The hymn came to an end; the
congregation were dismissed, and Eleanor perforce turned her face to go
down the aisle again.

Her veil was down and she did not look, but she knew without looking
just when she reached the spot where Mr. Carlisle stood. He stood there
yet; he had only stepped a little aside to let the stream of people go
past him; and now as Eleanor came up he assumed his place by her side
and put her hand upon his arm as quietly as if he had been waiting
there for her by appointment all along. So he led her out to the
carriage in waiting for her, helped her into it, and took his place
beside her; in silence, but with the utmost gentleness of demeanour.
The carriage door was closed, they drove off; Eleanor's evening was
over, and she was alone with Mr. Carlisle.

CHAPTER XII.

AT SUPPER.

_Mar_. "Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of Puritan."
_Sir And_. "O, if I thought that, I'd beat him like a dog."
_Sir Tob_. "What, for being a Puritan? thy exquisite reason,
dear knight?"
_Sir And_. "I have no exquisite reason for't, but I have reason
good enough."

What was to come now; as in darkness and silence the carriage rolled
over the road towards Wiglands? Eleanor did not greatly care. She felt
set free; outwardly, by her own daring act of separation; inwardly and
more effectually perhaps, by the influence of the evening upon her own
mind. In her own settled and matured conclusions, she felt that Mr.
Carlisle's power over her was gone. It was a little of an annoyance to
have him sitting there; nevertheless Eleanor's mind did not trouble
itself much with him. Leaning back in the carriage, she gave herself up
to the impressions of the scene she had been through. Her companion was
quiet and made no demands upon her attention. She recalled over and
over the words, and looks, of the sermon;--the swell of the music--it
had been like angel's melody; and the soft words which had been so
energetic in their whispered strength as she knelt at the railing. She
remembered with fresh wonder and admiration, with what effect the Bible
words in the first part of the sermon had come upon the audience
through that extreme quietness of voice and delivery; and then with
what sudden fire and life, as if he had become another man, the speaker
had burst out to speak of his Master; and how it had swayed and bent
the assembly. It was an entirely new view of Mr. Rhys, and Eleanor
co