would meet quite early of a morning by the canal; if they did not see
each other then, they made a point of getting a few minutes together of
an evening, usually by the river. So that no hint of their intentions
should reach Major Perigal, the lovers met furtively, a proceeding
which enhanced the charm of their intercourse.

At all times, Mavis was moved by an abiding concern for his health.
There was much of the maternal in her love, leading her frequently to
ask if his linen were properly aired and if he were careful to avoid
getting damp feet; she also made him solemnly promise to tell her
immediately if he were not feeling in the best of health. Mavis, with a
great delight, could not help noticing the change that had taken place
in her lover ever since their betrothal. He, too, was conscious of the
difference, and was fond of talking about it.

"I never thought I'd grow young again!" he would remark.

"What about second childhood?" laughed the irrepressible Mavis.

"Seriously, I didn't. I always felt so old. And it's little Mavis who
has done it all."

"Really, sweetheart?"

"All, dear."

She rewarded him with a glance of love and tenderness.

He went on:

"The past is all over and done with. I made a fresh start from the day
you promised to throw in your exquisite self with me."

Thus he would talk, expressing, at the same time, boundless confidence
in the future, forgetful or ignorant of what has been well said, "That
the future is only entering the past by another gate."

One evening, when he had made bitter reference to the life that he had
led, before he had again met with her, she asked:

"What is this dreadful past you're always regretting so keenly?"

"You surely don't want to know?"

"Haven't I a right to?"

"No. Not that it's so very terrible. Far from it, it isn't. There's an
awful sameness about it. The pleasure of to day is the boredom of
tomorrow. It all spells inherent incapacity to succeed in either good
or evil."

"Good or evil?" she queried.

"It's going to be good now, since I've little Mavis and her glorious
hair to live for."

One evening, he brought a brick to show her, which was a sample of
those he intended manufacturing, should he get the assistance he now
daily expected from his father. She looked at it curiously, fondly, as
if it might prove the foundation stone of the beloved one's prosperity;
a little later, she begged it of him. She took it home, to wrap it
caref