e blue spectacles could not hide
a pair of keen blue eyes. By daylight Phillis could see that his brown
beard and moustache were tinged with gray, and the hair on the temples
was almost white; and yet he seemed still in the prime of life. It was
a far handsomer face than Archie Drummond's; but the deep lines and
gray hair spoke of trouble more than age, and one thing especially
impressed Phillis,--the face was as refined as the voice.

If Mr. Dancy were aware of her close scrutiny, he took no notice of
it. He leaned his arm against the wall and rested his head against it;
and the thin brown hand was plainly visible, with a deep-red scar just
above the wrist.

As Phillis had regarded it with sudden horror, wondering what had
inflicted it, he suddenly aroused himself with an apology:

"There! it has passed: it never lasts long. Shall we walk on? I am so
ashamed of detaining you in this way; but when a man has had a
sunstroke----"

"Oh, that is sad!" returned Phillis, in a sympathizing voice. "Is that
why you keep in-doors so much in the daylight? at least"--correcting
herself in haste, for she had spoken without thought--"one never sees
you about," which was a foolish speech, and showed she took notice of
his movements; but she could not betray Mr. Drummond.

"Some one else only comes out in the evening," he rejoined, rather
pointedly. "Who told you I kept in-doors in the daylight? Oh, I know!"
the frown passing from his face, for he had spoken quickly and in
annoyed fashion. "This sounds like a parson's prating: I know the
language of old. By the bye, did you set the clergy on my track?"
turning the blue spectacles full on the embarrassed Phillis.

"I?--no indeed!" and then she went on frankly: "Mr. Drummond was at
our house, and he told us that he always called on Mrs. Williams's
lodgers."

"True, Miss Challoner; but how did his reverence know Mrs. Williams
had a lodger?"

This was awkward, but Phillis steered her way through the difficulty
with her usual dexterity.

"I mentioned to my mother that you were kind enough to see me home,
and she repeated the fact to Mr. Drummond."

"Thank you, Miss Challanor; now I understand. I wonder if your mother
would be very shocked if a stranger intruded upon her? but you and I
must have some more conversation together, and I do not see how it is
to be managed in accordance with what you ladies call _les
convenances_."

"My mother----" began Phillis, demurely; and then