o her
it was a sacrificial morning--very sacred, very solemn, and very trying
to the nerves.

"I don't think that any girl was ever in such a position before," she
said to her sister.

"A great many girls would be glad to be in the same position," Mrs.
Fielding replied.

"Do you think so? To me there is something almost humiliating in the
idea that he should be asked to take me."

"Fiddlestick, my dear," replied Mrs. Fielding.

Mr. Saul came, punctual as the church clock, of which he had the
regulating himself and was shown into the rectory dining-room, where
Mrs. Clavering was sitting alone. He looked, as he ever did, serious,
composed, ill-dressed, and like a gentleman. Of course he must have
supposed that the present rector would make some change in his mode of
living, and could not be surprised that he should have been summoned to
the rectory; but he was surprised that the summons should have come from
Mrs. Clavering, and not from the rector himself. It appeared to him that
the old enmity must be very enduring if, even now, Mr. Clavering could
not bring himself to see his curate on a matter of business.

"It seems a long time since we have seen you here, Mr. Saul," said Mrs.
Clavering.

"Yes; when I have remembered how often I used to be here, my absence has
seemed long and strange."

"It has been a source of great grief to me."

"And to me, Mrs. Clavering."

"But, as circumstances then were, in truth it could not be avoided.
Common prudence made it necessary. Don't you think so, Mr. Saul?"

"If you ask me, I must answer according to my own ideas. Common prudence
should not have made it necessary--at least not according to my view of
things. Common prudence, with different people, means such different
things! But I am not going to quarrel with your ideas of common
prudence, Mrs. Clavering."

Mrs. Clavering had begun badly, and was aware of it. She should have
said nothing about the past. She had foreseen, from the first, the
danger of doing so, but had been unable to rush at once into the golden
future. "I hope we shall have no more quarrelling, at any rate," she
said.

"There shall be none on my part. Only, Mrs. Clavering, you must not
suppose, from my saying so, that I intend to give up my pretensions. A
word from your daughter would make me do so, but no words from any one
else."

"She ought to be very proud of such constancy on your part, Mr. Saul,
and I have no doubt she will be." Mr. Saul d