lived was novel to him, and suited with his artistic nature. Though his eyes were chiefly for the picturesque, they marked what was going on about him, and in his quiet way he took a great deal of intelligent interest in what he saw.

As to Clara Thorne, he fell at her feet like the rest of his fellow-men. He thought her the divinest woman he had ever beheld, and yearned to paint her. She had promised conditionally. Perhaps,' she said, ' and if he were very good indeed. But her consent in reality depended not on his own behaviour at all, but whether it chanced to suit her in respect of its being agreeable to other people, or rather to one person.

The proposition, which Mr. Gurdon had made in public, had brought a frown upon Hugh's forehead, and it was Clara's object to keep it smooth. The matter was therefore in abeyance; but she made herself very pleasant to Mr. Gurdon, at first, because he was Hugh Trevor's friend, and afterwards on his own account.

In general popularity at the Rectory the painter almost rivalled Charles; but Hugh was not a favourite there. Lucy, for some reason of her own which she did not disclose, disliked him very cordially, and omitted to blame his brother for that unfraternal feeling which now and again peeped out as of yore in that otherwise easy-going and good-natured young fellow. The Rector held his peace about him, which was a very bad sign; it was his nature to see good in men rather than evil, and especially in persons whom Providence had preferred to high places, such as 'a position in the county.'

What Mrs. Thorne thought of Hugh, Lucy ventured to tell her sister a few weeks after his arrival, as they were 'doing' one another's hair one evening-for they had no lady's-maidbefore dining at the Court. They had been discussing the young man together in a guarded way: that is to say, Lucy had been saying things to his detriment, on the authority of others rather than as the expression of any personal opinion, and Clara had been defending him with a sort of jocose indifference which, as the other was well aware, masked her private view of him.

'I don't think you can deny,' said Lucy, 'that he is intensely selfish-everyone seems to agree in that.'

'His mother does not think so,' observed Clara with much gravity; and surely she ought to know.'

'Oh, Clara, how can you? As if everyone does not perceive that Lady Trevor dotes on her elder son to that extent that she thinks he cannot do wrong.'

'And does he?' said Clara, lifting her eyebrows.

'Well, I don't know about wrong; but I heard papa say that Mr. Hugh Trevor did not set a good example in the village.'

'I suppose not; I cannot imagine poor Mr. Hugh even attempting such a thing,' was the dry rejoinder. He is hardly the sort of man one would expect to see teaching in the Sundayschool.'

'Well, I don't know one single person in all Mirbridge who likes him-that's all,' continued Lucy seriously.

Really? Not one? Are you quite sure not one?' said Clara, with an air of pretended coquetry which, as was usual with her fun, more alarmed than amused her sister.

'No, not one; at least, I hope not one, if that one is dear to me;' she answered very gravely.

'What a lot of ones!' exclaimed Clara critically.

'But you're not serious, Clara; I hope you are not really serious,' entreated Lucy. 'You know how charitable dear mamma is, and yet even she has a bad opinion of Hugh Trevor. She says he is such an unwholesome young man.'

'Very likely; she speaks as she finds; you know how mushrooms, which we are so fond of, always make her ill. Now I don't think Mr. Hugh Trevor at all unwholesome; he agrees with me exceedingly well;' then, in answer to Lucy's look of horror and incredulity, she added: 'Perhaps I ought to use the future tense rather than the present; if he does not quite agree with me just yet, I intend him to do so. I can't explain it to you, because you are not scientific, but there is a process of assimilation going on.'

Lucy said no more, for she knew that remonstrance was useless: she even wondered at herself for having said so much. That what she had said had not aroused her sister's anger was, it was clear, because Clara's affections were not set upon this man at all; she had only set her heart on marrying him. Lucy had suspected it from the very first; but now she had heard-or as good as heard it-from Clara's own lips. It seemed too terrible that she (Clara) could dream of entrusting her future to a man like Hugh, who did not love her, but who was to be made to love her; as if such a thing were humanly possible. Miserable as Lucy felt her sister's position to be, there was, however, no visible sign of it; she was spared the pain and humiliation of witnessing the means which Clara used to gain her end. She was above all the ordinary arts by which young women are wont to inveigle their prey-a foolish phrase enough in any case, in this one about as applicable as it would be to the designs of a dove upon a sparrow-hawk. Not a glance was ever seen to pass from her to the object of her pursuit that could be called tender, or which could suggest a mutual understanding; no difference of tone could be heard in her voice when she addressed him from that she used to another. Even Lady Trevor, though conscious that her dear Hugh was attracted towards Clara Thorne, was

but

obliged to acknowledge that the girl was sensible enough to perceive the utter impossibility of anything serious coming of such a thing, and gave him no encouragement.

It was a difficult part to play, for Hugh, who was accustomed to have his own way in everything, was very open in his attentions; about which his mother had not spoken only because she was afraid to speak. She shrank from putting herself in antagonism with him in any way; he never was so demonstrative in his affection for her as she would have had him to be, while, if any cause of disagreement arose between them, he always made her feel it by his manner. Sooner than bring this punishment upon herself, she preferred to let him have his own way in everything, or almost everything.

