I entreat you to let me repair
the damage."

"No, no," she said, "Anthony has given orders; that will all be done."

"But what can I do then?" he cried passionately; "if you but knew my
sorrow--and--and--more than that, my----"

Isabel had raised her grave eyes and was looking him full in the face
now; and he stopped abashed.

"How is Grace, and Mercy?" she asked in perfectly even tones.

"Oh! Isabel----" he began; and again she looked at him, and then went to
the door.

"I hear Mr. Buxton," she said; and steps came along through the hall; she
opened the door as he came up. Mr. Buxton stopped abruptly, and the two
men drew themselves up and seemed to stiffen, ever so slightly. A shade
of aggressive contempt came on Hubert's keen brown face that towered up
so near the low oak ceiling; while Mr. Buxton's eyelids just drooped, and
his features seemed to sharpen. There was an unpleasant silence: Isabel
broke it.

"You remember Master Hubert Maxwell?" she said almost entreatingly. He
smiled kindly at her, but his face hardened again as he turned once more
to Hubert.

"I remember the gentleman perfectly," he said, "and he no doubt knows me,
and why I cannot ask him to remain and dine with us."

Hubert smiled brutally.

"It is the old story of course, the Faith! I must ask your pardon, sir,
for intruding. The difficulty never came into my mind. The truth is that
I have lived so long now among Protestants that I had quite forgotten
what Catholic charity is like!"

He said this with such extreme bitterness and fury that Isabel put out
her hand instinctively to Mr. Buxton, who smiled at her once more, and
pressed it in his own. Hubert laughed again sharply; his face grew white
under the tan, and his lips wrinkled back once or twice.

"So, if you can spare me room to pass," he went on in the same tone, "I
will begone to the inn."

Mr. Buxton stepped aside from the door, and Hubert bowed to Isabel so low
that it was almost an insult in itself, and strode out, his spurs ringing
on the oak boards.

When he half turned outside the front door to beckon to his groom to
bring up the horses, he became aware that Isabel was beside him.

"Hubert," she said, "Hubert, I cannot bear this."

There were tears in her voice, and he could not help turning and looking
at her. Her face, more grave and transparent than ever, was raised to
his; her red down-turned lips were trembling, and her eyes were full of a
great emotion. He t