rceptions had detected tacit
understanding, community of interest, a habit of thought and manner,--in
short, a common language, unknown to him, between the two. And, more than
these, the Victoria of the blissful excursions he had known was changed
as she had spoken to him--constrained, distant, apart; although still
dispensing kindness, going out of her way to bring Hilary home, and to
tell him of Hilary's accident. Rumour, which cannot be confined in casks
or bottles, had since informed Austen Vane that Mr. Rangely had spent the
day with Victoria, and had remained at Fairview far into the evening;
rumour went farther (thanks to Mrs. Pomfret) and declared the engagement
already an accomplished fact. And to Austen, in the twilight in front of
Jabe Jenney's, the affair might well have assumed the proportions of an
intimacy of long standing rather than that of the chance acquaintance of
an hour. Friends in common, modes of life in common, and incidents in
common are apt to sweep away preliminaries.

Such were Austen's thoughts as he drove to Fairview that September
afternoon when the leaves were turning their white backs to the northwest
breeze. The sun was still high, and the distant hills and mountains were
as yet scarce stained with blue, and stood out in startling clearness
against the sky. Would he see her? That were a pain he scarce dared
contemplate.

He reached the arched entrance, was on the drive. Here was the path again
by which she had come down the hillside; here was the very stone on which
she had stood--awaiting him. Why? Why had she done that? Well-remembered
figure amidst the yellow leaves dancing in the sunlight! Here he had
stopped, perforce, and here he had looked up into his face and smiled and
spoken!

At length he gained the plateau across which the driveway ran, between
round young maples, straight to Fairview House, and he remembered the
stares from the tea-tables, and how she had come out to his rescue. Now
the lawn was deserted, save for a gardener among the shrubs. He rang the
stable-bell, and as he waited for an answer to his summons, the sense of
his remoteness from these surroundings of hers deepened, and with a touch
of inevitable humour he recalled the low-ceiled bedroom at Mr. Jenney's
and the kitchen in Hanover Street; the annual cost of the care of that
lawn and driveway might well have maintained one of these households.

He told the stable-boy to wait. It is to be remarked as curiou