ho spent their time in pleasurable pursuits. And she
would live amidst ladies who were always arrayed in bright garments,
who, too, had horses and carriages at their command, and were never
troubled by those sordid cares which made life at Kingsbury Crescent
so sad and tedious. One little word would have done it all for her,
would have enabled her to take the step by which she would be placed
among the bright ones of the earth.

But the remembrance of all this only made her firmer in her
resolution. If there was any law of right and wrong fixed absolutely
in her bosom, it was this,--that no question of happiness or
unhappiness, of suffering or joy, would affect her duty to the Angel
of Light. She owed herself to him should he come to seek her. She
owed herself to him no less, even should he fail to come. And she
owed herself equally whether he should be rich or poor. As she was
fortifying herself with these assurances, Nina came to ask her
whether she would not come down to tea. Ayala pleaded headache, and
said that she would rest till dinner. "Has anything happened?" asked
Nina. Ayala simply begged that she might be asked no questions then,
because her head was aching. "If you do not tell me everything, I
shall think you are no true friend," said Nina, as she left the room.

As evening drew on she dressed for dinner, and went down into the
drawing-room. In doing so it was necessary to pass through the
billiard-room, and there she found Colonel Stubbs, knocking about the
balls. "Are you dressed for dinner?" he exclaimed; "I haven't begun
to think of it yet, and Sir Harry hates a man when he comes in late.
That wretch Batsby has beaten me four games." With that he rushed
off, putting down the cue with a rattle, and seeming to Ayala to have
recovered altogether from the late prostration of his spirits.

In the drawing-room Ayala was for a few minutes alone, and then, as
she was glad to see, three or four ladies all came in at once, so
that no question could be asked her by Lady Albury. They went into
dinner without the Colonel, who was in truth late, and she was taken
in by Mr. Gosling, whose pretty little wife was just opposite to her.
On the other side of her sat Lord Rufford, who had come to Stalham
with his wife for a day or two, and who immediately began to
congratulate her on the performance of the day before. "I am told
you jumped the Cranbury Brook," he said. "I should as soon think of
jumping the Serpentine."