rs as dwelt at hand; on which occasion
she was wont to hale a reluctant boy along with her, from the mixed
motives of propriety and his soul's health. Much cudgelling of brains,
I suppose, had on that particular day made me torpid and unwary. Anyhow,
when a victim came to be sought for, I fell an easy prey, while the
others fled scatheless and whooping. Our first visit was to the Larkins.
Here ceremonial might be viewed in its finest flower, and we conducted
ourselves, like Queen Elizabeth when she trod the measure, "high and
disposedly." In the low, oak-panelled parlour, cake and currant wine
were set forth, and after courtesies and compliments exchanged, Aunt
Eliza, greatly condescending, talked the fashions with Mrs Larkin; while
the farmer and I, perspiring with the unusual effort, exchanged remarks
on the mutability of the weather and the steady fall in the price of
corn. (Who would have thought, to hear us, that only two short days ago
we had confronted each other on either side of a hedge,--I triumphant,
provocative, derisive; he flushed, wroth, cracking his whip, and
volleying forth profanity? So powerful is all-subduing ceremony!) Sabina
the while, demurely seated with a Pilgrim's Progress on her knee, and
apparently absorbed in a brightly coloured presentment of "Apollyon
Straddling Right across the Way," eyed me at times with shy interest;
but repelled all Aunt Eliza's advances with a frigid politeness for
which I could not sufficiently admire her.

"It's surprising to me," I heard my aunt remark presently, "how my
eldest nephew, Edward, despises little girls. I heard him tell Charlotte
the other day that he wished he could exchange her for a pair
of Japanese guinea-pigs. It made the poor child cry. Boys are so
heartless!" (I saw Sabina stiffen as she sat, and her tip-tilted nose
twitched scornfully.) "Now this boy here--" (my soul descended into my
very boots. Could the woman have intercepted any of my amorous glances
at the baker's wife?) "Now this boy," my aunt went on, "is more human
altogether. Only yesterday he took his sister to the baker's shop, and
spent his only penny buying her sweets. I thought it showed such a nice
disposition. I wish Edward were more like him!"

I breathed again. It was unnecessary to explain my real motives for that
visit to the baker's. Sabina's face softened, and her contemptuous nose
descended from its altitude of scorn; she gave me one shy glance of
kindness, and then conc