.'

'Ah,' he said humbly, 'I know it now, I am sure of it; but I wish I
deserved my blessing. All these years I have known her goodness. She used
to show me all that was in her heart with the simplicity of a child. Such
sweet frankness! such noble unselfishness! was it a wonder that I loved
her? If I were only more worthy to be her husband!'

I liked Max to say this: there was nothing unmanly or strained in this
humility. The man who loves can never think himself worthy of the woman
he worships: his very affection casts a glamour over her. When I told Max
that I thought his wife would be a happy woman, he only smiled and said
that he hoped so too. He had not the faintest idea what a hero he was
in our eyes; he would not have believed me if I had told him.

Max said very little to me after that: happiness made him reticent. Only,
just as he was leaving me, I said carelessly, 'Max, do you ever go to
Pemberley?'

'Oh yes, sometimes, when the Calverleys are at the Hall,' he returned,
rather absently.

'Pemberley is a very pretty place,' I went on, stopping to pick a little
piece of sweet-brier that attracted me by its sweetness: 'it is very
pleasant to walk there through the Redstone lanes. There is a fine view
over the down, and at four o'clock, for example--'

'What about four o'clock?' he demanded: and now there was a little
excitement in his manner.

'Well, if you should by chance be in one of the Redstone lanes about
then, you might possibly see an open barouche with two ladies in it.'

'Ursula, you are a darling!' And Max seized my wrists so vigorously that
he hurt me. 'Four--did you say four o'clock?'

'It was very wrong of me to say anything about it. Gladys would be
shocked at my making an appointment. I believe you are demoralising me,
Max; but I do not mean to tell her.' And then, after a few more eager
questions on Max's part, he reluctantly let me go.

I had plenty to tell Gladys when she woke that morning, but I prudently
kept part of our conversation to myself. She wanted to know how Max
looked when he got her letter. Did he seem happy? had he sent her any
message? And when I had satisfied her on these points she had a hundred
other questions to ask. 'I am engaged to him, and yet we cannot speak
to each other,' she finished, a little mournfully.

I turned her thoughts at last by speaking about the promised drive. We
decided she should put on her pretty gray dress and bonnet to do honour
to the da