the dale; and only left his books here, because he is going
into --shire in a day or two, on some business, that may be will take
him a week or so. The books are safer here you see for the present, for
Stephen lives alone, and is a good deal away, for he edits a paper at
Mowbray, and that must be looked after. He is to be my gardener still.
I promised him that. Well done, dame," said Gerard, as the old woman
entered; "I hope for the honour of the house a good brew. Now comrade
sit down: it will do you good after your long stroll. You should eat
your own trout if you would wait?"

"By no means. You will miss your friend, I should think?"

"We shall see a good deal of him, I doubt not, what with the garden and
neighbourhood and so on; besides, in a manner, he is master of his own
time. His work is not like ours; and though the pull on the brain is
sometimes great, I have often wished I had a talent that way. It's a
drear life to do the same thing every day at the same hour. But I never
could express my ideas except with my tongue; and there I feel tolerably
at home."

"It will be a pity to see this room without these books," said Egremont,
encouraging conversation on domestic subjects.

"So it will," said Gerard. "I have got very few of my own. But my
daughter will be able to fill the shelves in time, I warrant."

"Your daughter--she is coming to live with you?"

"Yes; that is the reason why Stephen quits us. He only remained here
until Sybil could keep my house, and that happy day is at hand."

"That is a great compensation for the loss of your friend," said
Egremont.

"And yet she talks of flitting," said Gerard, in a rather melancholy
tone. "She hankers after the cloister. She has passed a still, sweet
life in the convent here; the Superior is the sister of my employer and
a very saint on earth; and Sybil knows nothing of the real world except
its sufferings. No matter," he added more cheerfully; "I would not have
her take the veil rashly, but if I lose her it may be for the best. For
the married life of a woman of our class in the present condition of our
country is a lease of woe," he added shaking his head, "slaves, and the
slaves of slaves? Even woman's spirit cannot stand against it; and it
can bear against more than we can, master."

"Your daughter is not made for the common cares of life," said Egremont.

"We'll not talk of them," said Gerard. "Sybil has an English heart, and
that's not easily broken