of the law is to be acted up to,' said the old man, with
more agitation in his voice.

'Yes, exactly.'

'Do you know enough of Miss Aldclyffe's mind to give me an idea of how
she means to treat me?'

'Well, I am afraid I must tell you that though I know very little of her
mind as a rule, in this matter I believe she will be rather peremptory;
she might share to the extent of a sixth or an eighth perhaps, in
consideration of her getting new lamps for old, but I should hardly
think more.'

The steward stepped upon the stile, and Mr. Springrove went along the
road with a bowed head and heavy footsteps towards his niece's cottage,
in which, rather against the wish of Edward, they had temporarily taken
refuge.

The additional weight of this knowledge soon made itself perceptible.
Though indoors with Edward or Adelaide nearly the whole of the
afternoon, nothing more than monosyllabic replies could be drawn from
him. Edward continually discovered him looking fixedly at the wall or
floor, quite unconscious of another's presence. At supper he ate just as
usual, but quite mechanically, and with the same abstraction.

4. DECEMBER THE THIRD

The next morning he was in no better spirits. Afternoon came: his son
was alarmed, and managed to draw from him an account of the conversation
with the steward.

'Nonsense; he knows nothing about it,' said Edward vehemently. 'I'll see
Miss Aldclyffe myself. Now promise me, father, that you'll not believe
till I come back, and tell you to believe it, that Miss Aldclyffe will
do any such unjust thing.'

Edward started at once for Knapwater House. He strode rapidly along the
high-road, till he reached a wicket where a footpath allowed of a short
cut to the mansion. Here he leant down upon the bars for a few minutes,
meditating as to the best manner of opening his speech, and surveying
the scene before him in that absent mood which takes cognizance of
little things without being conscious of them at the time, though they
appear in the eye afterwards as vivid impressions. It was a yellow,
lustrous, late autumn day, one of those days of the quarter when morning
and evening seem to meet together without the intervention of a noon.
The clear yellow sunlight had tempted forth Miss Aldclyffe herself, who
was at this same time taking a walk in the direction of the village.
As Springrove lingered he heard behind the plantation a woman's dress
brushing along amid the prickly husks and leaves wh