e way of
husbands. If you had chosen to wait, you might have mated with a much
wealthier man. But remember, I have not a word to say against your
having him, if you like him. Charlotte is delighted, as you know.'

'Well, papa,' she said, smiling hopefully through a sigh, 'it is nice to
feel that in giving way to--to caring for him, I have pleased my family.
But I am not good; oh no, I am very far from that!'

'None of us are good, I am sorry to say,' said her father blandly; 'but
girls have a chartered right to change their minds, you know. It has
been recognized by poets from time immemorial. Catullus says, "Mulier
cupido quod dicit amanti, in vento--" What a memory mine is! However,
the passage is, that a woman's words to a lover are as a matter of
course written only on wind and water. Now don't be troubled about that,
Elfride.'

'Ah, you don't know!'

They had been standing on the lawn, and Knight was now seen lingering
some way down a winding walk. When Elfride met him, it was with a much
greater lightness of heart; things were more straightforward now. The
responsibility of her fickleness seemed partly shifted from her own
shoulders to her father's. Still, there were shadows.

'Ah, could he have known how far I went with Stephen, and yet have
said the same, how much happier I should be!' That was her prevailing
thought.

In the afternoon the lovers went out together on horseback for an hour
or two; and though not wishing to be observed, by reason of the late
death of Lady Luxellian, whose funeral had taken place very privately
on the previous day, they yet found it necessary to pass East Endelstow
Church.

The steps to the vault, as has been stated, were on the outside of the
building, immediately under the aisle wall. Being on horseback,
both Knight and Elfride could overlook the shrubs which screened the
church-yard.

'Look, the vault seems still to be open,' said Knight.

'Yes, it is open,' she answered

'Who is that man close by it? The mason, I suppose?'

'Yes.'

'I wonder if it is John Smith, Stephen's father?'

'I believe it is,' said Elfride, with apprehension.

'Ah, and can it be? I should like to inquire how his son, my truant
protege', is going on. And from your father's description of the vault,
the interior must be interesting. Suppose we go in.'

'Had we better, do you think? May not Lord Luxellian be there?'

'It is not at all likely.'

Elfride then assented, since she could d