The professor's experiment

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NYPL RESEARCH URRAFUES

3 3433 07487199 1

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PROFBSSf

MRS'HUNGERFORD

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THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT

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^HE PROFESSOR'S

EXPERIMENT

(the duchess)

AUTHOR OP "MOIXY BAWN," "AIRY FAIRY UUAN,"

"MRS. GEOFFREY, ETC., ETC.

NEW YORK
R. F. FENNO & COMPANY

i ia Fifth Avenue

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THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY

53875B

J

Copyright, 1895
Bv MRS. HUNGERPORD

The Professor's Experiment

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER I.
" Thought* are bat dreams till their effects be tried."

The lamp was beginning to burn low ; so was the fire.
Bat neither of the two seemed to notice anything. The
Professor had got upon his discovery again, and once there,
no man living could check him. He had flung his arms
across the table towards his companion, and the hands with
the palms turned upwards marked every word as he uttered
them, thumping the knuckles on the table here, shaking
some imaginary disbeliever there — and never for a moment
quiet — such old, lean, shrivelled capable hands I

He was talking eagerly, as though the words flowed from
him faster than he could utter them. This invention of
his — this supreme discovery would make a revolution in
the world of science.

The young man looking back at him from the other side
of the table, listened intently. He was a tall man of about
eight and twenty, and if not exactly handsome, very close
<S to it. His eyes were dark, and somewhat sombre, and his

mouth was thin-lipped, but kind, and suggestive of a nature
that was just, beyond everything, if hardly sympathetic.
It was a beautiful mouth at all events, and as he was clean
shaven, one could see it as it was, without veiling of any
kind. Perhaps the one profession of all others that most
fully declares itself in the face of its sons is that of the law.
A man who has been five years a barrister is seldom mis-
taken for anything else. Paul Wyndham was a barrister,
and a rising one — a man who loved his profession for its own

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6 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

sake, and strove and fought to make a name in it, though
no such struggle was needful for his existence, as from his
cradle his lines had fallen to him in pleasant places. He
was master of a good fortune, and heir to a title, and ten
thousand a year whenever it should please Providence to
take his uncle, old Lord Shangarry, to an even more com-
fortable home than that which he enjoyed at present.

The Professor had been his tutor years ago, and the af-
fection that existed between them in those far off years had
survived the changes of time and circumstance. The Pro-
fessor loved him — and him only on all this wide earth.
Wyndham had never known a father, the Professor came as
near as any parent could ; and in this new wild theory of
the old man's he placed implicit faith. It sounded wild no
doubt — it was wild — but there was not in all Ireland a
cleverer man than the Professor, and who was to say but it
might have some grand new meaning in it.

" You are sure of it ? " he said, looking at the Professor
with anxious but admiring eyes.

u Sure ! I have gone into it. I have studied it for twenty
years, I tell you. What, man, d'ye think I'd speak of it
even to you, if I weren't sure ? I tell ye — I tell ye," he
grew agitated and intensely Irish here — " It will shake the
world ! "

The phase seemed to please him ; he drew his arms off
the table and lay back in his chair as if revelling in it ; as
if chewing the sweet cud of it in fancy. He saw in his
mind a day when in that old college of his, over there, only
a few streets away — in Trinity College — he should rise, and
be greeted by his old chums and his new pupils, and the
whole world of Dublin, with cheers and acclamations. Nay !
it would be more than that — there would be London, and
Vienna, and Berlin I He put Berlin last because perhaps
he longed most of all for its applause, but in these dream-
ings he came back always to old Trinity and found the
greatest sweetness in the laurels to be gained there ! r^

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 1

" There can't be a mistake," he went on, more now as if
reasoning with himself than with his visitor, who was
watching him, and was growing a little uneasy at the pallor
that was showing itself round his nose and mouth — a pallor
he had noticed very often of late when the old man was un-
duly excited or interested. " I have gone through it again
and again. There is nothing new of course under the sun,
and there can be little doubt but that it is an anaesthetic
known to the Indians of Southern America years ago, and
the Peruvians. There are records — but nothing' sufficient
to betray the secret. It was by the merest accident, as I
have told you, that I have stumbled on it. I have made
many experiments. I have gone cautiously step by step
until now all is sure. So much for one hour. So much for
six, so much for twenty-four, so much — " his voice rose al-
most to a scream, and he thumped his hand violently on the
table, " for seven days — for seven months I "

His voice broke off, and he sank back in his chair. The
young man went quickly to a cupboard and poured out a
glass of some white cordial.

" Thank you — thank you," said the Professor, swallowing
the nauseous mixture hurriedly, as though regretting the
waste of time it took to drink it.

" Why talk any more to-night ? " said the young man
anxiously, " I am going abroad in a few days, but I can
come again to see you to-morrow. It is late." He glanced
at the clock, which pointed to ten minutes past eleven.
The movement he made in pointing pushed aside his over-
coat and showed that he was in evening dress. He had
evidently been dining out, and had dropped in to see the
Professor — an old trick of his — on his way home.

