to undertake the defence of a man who has permitted
himself to treat you with so much insolence.'

"'I never feel shocked at, or bear malice for, what is spoken in
character; and most perfectly in character was that vulgar and violent
onset against me, when he had quitted you worsted.'

"'You cease now to be Henry's tutor?'

"'I shall be parted from Henry for a while (if he and I live we shall
meet again somehow, for we love each other) and be ousted from the bosom
of the Sympson family for ever. Happily this change does not leave me
stranded; it but hurries into premature execution designs long formed.'

"'No change finds you off your guard. I was sure, in your calm way, you
would be prepared for sudden mutation. I always think you stand in the
world like a solitary but watchful, thoughtful archer in a wood. And the
quiver on your shoulder holds more arrows than one; your bow is provided
with a second string. Such too is your brother's wont. You two might go
forth homeless hunters to the loneliest western wilds; all would be well
with you. The hewn tree would make you a hut, the cleared forest yield
you fields from its stripped bosom, the buffalo would feel your
rifle-shot, and with lowered horns and hump pay homage at your feet.'

"'And any Indian tribe of Blackfeet or Flatheads would afford us a
bride, perhaps?'

"'No' (hesitating), 'I think not. The savage is sordid. I think--that
is, I _hope_--you would neither of you share your hearth with that to
which you could not give your heart.'

"'What suggested the wild West to your mind, Miss Keeldar? Have you been
with me in spirit when I did not see you? Have you entered into my
day-dreams, and beheld my brain labouring at its scheme of a future?'

"She had separated a slip of paper for lighting tapers--a spill, as it
is called--into fragments. She threw morsel by morsel into the fire, and
stood pensively watching them consume. She did not speak.

"'How did you learn what you seem to know about my intentions?'

"'I know nothing. I am only discovering them now. I spoke at hazard.'

"'Your hazard sounds like divination. A tutor I will never be again;
never take a pupil after Henry and yourself; not again will I sit
habitually at another man's table--no more be the appendage of a family.
I am now a man of thirty; I have never been free since I was a boy of
ten. I have such a thirst for freedom, such a deep passion to know her
and call her mine, such a day-desire