see, Sir Richard's escapade-which was a more serious matter than people think-took place a quarter of a century ago. His affections-even if they were tinder-can hardly have been engaged so immediately elsewhere as to have allowed him to marry in less, say, than six months. Indeed, that was about the time we heard he did marry. In that case Hugh would be twenty-three, and if your view of Lady Trevor's age be correct, she would have been a bride at sixteen, which is young, even for France.'

'I only judged by her looks,' murmured the Rector apologetically. The facts, he saw, were against him.

'Of course not. How else does a man ever judge a woman?' observed the widow scornfully. Nevertheless, it can't be denied that she keeps her youth, and that without the help of either paint or powder. If I've any luck I'll find out how old she is, before either of us are twenty-four hours older."

6 Are you going to ask her her age?' inquired Clara demurely. 'Never you mind what I am going to do; but I'll bet you a pair of gloves, Miss Clara, that before the afternoon is over that mystery will be solved.'

I'll take that bet,' said Clara; 'my number is six and a quarter.'

'And mine is six, and you'll want to know it,' replied Mrs. Westrop.

The Rector looked a little grave.

'We do not quite approve of young ladies making bets,' observed Mrs. Thorne for self and partner.

'It will not be the cause of my taking professionally to the Turf, mother, I assure you,' replied Clara composedly.

'Moreover, it is not a serious affair, but only with the gloves,' added Mrs. Westrop, smiling complacently at her little witticism. It seemed, indeed, but a small thing; but, as often happens, it was destined to be the pivot on which a very great thing turned..

CHAPTER XLI.

THE INVITATION.

THOUGH Mrs. Westrop's reference to the uncompanionable character of a trio (save for the singing of glees) is true enough in the general, it had but little application to the particular persons she had in her mind, for so very much was Mr. Gurdon at home with Charles and Lucy, that he was hardly any impediment to their tender goings-on at all. They liked him immensely, and, though so keen of eye and ear, he had a sort of 'Don't mind me' way with him that made him quite the perfection of a gooseberry-picker.' For my part, I don't know a

pleasanter trait in man or woman than the inspiration of this sort of confidence, though at the same time it was funny enough to see a young fellow only the senior of these young people by a month or two thus invested with the attributes of a Grandfather Whitehead. It was a case of 'She saw I saw Esau,' but without either Esau or herself being in the least disturbed by the circumstance.

The two were walking a little ahead of their trusted friend, under the shelter of the low boxwood hedge, in which he appeared to take some botanic interest, when he suddenly called out to them (much as 'Cave' is called by schoolboys), 'There is somebody coming down from the house.' Whereupon Charles straightened his arm, which had a crook in it, in which somehow his companion was involved, and began pointing out to her the beauties of Bridge Hill as though it were a novel object.

Lucy's heart went pit-a-pat,' and when she saw that it was Miss Mumchance who was the intruder upon her dreamland, it went faster still. She knew that it was little' of her, as well as disloyal, to harbour any such suspicion, yet she could not help fearing for a moment that the heiress had come over to Mirbridge to make prey of her Charlie. She thought him such a tempting morsel that nobody could resist him, and quite forgot that she had invited the new-comer with her own lips, the other night at Catesby Hall.

6

This is not the call I threatened you with,' said Miss Mumchance, shaking hands with her very warmly, or I would not have chosen so early an hour. We came over to inquire after your poor father, Mr. Charles, and are glad to hear somewhat better news than we had been led to expect.'

'He is getting on, my mother tells me, as well as can be hoped for, though I have not seen him,' answered Charlie. He is to be kept perfectly quiet, without excitement of any kind.'

'I can easily understand that, and that Lady Trevor also does not wish to be intruded upon at such a time. That is why we came here for our news, instead of to the Court.'

'Oh, but I hope you will come on to us,' said Charlie earnestly, for it would, I am sure, be a relief to my mother to see you. Indeed, I heard her laying special injunctions on the servants that if you were good enough to make "kind inquiries," as the phrase goes, you should not be allowed to go away without seeing her.'

That was very kind and friendly of her,' said Miss Mumchance, and under those circumstance I will certainly call. Perhaps you will come with me,' she added, turning to Lucy. The fact is, I am a little frightened of Lady Trevor,' she whispered, and your presence would make it easy for me. There's plenty of room in the carriage.'

'I'll come, of course; but I think I should prefer to walk,' said Lucy, with an involuntary glance at Charlie that caused the heiress and Mr. Gurdon to exchange significant smiles.

Of course Lucy preferred to be with her lover, but she also shrank from the companionship of Mrs. Westrop, of whom she stood in quite as great alarm as did Miss Mumchance of Lady Trevor, though she had no suspicion of her scheme to make Charlie happy at her expense.

'Then we'll all walk,' said Mr. Gurdon. Two and two, you know, like good little boys and girls,' he added assuringly in response to the momentary shadow of disappointment that crossed Lucy's face.

'Only not the little girls together, and the little boys together, as is done at school,' added Miss Mumchance with wicked celerity.

'But then there's Mrs. Westrop,' objected Charlie naïvely.

'Oh, I'll manage her,' said the heiress, 'if Mr. Charles will give me his hand for a moment up this slippery hill. It's only a loan, my dear,' she whispered to Lucy, as Charles helped her up the steep ascent that led to the veranda. They had scarcely reached it before Mrs. Westrop presented herself at the drawing-room window clothed with smiles.

'How are you, Mr. Charles? Don't trouble yourself to come in to pay me your respects, I beg. You two make such a pretty picture, framed and glazed, that I don't want to see you any

nearer.

