love affair; it only brings
trouble.'

'You have proved the truth of my words,' I remarked coolly. 'Very well,
I suppose I must forgive you; only never do it again, on your peril: you
know I am to be trusted.'

'To be sure; you are as true as steel, Ursula.'

'Very well, then: in that case you have nothing to fear. I will be wise
and wary for your sake, and guard your honour sacredly as my own; if I
can give you a gleam of hope, I will. Anyhow, I shall watch.'

'Thank you, dear. And now we will not talk any more about it; now you
know why I wanted you to be her friend. I am glad to think she is so fond
of you.' But I would not let him change the subject just yet.

'Max,' I said, detaining him, for he rose to go, 'all this is dreadfully
hard for you. Shall you go away--if--if--this happens?'

'No,' he returned quietly; 'it is they who will go away. Captain Hamilton
cannot leave his regiment: he is far too fond of an active life. It will
be dreary enough, God knows, but it will not be harder than the life I
have led these twelve months, trying to win her back to her work and to
put myself in the background. It has worn me out, Ursula. I could not
stand that sort of thing much longer. It is a relief to me that she is
away.'

'Yes, I can understand this.'

'It makes one think, after all, that the extreme party have something in
their argument in favour of the celibacy of the clergy. Not that I hold
with them, for all that; but all this sort of thing takes the heart out
of a man, and comes between him and his work. I should be a better priest
if I were a happier man, Ursula.'

'I doubt that, Max.' And the tears rose to my eyes, for I knew how good
he was, and what a friend to his people.

'My dear, I differ from you. I believe there is no work like happy
work,--work done by a heart at leisure from itself; but of course we
clergy and laity must take what heaven sends us.' And then he held out
his hands to me, and I suppose he saw how unhappy I was for his sake.

'Don't fret about me, my dear little Ursula,' he said kindly. 'The back
gets fitted for the burden, and by this time I have grown accustomed to
my pain; it will all be right some day: I shall not be blamed up there
for loving her.' And he left me with a smile.

I passed a miserable evening thinking of Max. Next to Charlie, he had
been my closest friend from girlhood; I had been accustomed to look to
him for advice in all my difficulties, to rely upon hi