f the opposite mountain. Most
of the scene, except where the hills at the end rose highest and shut
out the sun, was bathed in quiet light. The white patches on the
farmhouses, the heckberry trees along the river and the road, caught and
emphasised the golden rays which were flooding into the lower valley as
into a broad green cup. Close by, in the little vicarage orchard, were
fruit trees in blossom; the air was mild and fragrant, though to the
young man from the warmer south there was still a bracing quality in the
soft western breeze which blew about him.

He stood there bathed in silent enchantment, an eager nature going out
to meet and absorb into itself the beauty and peace of the scene. Lines
of Wordsworth were on his lips; the little well-worn volume was in his
pocket, but he did not need to bring it out; and his voice had all a
poet's intensity of emphasis as he strolled along, reciting under his
breath--

'It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,
The holy time is quiet as a nun
Breathless with adoration!'

Presently his eye was once more caught by the roof of Burwood, lying
beneath him on its promontory of land, in the quiet shelter of its
protecting trees. He stopped, and a delicate sense of harmonious
association awoke in him. That girl, atoning as it were by her one white
life for all the crimes and coarseness of her ancestry: the idea of her
seemed to steal into the solemn golden evening and give it added poetry
and meaning. The young man felt a sudden strong curiosity to see her.

CHAPTER III

The festal tea had begun, and Mrs. Thornburgh was presiding. Opposite to
her, on the vicar's left, sat the formidable rector's wife. Poor Mrs.
Thornburgh had said to herself as she entered the room on the arm of Mr.
Mayhew, the incumbent of the neighbouring valley of Shanmoor, that the
first _coup d'oeil_ was good. The flowers had been arranged in the
afternoon by Rose; Sarah's exertions had made the silver shine again; a
pleasing odour of good food underlay the scent of the bluebells and
fern; and what with the snowy table-linen, and the pretty dresses and
bright faces of the younger people, the room seemed to be full of an
incessant play of crisp and delicate colour.

But just as the vicar's wife was sinking into her seat with a little
sigh of wearied satisfaction, she caught sight suddenly of an eye-glass
at the other end of the table slowly revolving in a large and jewelled
hand. T