ad complained again and again of
the suspense to which she was subjecting the man;--but she knew on
the other hand that her friend Janet did this in her intense anxiety
to promote the match. Was it wrong to say to the man--"I will wait
and try?" Her friend told her that to say that she would wait and
try, was in truth to say that she would take him at some future
time;--that any girl who said so had almost committed herself to
such a decision;--that the very fact that she was waiting and trying
to love a man ought to bind her to the man at last. Such certainly
had not been her own idea. As far as she could at present look into
her own future feelings, she did not think that she could ever
bring herself to say that she would be this man's wife. There was a
solemnity about the position which had never come fully home to her
before she had been thus placed. Everybody around her told her that
the man's happiness was really bound up in her reply. If this were
so,--and she in truth believed that it was so,--was she not bound
to give him every chance in her power? And yet because she still
doubted, she was told by her friend that she was behaving badly! She
would believe her friend, would confess her fault, and would tell her
lover in what most respectful words of denial she could mould, that
she would not be his wife. For herself personally, there would be no
sorrow in this, and no regret.

Her ducking had given her time for all this thought; and then, having
so decided, she went downstairs. She was met, of course, with various
inquiries about her bath. Mr. Gilmore was all pity, as though the
accident were the most serious thing in the world. Mr. Fenwick
was all mirth, as though there had never been a better joke. Mrs.
Fenwick, who was perhaps unwise in her impatience, was specially
anxious that her two guests might be left together. She did not
believe that Mary Lowther would ever say the final No; and yet she
thought also that, if it were so, the time had quite come in which
Mary Lowther ought to say the final Yes.

"Let us go down and look at the spot," she said, after tea.

So they went down. It was a beautiful August night. There was no
moon, and the twilight was over; but still it was not absolutely
dark; and the air was as soft as a mother's kiss to her sleeping
child. They walked down together, four abreast, across the lawn, and
thence they reached a certain green orchard path that led down to the
river. Mrs. Fenw