman, and if he's put up at the inn."

* * * * *

It was a glorious July afternoon, but it was hot. The roads were white,
and the tall hedge-rows gray with dust. A wagon-load of late hay, with a
swarm of children just out from school careering round it, was coming up
the road in a dim cloud of dust. Ruth, who had been undecided which way
to take, beat a hasty retreat towards the church-yard, deciding that, if
she must hesitate, to do so among cool tombstones in the shade. She
glanced up at the church clock, as she selected her tombstone under one
of the many yew-trees in the old church-yard. Half-past four, and
already an inner voice was suggesting _tea!_ To miss five o'clock tea on
a thirsty afternoon like this was not to be thought of for a moment. She
had no intention of going back to tea at Atherstone, where she was
staying with her cousins, Mr. and Mrs. Danvers. Two alternatives
remained. Should she go to Slumberleigh Hall, close by, and see the
Thursbys, who she knew had all returned from London yesterday, or should
she go across the fields to Slumberleigh Rectory, and have tea with
Uncle John and Aunt Fanny?

She knew that Sir Charles Danvers, Ralph Danvers's elder brother, was
expected at Atherstone that afternoon. His aunt, Lady Mary Cunningham,
was also staying there, partly with a view of meeting him. Ralph Danvers
had not seen his brother, nor Lady Mary her nephew, for some time, and,
judging by the interest they seemed to fee