hey are convinced the other way, they become what
we call free-thinkers. Interest in the problem is common to both;
it's the nature of the solution alone that differs in the two
cases."

"That's quite true," Alan assented. "And have you ever noticed
this curious corollary, that you and I can talk far more
sympathetically with an earnest Catholic, for example, or an
earnest Evangelical, than we can talk with a mere ordinary worldly
person."

"Oh dear, yes," Herminia answered with conviction. "Thought will
always sympathize with thought. It's the unthinking mass one can
get no further with."

Alan changed the subject abruptly. This girl so interested him.
She was the girl he had imagined, the girl he had dreamt of, the
girl he had thought possible, but never yet met with. "And you're
in lodgings on the Holmwood here?" he said, musing. "For how much
longer?"

"For, six weeks, I'm glad to say," Herminia answered, rising.

"At what cottage?"

"Mrs. Burke's,--not far from the station."

"May I come to see you there?"

Herminia's clear brown eyes gazed down at him, all puzzlement.
"Why, surely," she answered; "I shall be delighted to see you!"
She paused for a second. "We agree about so many things," she went
on; "and it's so rare to find a man who can sympathize with the
higher longings in women."

"When are you likeliest to be at home?" Alan asked.

"In the morning, after breakfast,--that is, at eight o'clock,"
Herminia answered, smiling; "or later, after lunch, say two or
thereabouts."

"Six weeks," Alan repeated, more to himself than to her. Those six
week were precious. Not a moment of them must be lost. "Then I
think," he went on quietly, "I shall call tomorrow."

A wave of conscious pleasure broke over Herminia's cheek, blush
rose on white lily; but she answered nothing. She was glad this
kindred soul should seem in such a hurry to renew her acquaintance.

II.

Next afternoon, about two o'clock, Alan called with a tremulous
heart at the cottage. Herminia had heard not a little of him
meanwhile from her friend Mrs. Dewsbury. "He's a charming young
man, my dear," the woman of the world observed with confidence.
"I felt quite sure you'd attract one another. He's so clever and
advanced, and everything that's dreadful,--just like yourself,
Herminia. But then he's also very well connected. That's always
something, especially when one's an oddity. You wouldn't go down
one bit you