on, will be good enough to let us know how you are if he ever
passes the Grange."

"To be sure I will," was Erle's reply to this, and then he deposited
Fay in her corner of the carriage and took his place beside her. Both
of them leaned forward for a parting look at the brother and sister as
they stood together in the porch.

"What a grand-looking pair they are," observed Erle, as they turned
into the road; "don't you think Miss Ferrers is a very handsome woman,
Fay? I admire her immensely."

"Oh, yes, she is perfectly lovely," replied Fay, enthusiastically;
"she looks so sweet and good; it quite rests one to look at her. But
there is something sad about them both. Mr. Ferrers does not look
quite happy; once or twice he sighed quite heavily when we were
talking. I suppose his being blind troubles him."

"He is a very uncommon sort of man," returned Erle, who had been much
struck by the brother and sister. "He made himself very pleasant to me
while you were having your foot doctored. By the bye, my Fairy
Queen,"--his pet name for her--"Miss Dora gave me a message for you:
she says she shall come up and see you to-morrow, as you will be a
prisoner."

"That will be nice; but oh, Erle, what a pity we shall have no more
delightful walks together. I hope Hugh was not really vexed about our
going to the Grange."

"He was just a trifle testy," remarked Erle, quietly suppressing the
fact that his cousin had surprised him much by a fit of regular bad
temper. "He thinks I am not to be trusted with your ladyship any
more;" and he changed the subject by a lively eulogium on the young
ladies at the vicarage, one of whom he declared to be almost as
handsome as Miss Selby; and he kept up such a flow of conversation on
this topic that Fay had no opportunity to put another question.

Sir Hugh was waiting for them at the Hall door, but Fay thought he
looked very grave and pale as he came to the carriage to lift her out.

"This is a very foolish business," he said, as he carried her up to
her room, his strong arms hardly conscious of her weight; "how did it
happen, Fay?" and she knew at once by his tone that he was much
displeased.

"Erle ought to have taken better care of you; I told him so," he
continued, as he placed her on the couch. "I can not let you go
running about the country with him like this; of course the lanes were
slippery, he ought to have known that."

"You are vexed with me, Hugh," she said, very gently. "You