ogist whose years have entered the fifties can go forth
and capture in second marriage a charming New England girl, thirty
years his junior. Yet those who knew Mr. Gale--his splendid physique,
his bluff cordiality, the vigour of his various talk--were scarcely
surprised. The young lady was no heiress; she had, in fact, been a
school teacher, and might have wearied through her best years in that
uncongenial pursuit. Transplanted to the richest English soil, she
developed remarkable aptitudes. A month or two of London exhibited her
as a type of all that is most attractive in American womanhood.

Between Mrs. Gale and the Warricombes intimacy was soon established.
Sidwell saw much of her, and liked her. To this meditative English girl
the young American offered an engrossing problem, for she avowed her
indifference to all religious dogmas, yet was singularly tolerant and
displayed a moral fervour which Sidwell had believed inseparable from
Christian faith. At the Gales' house assembled a great variety of
intellectual people, and with her father's express approval (Martin had
his reasons) Sidwell made the most of this opportunity of studying the
modern world. Only a few days after her arrival in London, she became
acquainted with a Mr. Walsh, a brother of that heresiarch, the Whitelaw
Professor, whose name was still obnoxious to her mother. He was a
well-favoured man of something between thirty and forty, brilliant in
conversation, personally engaging, and known by his literary
productions, which found small favour with conservative readers. With
surprise, Sidwell in a short time became aware that Mr. Walsh had a
frank liking for her society. He was often to be seen in Mrs.
Warricombe's drawing-room, and at Mrs Gale's he yet more frequently
obtained occasions of talking with her. The candour with which he
expressed himself on most subjects enabled her to observe a type of
mind which at present had peculiar interest for her. Discretion often
put restraint upon her curiosity, but none the less Mr. Walsh had
plausible grounds for believing that his advances were not unwelcome.
He saw that Sidwell's gaze occasionally rested upon him with a pleasant
gravity, and noted the mood of meditation which sometimes came upon her
when he had drawn apart. The frequency of these dialogues was observed
by Mrs Warricombe, and one evening she broached the subject to her
daughter rather abruptly.

'I am surprised that you have taken such a lik