embered her
uneven tooth. You may say that was vanity, but in a young girl--and
which of us is not vain, eh? 'Old men and maidens, young men and
children!'

"As I said, she came back to London to her little room, and in the
evenings was always ready with our tea. You mustn't suppose she
was housewifely; there is something in me that never admired
housewifeliness--a fine quality, no doubt, still--" He sighed.

"No," he resumed, "Eilie was not like that, for she was never quite the
same two days together. I told you her eyes were like the sky--that
was true of all of her. In one thing, however, at that time, she always
seemed the same--in love for her father. For me! I don't know what
I should have expected; but my presence seemed to have the effect of
making her dumb; I would catch her looking at me with a frown, and then,
as if to make up to her own nature--and a more loving nature never came
into this world, that I shall maintain to my dying day--she would go
to her father and kiss him. When I talked with him she pretended not to
notice, but I could see her face grow cold and stubborn. I am not quick;
and it was a long time before I understood that she was jealous, she
wanted him all to herself. I've often wondered how she could be his
daughter, for he was the very soul of justice and a slow man too--and
she was as quick as a bird. For a long time after I saw her dislike of
me, I refused to believe it--if one does not want to believe a thing
there are always reasons why it should not seem true, at least so it is
with me, and I suppose with all selfish men.

"I spent evening after evening there, when, if I had not thought only of
myself, I should have kept away. But one day I could no longer be blind.

"It was a Sunday in February. I always had an invitation on Sundays
to dine with them in the middle of the day. There was no one in the
sitting-room; but the door of Eilie's bedroom was open. I heard her
voice: 'That man, always that man!' It was enough for me, I went down
again without coming in, and walked about all day.

"For three weeks I kept away. To the school of course I came as usual,
but not upstairs. I don't know what I told Dalton--it did not signify
what you told him, he always had a theory of his own, and was persuaded
of its truth--a very single-minded man, sir.

"But now I come to the most wonderful days of my life. It was an early
spring that year. I had fallen away already from my resolution, and