to
the rectory gate: "I love Robert, and I feel sure that he loves me. I
have thought so many a time before; to-day I felt it."

And Robert, leaning later on his own yard gate, with the hushed, dark
mill before him, exclaimed: "This won't do. There's weakness--there's
downright ruin in all this."

For Caroline Helstone was a fatherless and portionless girl, entirely
dependent on her uncle, the vicar of Briarfield.

_II.--The Master of Hollows Mill_

"Come, child, put away your books. Lock them up! Get your bonnet on; I
want you to make a call with me."

"With you, uncle?"

Thus the Rev. Matthewson Helstone, the imperious little vicar of
Briarfield, to his niece, who, obeyed his unusual request, asked where
they were going.

"To Fieldhead," replied the Rev. Matthewson Helstone. "We are going to
see Miss Shirley Keeldar."

"Miss Keeldar! Is she come to Yorkshire?"

"She is; and will reside for a time on her property."

The Keeldars were the lords of the manor, and their property included
the mill rented by Mr. Robert Moore.

The visitors were received at Fieldhead by a middle-aged nervous English
lady, to whom Caroline at once found it natural to talk with a gentle
ease, until Miss Shirley Keeldar, entering the room, introduced them to
Mrs. Pryor, who, she added, "was my governess, and is still my friend."

Shirley Keeldar was no ugly heiress. She was agreeable to the eye,
gracefully made, and her face, pale, intelligent, and of varied
expression, also possessed the charm of grace.

The interview had not proceeded far before Shirley hoped they would
often have the presence of Miss Helstone at Fieldhead; a request
repeated by Mrs. Pryor.

"You are distinguished more than you think," said Shirley, "for Mrs.
Pryor often tantalises me by the extreme caution of her judgments. I
have entreated her to say what she thinks of my gentleman-tenant, Mr.
Moore, but she evades an answer. What are Mr. Moore's politics?"

"Those of a tradesman," returned the rector; "narrow, selfish, and
unpatriotic."

"He looks a gentleman, and it pleases me to think he is such."

"And decidedly he is," joined in Caroline, in distinct tones.

"You are his friend, at any rate," said Shirley, flashing a searching
glance at the speaker.

"I am both his friend and relative."

"I like that romantic Hollow with all my heart--the old mill, and the
white cottage, and the counting-house."

"And the trade?" inquired the rector.