as you say, we'll talk over that some other time. And now I'm
sorry I can't stay any longer. I've twenty or thirty letters to get
written before post-time.'

Adela rose as he did.

'If there's ever anything I can do to help you,' she said modestly, 'you
will not fail to ask me?'

'That I won't What I want you to do now is to read what I've marked in
those books. You mustn't tire your eyes, you know; there's plenty of
time.'

'I will read all you wish me to, and think over it as much as I can.'

'Then you're a right-down good girl, and if I don't think myself a lucky
man, I ought to.'

He left her trembling with a strange new emotion, the begin fling of
a self-conscious zeal, an enthusiasm forced into being like a hothouse
flower. It made her cheeks burn; she could not rest till her study had
commenced.

Richard had written to his sister, saying that he wanted her, that she
must come at once. To Alice his thoughts had been long turning; now that
the time for action had arrived, it was to her that he trusted for aid.
Things he would find it impossible to do himself, Alice might do for
him. He did not doubt his power of persuading her. With Alice principle
would stand second to his advantage. He had hard things to ask of
her, but the case was a desperate one, and she would endure the
unpleasantness for his sake. He blessed her in anticipation.

Alice received the letter summoning her on Monday morning. Richard
himself was expected in Highbury; expected, too, at a sad little house
in Hoxton; for he had constantly promised to spend Christmas with his
friends. The present letter did not say that he would not come, only
that he wanted his sister immediately. She was to bring her best dress
for wear when she arrived. He told her the train she was to take on
Tuesday morning.

The summons filled Alice with delight. Wanley, whence had come the
marvellous fortune, was in her imagination a land flowing with milk and
honey. Moreover, this would be her first experience of travel; as yet
she had never been farther out of London than to Epping Forest. The
injunction to bring her best dress excited visions of polite company.
All through Monday she practised ways of walking, of eating, of
speaking.

'What can he want you for?' asked Mrs. Mutimer gloomily. 'I sh'd 'a
thought he might 'a taken you with him after Christmas. It looks as if
he wasn't coming.'

The old woman had been habitually gloomy of late. The reply she had