offrey triumphantly. "Whisper!" He bent his head,
and Esmeralda put her ear to his lips, her face alight with expectation.

"Oh!" she cried rapturously, and again, "Oh!" and "_Oh_" in ever-
ascending tones of delight. "Do you mean it, Geoff--really--really?
It's like a fairy-tale--so perfectly lovely and charming! I shan't
sleep a wink--I know I shan't! Geoffrey, you darling, I do love you for
thinking of it!" and in an ecstasy of delight she threw her arms round
his neck and kissed him rapturously.

"Any letters for the post, madam?" asked an even voice from the end of
the corridor, and the husband wrenched himself free, while the wife
stared after the departing figure with gloomy eyes.

"He saw me kiss you! The only marvel is he didn't offer to do it for
me. The strain of behaving properly before that man will be the death
of me, Geoffrey Hilliard!"

CHAPTER EIGHT.

A SURPRISE VISIT.

The next two days Jack came home early from the city, where a remarkable
cessation of work had happened simultaneously with the arrival of Miss
Sylvia Trevor at Number Three, Rutland Road. Bridgie trotted about the
house preparing for the festival on Thursday, and Sylvia lay idly upon
the couch, with nothing better to do than to listen, sympathise, and
admire.

It was easy to listen, for in truth Jack gave her no opportunity to do
anything else; it was impossible to resist admiring, for he made a
handsome figure, with his broad, muscular shoulders, graceful carriage,
and clean-shaven face; it had seemed at first sight as if sympathy were
not required, but Master Jack invented a fresh crop of imaginary woes
every time that he met a pretty girl, for the express purpose of
receiving consolation. Sylvia beheld in him an exile from home and
country, toiling at an uncongenial task, for the maintenance of his
orphaned brothers and sisters, and was vaguely given to understand that
since meeting her, his poverty had become an even more painful barrier
to his hopes. He confided in her details of business, which she
understood as well as a buried language, and asked her advice on knotty
points in such a flattering manner that she forgot to notice that he
never paused for a reply, and when at last he reluctantly rose to leave
the room he sighed profoundly, and in a voice touched with emotion
declared that she had helped him as he had never before been helped!

"I cannot thank you enough for your sympathy and counsel, but I sha