with correctness and skill. In its numerous repetitions on
the sides and edges of the leaves, Knight began to notice a peculiarity.
All the feminine saints had one type of feature. There were large nimbi
and small nimbi about their drooping heads, but the face was always the
same. That profile--how well Knight knew that profile!

Had there been but one specimen of the familiar countenance, he might
have passed over the resemblance as accidental; but a repetition meant
more. Knight thought anew of Smith's hasty words earlier in the day, and
looked at the sketches again and again.

On the young man's entry, Knight said with palpable agitation--

'Stephen, who are those intended for?'

Stephen looked over the book with utter unconcern, 'Saints and angels,
done in my leisure moments. They were intended as designs for the
stained glass of an English church.'

'But whom do you idealize by that type of woman you always adopt for the
Virgin?'

'Nobody.'

And then a thought raced along Stephen's mind and he looked up at his
friend.

The truth is, Stephen's introduction of Elfride's lineaments had been so
unconscious that he had not at first understood his companion's drift.
The hand, like the tongue, easily acquires the trick of repetition by
rote, without calling in the mind to assist at all; and this had been
the case here. Young men who cannot write verses about their Loves
generally take to portraying them, and in the early days of his
attachment Smith had never been weary of outlining Elfride. The
lay-figure of Stephen's sketches now initiated an adjustment of many
things. Knight had recognized her. The opportunity of comparing notes
had come unsought.

'Elfride Swancourt, to whom I was engaged,' he said quietly.

'Stephen!'

'I know what you mean by speaking like that.'

'Was it Elfride? YOU the man, Stephen?'

'Yes; and you are thinking why did I conceal the fact from you that time
at Endelstow, are you not?'

'Yes, and more--more.'

'I did it for the best; blame me if you will; I did it for the best. And
now say how could I be with you afterwards as I had been before?'

'I don't know at all; I can't say.'

Knight remained fixed in thought, and once he murmured--

'I had a suspicion this afternoon that there might be some such meaning
in your words about my taking her away. But I dismissed it. How came you
to know her?' he presently asked, in almost a peremptory tone.

'I went down about the chur