go, but he will come back." Ayala had her
ideas about the angel of light very clearly impressed upon her mind
in regard to the conduct of the man, though they were terribly
vague as to his personal appearance, his condition of life, his
appropriateness for marriage, and many other details of his
circumstances. It had also often occurred to her that this angel of
light, when he should come, might not be in love with herself,--and
that she might have to die simply because she had seen him and loved
him in vain. But he would be a man sure to come back if there were
fitting reasons that he should do so. Isadore Hamel was not quite an
angel of light, but he was nearly angelic,--at any rate very good,
and surely would come back.

"Never mind about Mr. Hamel, Ayala. It is not nice to talk about a
man who has never spoken a word."

"Never spoken a word! Oh, Lucy!"

"Mr. Hamel has never spoken a word, and I will not talk about him.
There! All my heart is open to you, Ayala. You know that. But I will
not talk about Mr. Hamel. Aunt Emmeline wants you to come to Queen's
Gate."

"I will not."

"Or rather it is Sir Thomas who wants you to come. I do like Uncle
Tom. I do, indeed."

"So do I."

"You ought to come when he asks you."

"Why ought I? That lout would be there,--of course."

"I don't know about his being a lout, Ayala."

"He comes here, and I have to be perfectly brutal to him. You can't
guess the sort of things I say to him, and he doesn't mind it a bit.
He thinks that he has to go on long enough, and that I must give way
at last. If I were to go to Queen's Gate it would be just as much as
to say that I had given way."

"Why not?"

"Lucy!"

"Why not? He is not bad. He is honest, and true, and kind-hearted. I
know you can't be happy here."

"No."

"Aunt Dosett, with all her affairs, must be trouble to you. I could
not bear them patiently. How can you?"

"Because they are better than Tom Tringle. I read somewhere about
there being seven houses of the Devil, each one being lower and worse
than the other. Tom would be the lowest,--the lowest,--the lowest."

"Ayala, my darling."

"Do not tell me that I ought to marry Tom," said Ayala, almost
standing off in anger from the proferred kiss. "Do you think that I
could love him?"

"I think you could if you tried, because he is loveable. It is so
much to be good, and then he loves you truly. After all, it is
something to have everything nice around you. Y