lice felt that he was a man of
whom a wife might be very proud. He was tall and very handsome, with
brown hair, with bright blue eyes, and a mouth like a god. It was the
beauty of his mouth,--beauty which comprised firmness within itself,
that made Alice afraid of him. He was still dressed in his morning
clothes; but he was a man who always seemed to be well dressed. "My
dearest," he said, advancing across the room, and before she knew how
to stop herself or him, he had taken her in his arms and kissed her.

He did not immediately begin about the letter, but placed her upon
the sofa, seating himself by her side, and looked into her face with
loving eyes,--not as though to scrutinize what might be amiss there,
but as though determined to enjoy to the full his privilege as a
lover. There was no reproach at any rate in his countenance;--none as
yet; nor did it seem that he thought that he had any cause for fear.
They sat in this way for a moment or two in silence, and during those
moments Alice was summoning up her courage to speak. The palpitation
at her heart was already gone, and she was determined that she would
speak.

"Though I am very glad to see you," she said, at last, "I am sorry
that my letter should have given you the trouble of this journey."

"Trouble!" he said. "Nay, you ought to know that it is no trouble. I
have not enough to do down at Nethercoats to make the running up to
you at any time an unpleasant excitement. So your Swiss journey went
off pleasantly?"

"Yes; it went off very pleasantly." This she said in that tone of
voice which clearly implies that the speaker is not thinking of the
words spoken.

"And Kate has now left you?"

"Yes; she is with her aunt, at the seaside."

"So I understand;--and your cousin George?"

"I never know much of George's movements. He may be in Town, but I
have not seen him since I came back."

"Ah! that is the way with friends living in London. Unless
circumstances bring them together, they are in fact further apart
than if they lived fifty miles asunder in the country. And he managed
to get through all the trouble without losing your luggage for you
very often?"

"If you were to say that we did not lose his, that would be nearer
the mark. But, John, you have come up to London in this sudden way to
speak to me about my letter to you. Is it not so?"

"Certainly it is so. Certainly I have."

"I have thought much, since, of what I then wrote, very much,--very