The Trevors had received one morning an invitation, which hospitably included Mr. Gurdon, to dine at Catesby Hall, and as a matter of course it had been decided to accept it. Sir Richard, indeed, would willingly have been excused: he remembered what country dinner-parties were like, and had no reason to hope that the entertainment in question would be any exception to them. But they were among the lesser evils which his return to Mirbridge had necessitated, and to which he had made up his mind beforehand to submit. It was perfectly obvious that he must go. As to Lady Trevor, though the prospect was still more distasteful to her (because it involved danger to her, if not to her husband), she would not have missed such an opportunity of meeting the county' for a thousand pounds. The introduction must be got over somehow, and it was better that it should happen at Catesby than at any less ambitious mansion; when one is learning to swim it is better to begin in the sea. Moreover, besides the huge size of their mansion, which produced a certain impression (though it was whispered that since her husband's death Lady Joddrell had been overhoused), the family was remarkable for its respectability. Its late owner had been a great legal functionary, and had lined his nest so well, both before and after he had assumed the ermine, that he was known among the irreverent as Fur and Feathers'; but when he died, after purchasing the Hall, and living in it in state for a few years, Lady Joddrell found her income far too small for the old system of expenditure. On great occasions, such as the present might be fairly considered to be, she launched out, but in a general way lived quietly enough, saving money for her daughters, in case, as began to seem probable, they should not be provided for, as such dear girls deserved to be, in another way. Though there were richer and more highly-placed people in the county, there was no one who could impress the proper stamp upon a new-comer, and make him current coin, better than Lady Joddrell; and of this Lady Trevor was well aware.

She was writing her acceptance to the invitation in her boudoir after breakfast, when her eldest son lounged in with his cigarette. It was the custom of Sir Richard, in continuation of his foreign habits, to smoke 'all over the place; and his son was dutiful in following, so far, the paternal example. He had a velveteen suit, with a brilliant scarf-pin, and a watch-chain like & yacht's cable, and looked altogether too town-like; but it could not be denied that he had a very elegant appearance. Dissipation in its early stage has rather a refining effect upon some men, and so it was with Hugh Trevor. His mother looked up at him with admiration mingled with a tender solicitude, as upon some too diligent youth whose health the midnight oil, consumed in studies the object of which was the amelioration of mankind, had somewhat impaired. She held out her disengaged hand to him lovingly, but he took no notice of it.

'I say, mother, if you are writing to Lady Joddrell, please leave me out of your acceptance; I shan't go.'

'Not go, Hugh? what do you mean? Surprise, distress, and even anger were mingled in her tone. It was for his sake that she was going. Not only was it an opportunity of making him known to everybody, but she had already vague schemes of an alliance for him with one of the Joddrell girls, which would help to establish his position.

Just what I say, and nothing less. We have asked the Thornes for that very day, as you know; and it's a shame, and what I call snobbish, to put them off because of these people.'

'But the Thornes can come any day, as we were saying at breakfast; and, in fact, your father has decided the matter. The Thornes cannot come and dine here with you alone.'

'No, but I can dine with the Thornes; there will be plenty of you to go to Catesby without me, and I know I shall be bored to death. If the Thornes were going too, it would be another thing.'

'Well, it's very likely they will be asked, my dear; at all events, I must insist upon your accompanying us. What a slight it would be putting upon Lady Joddrell, and indeed upon the whole party -which is made up for us- -if our eldest son were to decline! I cannot say how you distress me by even proposing such a thing.'

'I am sorry for that, mother; but I think you are behaving badly to the Thornes, and I, for my part, shall show them, by stopping at home, that I think as highly of the Vicarage as of Catesby Hall.'

Under any other circumstances Lady Trevor would have found little difficulty in believing that her son was actuated by these chivalric ideas; but the importance of the matter in hand weighed down in this case all efforts at self-deception.

'You are merely put out, Hugh,' she answered gravely, 'because you had promised yourself a flirtation with Clara Thorne, and you cannot make up your mind to forego it.'

'You may attribute to me any motive you like,' was his angry reply, as long as you leave me out of your acceptance. Indeed, whether you do or not, I am not going.'

'Hugh, for my sake, I entreat you.'

He would have been a churl indeed had he been unmoved by that loving appeal, so eloquently pressed by voice, and hand, and eye, concerning what, after all, involved so small a self-sacrifice on his own part; and he was moved a little way-to exchange his obstinate negation for a querulous questioning.

'What on earth makes you want me to go, mother? I am in no need of patronage, I suppose, from this Lord Chief Justice's widow, even though Charles may be. She can put nothing into my pocket.'

Is it not enough, dear, to say I wish it? Do I ask you to do so many things contrary to your inclinations just to please me?'

'But this is so unreasonable,' he argued sullenly. 'Come, now; let us make a compromise. If you will get the Thornes asked to Catesby, then I will go too, though I have said I wouldn't.'

'How can I get the Thornes asked to Catesby?'

'Oh, you can if you will. You can do anything you please, when you have a mind for it, with father or anyone else.'

An unpleasant smile accompanied his words. He was absolutely reproaching her-the ungrateful hound!-with duplicities which she had practised again and again for his sake upon her husband.

'You think me much cleverer than I am, Hugh,' she said, with a sickly smile; the only way will be to write to Lady Joddrell to say we have asked the Thornes for the very day she has fixed upon, and being such new neighbours, we hardly like to put them off, though they were to be our only guests. Then, perhaps, sooner than lose us, she will ask the Thornes also.'

'Of course she will. There, you see, that's all arranged; and what a fuss you have made all about nothing! I suppose you could not ask that the Thornes and ourselves should be placed together at the dinner-table? There, there, I don't press it; only don't say that I always insist upon having my own way.' Then off he strolled with the injured air of one who has conferred a favour against the grain, or has sacrificed some vital principle to human weakness.

CHAPTER XIX.

AN INVITATION.

On the morning after Lady Trevor had written her diplomatic note to her would-be hostess, there arrived at the Vicarage a social portent in the shape of a smart, cockaded groom, the bearer of a despatch to Mrs. Thorne. It was not a three