had waited to call at
the Wood House this afternoon your sister would have been with you."

"And it is something you do not wish her to hear?" and Elizabeth's
slight frown vanished.

"Well, I thought it would be better to talk it over with you first. I
have seen the Jacobis, Miss Templeton, and I must confess that I am not
favourably impressed by them."

"Cedric is with them now," exclaimed Elizabeth in rather a distressed
voice. "Dinah heard from him this morning; he is very happy, having a
good old time, as he expresses it. He saw the Godfreys before they left
for Scotland."

"They have gone then--what a pity!" observed Malcolm. Then Elizabeth
looked at him inquiringly.

"You mean on Cedric's account. Yes, I am sorry too. Will you tell me
all you can about the Jacobis?" And then Malcolm, with masculine
brevity and great distinctness, retailed his impressions of the brother
and sister. Elizabeth's face grew grave as she listened.

"Oh, I am sorry!" she exclaimed. "What will poor Dinah say when I tell
her; she is so anxious for Cedric to choose his friends well, and by
your account Mr. Jacobi is certainly not a gentleman."

"I thought perhaps you would keep this to yourself;" but Elizabeth
shook her head.

"I dare not; Cedric is her own boy, and I must hide nothing from her.
There was only one thing I kept to myself, but then Cedric told it me
in the strictest confidence. Mr. Herrick, it is an absurd question, for
Cedric is such a boy--but is not Miss Jacobi likely to be the
attraction? You say she is so handsome."

"I might go farther and say she is a beautiful woman," returned
Malcolm. "But tastes differ, you know; I admire Miss Jacobi as I should
a picture or a statue, but I could not imagine falling in love with
her."

"Indeed! I am rather surprised to hear you say that; I thought you were
a lover of the picturesque." Elizabeth's tone was a little teasing.

"I do not deny the soft impeachment," replied Malcolm somewhat
seriously; "but moral beauty and the loveliness of a well-balanced
character outweigh, in my estimation, mere outward beauty. Miss Jacobi
is a stranger to me certainly, but in my opinion there is something
complex and mysterious in her personality; there are hard lines in her
face, and her expression is at once cynical and unhappy. One could pity
such a woman," continued Malcolm to himself, "but one would never,
never yearn to take her to one's heart."

Elizabeth looked at him curiousl