ed pounds. Miss Euphemia herself never had
any doubt as to its worth, and so the offer in this letter occasioned
her no surprise. She thought, in fact, that the sum named was
considerably less than its market value, but sell it she could not. It
was a sacred trust, and the last link (except the silver spoons marked
"J.") that bound the squalid present to the comfortable past. It was an
heirloom, and she could never bring herself to part with it.

Then the bell rang, and she slipped the letter into her pocket, smoothed
the front of her dress, and climbed the stone stairs to see what Mr
Westray wanted. The architect told her that he hoped to remain as her
lodger during his stay in Cullerne, and he was pleased at his own
magnanimity when he saw what pleasure the announcement gave Miss
Joliffe. She felt it as a great relief, and consented readily enough to
take away the ferns, and the mats, and the shell flowers, and the wax
fruit, and to make sundry small alterations of the furniture which he
desired. It seemed to her, indeed, that, considering he was an
architect, Mr Westray's taste was strangely at fault; but she extended
to him all possible forbearance, in view of his kindly manner and of his
intention to remain with her. Then the architect approached the removal
of the flower-painting. He hinted delicately that it was perhaps rather
too large for the room, and that he should be glad of the space to hang
a plan of Cullerne Church, to which he would have constantly to refer.
The rays of the setting sun fell full on the picture at the time, and,
lighting up its vulgar showiness, strengthened him in his resolution to
be free of it at any cost. But the courage of his attack flagged a
little, as he saw the look of dismay which overspread Miss Joliffe's
face.

"I think, you know, it is a little too bright and distracting for this
room, which will really be my workshop."

Miss Joliffe was now convinced that her lodger was devoid of all
appreciation, and she could not altogether conceal her surprise and
sadness in replying:

"I am sure I want to oblige you in every way, sir, and to make you
comfortable, for I always hope to have gentlefolk for my lodgers, and
could never bring myself to letting the rooms down by taking anyone who
was not a gentleman; but I hope you will not ask me to move the picture.
It has hung here ever since I took the house, and my brother, `the late
Martin Joliffe'"--she was unconsciously in