erfect finish passages of surpassing brilliancy growing out of the
national airs of many countries--airs which floated out from the
entanglements of the more rapid portions with an earnest pathos that
held every hearer as with a spell of enchantment.

"Marvellous, marvellous! Bravo!" cried both Mr Rothwell and Mark at
the conclusion.

"My young friend," said Mr Tankardew, "will be glad to give lessons in
music, as an occupation. He will be making my house his home at
present."

There was a slight expression of surprise on every face, and of
something like scorn or contempt on the Rothwells'. However, both the
young ladies at "The Firs" and Mrs Franklin expressed their wish to
engage Mr Randolph's services, and so it was arranged.

CHAPTER SIX.

HEARTLESS WORK.

Music certainly flourished at "The Firs" and "The Shrubbery" under the
able instructions of Mr John Randolph. The young man's manner was
puzzling to his pupils at both houses. With the Misses Rothwell (who
gave _themselves_ airs, besides practising those which were given them
by their master), he was quietly civil and deferential, and yet made
them sensible of his superiority to them in a way which they could not
help feeling, and yet equally could not resent. With Mary Franklin his
respectful manner was mingled with an almost tenderness, ever kept in
check by a cautious self-restraint. What did it mean? It made her feel
embarrassed and almost unhappy. She had no wish to entangle the young
musician's affections, and indeed felt that her own were getting
entangled with Mark Rothwell. Mark contrived to throw himself a good
deal in her way at this time, far more than her mother liked, but Mr
Rothwell himself seemed bent on promoting the intimacy, and his son laid
himself out to please. There was, moreover, rankling in Mary's heart
the impression that Mark was being harshly judged by her mother; this
helped to draw her closer to him. He was, besides, an excellent
performer on the flute, and would sometimes come over on lesson mornings
and accompany her, much to the annoyance of her instructor.

On one of these occasions, a little more than a year after the party at
his house, Mr Tankardew was present, having made an unusually early
call. Mark wished him gone, and when the music lesson was over, and Mr
Randolph had retired, hoped that the old man would take his leave; but
nothing seemed farther from that gentleman's thoughts, so that Mark was