She was delighted to see him thus companioned, and when she heard that the young people proposed to walk to the Court, if she didn't mind driving thither by herself, fell into the proposal

at once.

Mrs. Thorne looked towards Clara, hoping, rather than expecting, that she would offer to accompany her guest; but that young lady made no sign. She might naturally have excused herself on the ground that she had been to the Court already that morning, but she was not-indeed, she very rarely was-in an apologetic mood. She disliked the free-spoken widow very cordially, but if she had been her dearest friend, and her life had depended on it, she could hardly have been persuaded to have accompanied her. The Court and all belonging to it were, for the present, hateful to her; and the idea of meeting its mistress, as she must needs do if she would keep the knowledge of her defeat and humiliation to herself, was abhorrent to her mind. So the walking party started on their way in the order most agreeable to two of them, and by no means unpleasing to the other two; for their sympathy with the young couple was a bond of union between Mr. Gurdon and Miss Mumchance of a very genuine kind; each respected the other for the possession of it,

and Mr. Gurdon sang Charlie's praises, and Miss Mumchance Lucy's, with a most harmonious effect.

It is plain that if that happy pair yonder'-for with great consideration they had allowed a space to intervene between them and the others-'could make a match of it, they would have our good wishes,' said Miss Mumchance rather superfluously, but somehow the topic was attractive to her.

'That is all, unfortunately, I have to give them,' said Mr. Gurdon grimly, 'and I don't think they have anything of their own. In such cases the making one and one make one is almost as difficult a feat as it would be in arithmetic.'

'And even if you had anything to give them, I suppose that amazing pride which belongs to you men would prevent Mr. Charles accepting it.'

His companion's tone was so serious that Mr. Gurdon looked up at her inquiringly.

'Well, you know, a fellow doesn't like being beholden to another fellow-that is, to anybody but his own belongings-for his bread and cheese.'

'Oh, yes, he will take bread and cheese, and turtle and venison, and lodgings of a very superior kind, but he will not share the purchase-money of these things even with a friend who has more than he can spend. That is one of the things that make money so hateful to me,' said Miss Mumchance bitterly.

'Still, I have no doubt, you make your money less hateful to other people,' said Mr. Gurdon, smiling at his companion's indignation.

'I can give to the poor, of course, without inflicting any painful sense of obligation; but if I wish to benefit my friend, I find my hands tied by the merest red tape of obstruction. I am like a golden image, not particularly ornamental, but which it is forbidden to melt, and thereby to make useful.'

'Still, you do melt, and it seems to me rather easily,' said Mr. Gurdon, with a glance at the young couple before them.

'It is easy enough to pity people. We know what the Scripture says of those who say, "Be ye warmed and filled," but give no bread-and-coal tickets. I wonder whether Mr. Charles would care to take an agency in Ireland? I have an estate with a good house upon it, that wants looking after by an honest, kindly gentleman, rather than by an expert; as he will be probably shot at, the offer of such a post can scarcely involve much obligation.'

'I only wish I had such a chance to give him,' said Mr. Gurdon earnestly; 'my estate-with its château-is unhappily in Spain, a still more unsettled country. Seriously, I believe our friend Charles would jump at it. Have I really your permission to sound him on the subject ?'

'Well, of course; you surely don't think me capable of a joke, and still less of an effort of the imagination?'

'I think you-but I will not say what I think, Miss Mumchance,' he answered warmly, 'lest in your modesty you should fancy I was paying you compliments.'

'For Heaven's sake don't do that, Mr. Gurdon,' was the grave reply; and the pair walked on in silence till they reached the Court.

Here Mrs. Westrop came up with them in the carriage, and Hugh, as it happened, met the whole party as they entered the hall, and ushered the visitors with unwonted affability into the drawing-room. His face was serious, as suited with the occasion, but not, as usual, saturnine; as Mrs. Westrop afterwards observed, 'grief seemed to agree with him,' for never before had he shown himself so polite to her. When his mother joined them, as she almost immediately did, he transferred his attentions to Miss Mumchance, in a manner that would, perhaps, have been more gracious, and certainly more acceptable to her, if it had been less marked. Mrs. Westrop watched him with 'the tail of her eye' as she talked to Lady Trevor of her invalid, and said to herself, 'The wind has changed to that quarter, has it, Master Hugh, but you shall not cut out your younger brother, if I can help it.' Never were good-natured endeavour and astuteness more ludicrously thrown away than in that good lady's case; in one of her objects, though a secondary one, she had, however, a complete success.

'You have got that lovely locket on, I see, Lady Trevor, which aroused my covetousness on the first day I ever saw you. May I look at it a little nearer ?'

The hostess smiled, and, disengaging the ornament from its little chain, at once placed it in the widow's hand, who took it to the window, as if to admire its workmanship, while Lady Trevor turned her attention to the other visitors.

After a few words about the park and the garden, of which the heiress, as well she might, was expressing her admiration:

'I do hope, Miss Mumchance,' she said, that when my dear husband gets a little better, Mrs. Westrop will spare you to me a few days here, though it is not the time of the year to see our local beauties at their best. It would be quite a charity to me, I do assure you.'

While Miss Mumchance hesitated, the quick-eared widow answered for her.

Mary Anne_shall come, Lady Trevor; you may rely upon that, as far as I am concerned. If she imagines that I can't spare her, she was never more mistaken in her life; though you will find yourself mistaken, too, my lady,' added the speaker to herself, 'if you think that she is coming to be Mrs. Hugh Trevor.'