g her head, but somewhat
tamed by the unexpected passion of the young man.

"Then you won't say one kind word to me?"

"I can't say anything kinder."

"Very well. Then I shall go away and come again constantly till you
do. I mean to have you. When you come to know how very much I love
you I do think you will give way at last." With that he picked
himself up from the ground and hurried out of the house without
saying another word.

CHAPTER XII.

"WOULD YOU?"

The scene described in the last chapter took place in March. For
three days afterwards there was quiescence in Kingsbury Crescent.
Then there came a letter from Tom to Ayala, very pressing, full of
love and resolution, offering to wait any time,--even a month,--if
she wished it, but still persisting in his declared intention of
marrying her sooner or later;--not by any means a bad letter had
there not been about it a little touch of bombast which made it
odious to Ayala's sensitive appreciation. To this. Ayala wrote a
reply in the following words:

When I tell you that I won't, you oughtn't to go on. It
isn't manly.

AYALA.

Pray do not write again for I shall never answer another.

Of this she said nothing to Mrs. Dosett, though the arrival of Tom's
letter must have been known to that lady. And she posted her own
epistle without a word as to what she was doing.

She wrote again and again to Lucy imploring her sister to come to
her, urging that as circumstances now were she could not show herself
at the house in Queen's Gate. To these Lucy always replied; but she
did not reply by coming, and hardly made it intelligible why she did
not come. Aunt Emmeline hoped, she said, that Ayala would very soon
be able to be at Queen's Gate. Then there was a difficulty about the
carriage. No one would walk across with her except Tom; and walking
by herself was forbidden. Aunt Emmeline did not like cabs. Then there
came a third or fourth letter, in which Lucy was more explanatory,
but yet not sufficiently so. During the Easter recess, which would
take place in the middle of April, Augusta and Mr. Traffick would
be married. The happy couple were to be blessed with a divided
honeymoon. The interval between Easter and Whitsuntide would require
Mr. Traffick's presence in the House, and the bride with her
bridegroom were to return to Queen's Gate. Then they would depart
again for the second holidays, and when they were so gone Aunt
Emmeline hope