. As luck will have it the living
of Lapton Huish (that is the way in which your wife's name is spelt in
England) will shortly be vacant. I have persuaded Dr. Harrow, the
present incumbent, who is over ninety and not very active, that it would
be well for him to make way for a younger man. The living is not
generously endowed, but it has the advantage of being on the edge of my
estates, and I have great pleasure in offering it to you. There is no
reason why it should not lead to further advancement_."

The receipt of this letter made Considine tremulous with pleasure. His
original settlement in Ireland had been the result of a romantic
inclination to play the missionary in a godless Catholic country. When
first he came to Clonderriff he hadn't for a moment realised that the
huge inertia of the west would get hold of him and enchain him; but with
the passage of time this was what had happened. He knew now that he
could not, of his own will, escape; and at the very moment when Jocelyn's
death had created a general upheaval and made the situation in
Clonderriff restless, Lord Halberton's offer gave him the chance not only
of returning to his own country, but of making up for lost time. He
jumped at it, and Gabrielle, who could not bear the idea of seeing her
own Roscarna in the occupation of strangers, gladly consented. I do not
suppose it would have made much difference to Considine if she had
objected.

X

At Lapton Huish, in the following autumn, Mrs. Payne found them. The
details of what had happened in the interval are not very clear, but
the effect of the change upon Gabrielle must have been considerable,
for the Mrs. Considine who appeared to Mrs. Payne does not seem to have
had much in common with the dazed, hysterical child we left at
Roscarna. I doubt if it was the experience of her marital relations
with Considine that made her grow up; from the first she had tacitly
disregarded them. I suppose the change was simply the result of living
in a more civilised and populous country, for South Devon was both, in
comparison with her lost Roscarna.

The Halbertons had been very kind to them. How much of their kindness
sprang from original virtue, and how much from anxiety that the least
connection of the family should be worthy of their reflected lustre, it
is difficult to say. No doubt it pleased them to be generous on a
feudal scale, particularly since Gabrielle, with her striking beauty
and s