portunity. Would she permit him to meet her and
Miss Ringrose at Hampstead? Without shadow of constraint or
affectation, Eve replied that such a meeting would give her pleasure:
she mentioned place and time at which they might conveniently encounter.

He walked with her all the way to the library, and attended her back to
Gower Place. The result of this conversation was merely to intensify
the conflict of feelings which Eve had excited in him. Her friendliness
gave him no genuine satisfaction; her animated mood, in spite of the
charm to which he submitted, disturbed him with mistrust. Nothing she
said sounded quite sincere, yet it was more difficult than ever to
imagine that she played a part quite alien to her disposition.

No word had fallen from her which threw light upon her present
circumstances, and he feared to ask any direct question. It had
surprised him to learn that she subscribed to Mudie's. The book she
brought away with her was a newly published novel, and in the few words
they exchanged on the subject while standing at the library counter she
seemed to him to exhibit a surprising acquaintance with the literature
of the day. Of his own shortcomings in this respect he was but too
sensible, and he began to feel himself an intellectual inferior, where
every probability had prepared him for the reverse.

The next morning he went to Mudie's on his own account, and came away
with volumes chosen from those which lay on the counter. He was tired
of wandering about the town, and might as well pass his time in reading.

When Sunday came, he sought the appointed spot at Hampstead, and there,
after an hour's waiting, met the two friends. Eve was no longer in her
vivacious mood; brilliant sunshine, and the breeze upon the heath, had
no power to inspirit her; spoke in monosyllables, and behaved with
unaccountable reserve. Hilliard had no choice but to converse with
Patty, who was as gay and entertaining as ever. In the course of their
gossip he learnt that Miss Ringrose was employed at a music-shop, kept
by her uncle, where she sold the latest songs and dances, and "tried
over" on a piano any unfamiliar piece which a customer might think of
purchasing. It was not easy to understand how these two girls came to
be so intimate, for they seemed to have very little in common. Compared
with Eve Madeley, Patty was an insignificant little person; but of her
moral uprightness Hilliard felt only the more assured the longer he