" I must talk while I can," said the Professor, smiling.
The cordial, whatever it was, had revived him, and he sat
up and looked again at his companion with eyes that were
brilliant. " As for this pain here," touching his side, " it is
nothing, nothing. What I want to say, Paul,

8 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

He bent towards Wyndham, and his lips quivered again
with excitement. " If I could send a human creature to
sleep for seven months — then why not for seven years — for
ever ! "

Wyndham looked at him incredulously.

" But the last time "

" The last time you were here, I had not quite perfected
my discovery. But since then some of my experiments
have led me to think — to be absolutely certain — that life can
be sustained with all the appearance of death, upon the sub-
ject, for a foil week at all events."

" And when consciousness returns ? "

" The subject treated wakes to life again in exactly the
same condition as when he or she fell asleep — without loss
of brain or body power."

" Seven days ! A long time ! " The young man smiled.
" You bring back old thoughts and dreams. Are you a
second Friar Laurence ? Even he, though he could make
the fair Juliet sleep till all believed her dead — could not
prolong that unfortunate deception beyond a certain limit.

1 And in this borrow 'd likeness of shrank death
Thou shalt continue two and forty hours. 9

Less than two days — and yet thou Conjuror " — he slapped
the Professor's arm gaily — " you would talk of keeping one
in death's bonds for years ! "

" Ay, years ! " The Professor looked back at him, and
his eyes shone. Old age seemed to slip from him, and for
the moment a transient youth was his again. " This is but
a beginning — a mere start ; but if it succeeds — if life can be
sustained by means of this drug alone— for seven days —
why not for months and years ? "

11 You forget one thing," says the young man. " Who
would care for it ? Why should one care to lie asleep for
years?"

11 Many I " said the Professor, slowly.

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THE PB0FESX01TS EXPERIMENT. 9

He ceased, and a strange gloom shadowed his face. His
thoughts had evidently gone backward into a long dead
past — a past that still lived. " Have you no imagination ? "
he said at last, reproachfully. " Think, boy, think ! When
affliction falls on one — when a grievous sorrow tears the
heart, who would not wish for an oblivion that would be
longer than a sleeping-draught could give, and less per-
nicious than suicide."

" The same refusal in both cases to meet and face one's
doom," says the young man. u You would create a new
generation of cowards."

" Pshaw 1 there will be cowards without me," said the
Professor. " But here, again, take another case. A man
we will say has had his leg cut off— well, let him sleep until
the leg is well, and he will escape all the twinges, the
agonizing pains of the recovery. This is but one instance ;
all surgical cases could be treated so, and so much pain
saved in this most painful world ! "

u Ah ! I confess a charm lies there," said Wyndham.

41 It does. And yet it is to the other thought I lean — to
the dread of memory where grief and shame lie." The
Professor's gaunt face lost again its short return of youth, and
grew grim, and aged, and white. " See," he leant towards
Wyndham, and pressed him into a chair beside the dying
fire, " to you — to you alone I have revealed this matter, not
so much because you have been my pupil, as that you have
a hold on me. You think me dry, and hard, and old. All

that is true. But " his voice grew if possible harsher

than ever. " I have an affection for you."

It seemed almost ludicrous to think of the Professor as
having an affection for anything beyond his science, and his
discovery — with his bald head, and his bleared eyes, and his
cold, forbidding face. The young man gazed at him with
pardonable astonishment. That the Professor liked him,
trusted him, was quite easy to understand — but the word
affection !

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10 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" It surprises you," said the old man, slowly, perhaps a
little sadly. " Yet there was a time ... ." He
moved and poked the fire into a sullen blaze. " I married,"
he said, presently. " And she — well I loved her, I think.
It seems hard to remember now it is so long ago, but I be-
lieve I had a heart then, and it was hers. She died." He
poked the fire again, and most of it fell into the grate — it
was all cinders by this time, and the younger man shivered.
44 It was well. Looking back upon it now,' 1 said the Pro-
fessor, coldly, " I am glad she died. She would have inter-
fered with my studies. Her death left me free ! but for that
freedom I should never have found out this ! " He tapped
some papers lying loosely on the table — three or four pages,
no more, with only a line or two upon them — vague sug-
gestions of the great discovery that was to shake the world
— so vague as to be useless to anyone but himself.

44 You had no children then ? " asked Wyndham, who
had never even heard that he was married until now.

44 One." The Professor paused, and the silence grew al-
most insupportable. u He, too, is dead 1 And that, too, is
well 1 He was of no use. He only burdened the world."

« But "

44 Not a question " The old man silenced him. " I

cast him off." There was something terrible in the indif-
ference with which he said this. 44 He was a fool. A
criminal one. I heard — later — that he had married: no
doubt, as great a fool as himself. I hope so. Set a thief
to catch a thief, you know."

He laughed bitterly — the cruel, mirthless laugh of the
embittered old. 44 For the rest I know nothing," he said.

44 You made no enquiries ? "

"None! Why should I?"

44 He was your son."

44 Well' ? