e in Hintock. Not but that it is well for a medical man
to be married, and sometimes, begad, 'twould be pleasant enough in this
place, with the wind roaring round the house, and the rain and the
boughs beating against it. I hear that you lost your life-holds by the
death of South?"

"I did. I lost in more ways than one."

They had reached the top of Hintock Lane or Street, if it could be
called such where three-quarters of the road-side consisted of copse
and orchard. One of the first houses to be passed was Melbury's. A
light was shining from a bedroom window facing lengthwise of the lane.
Winterborne glanced at it, and saw what was coming. He had withheld an
answer to the doctor's inquiry to hinder his knowledge of Grace; but,
as he thought to himself, "who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who
hath bound the waters in a garment?" he could not hinder what was
doomed to arrive, and might just as well have been outspoken. As they
came up to the house, Grace's figure was distinctly visible, drawing
the two white curtains together which were used here instead of blinds.

"Why, there she is!" said Fitzpiers. "How does she come there?"

"In the most natural way in the world. It is her home. Mr. Melbury is
her father."

"Oh, indeed--indeed--indeed! How comes he to have a daughter of that
stamp?"

Winterborne laughed coldly. "Won't money do anything," he said, "if
you've promising material to work upon? Why shouldn't a Hintock girl,
taken early from home, and put under proper instruction, become as
finished as any other young lady, if she's got brains and good looks to
begin with?"

"No reason at all why she shouldn't," murmured the surgeon, with
reflective disappointment. "Only I didn't anticipate quite that kind
of origin for her."

"And you think an inch or two less of her now." There was a little
tremor in Winterborne's voice as he spoke.

"Well," said the doctor, with recovered warmth, "I am not so sure that
I think less of her. At first it was a sort of blow; but, dammy! I'll
stick up for her. She's charming, every inch of her!"

"So she is," said Winterborne, "but not to me."

From this ambiguous expression of the reticent woodlander's, Dr.
Fitzpiers inferred that Giles disliked Miss Melbury because of some
haughtiness in her bearing towards him, and had, on that account,
withheld her name. The supposition did not tend to diminish his
admiration for her.

CHAPTER XVII.

Grace's