as he could, allowed the
younger man to set out for the summer-house, which he did at a smart
pace. When he reached it he looked around, and found she was gone.

Somerset was immediately struck by his own lack of social dexterity. Why
did he act so readily on the whimsical suggestion of another person, and
follow the minister, when he might have said that he would call on
Mr. Woodwell to-morrow, and, making himself known to Miss Power as the
visiting architect of whom she had heard from Miss De Stancy, have had
the pleasure of attending her to the castle? 'That's what any other man
would have had wit enough to do!' he said.

There then arose the question whether her despatching him after the
minister was such an admirable act of good-nature to a good man as it
had at first seemed to be. Perhaps it was simply a manoeuvre for getting
rid of himself; and he remembered his doubt whether a certain light
in her eyes when she inquired concerning his sincerity were innocent
earnestness or the reverse. As the possibility of levity crossed
his brain, his face warmed; it pained him to think that a woman so
interesting could condescend to a trick of even so mild a complexion as
that. He wanted to think her the soul of all that was tender, and noble,
and kind. The pleasure of setting himself to win a minister's goodwill
was a little tarnished now.

VIII.

That evening Somerset was so preoccupied with these things that he left
all his sketching implements out-of-doors in the castle grounds. The
next morning he hastened thither to secure them from being stolen or
spoiled. Meanwhile he was hoping to have an opportunity of rectifying
Paula's mistake about his personality, which, having served a very good
purpose in introducing them to a mutual conversation, might possibly be
made just as agreeable as a thing to be explained away.

He fetched his drawing instruments, rods, sketching-blocks and other
articles from the field where they had lain, and was passing under the
walls with them in his hands, when there emerged from the outer archway
an open landau, drawn by a pair of black horses of fine action and
obviously strong pedigree, in which Paula was seated, under the shade of
a white parasol with black and white ribbons fluttering on the summit.
The morning sun sparkled on the equipage, its newness being made all the
more noticeable by the ragged old arch behind.

She bowed to Somerset in a way which might have been meant to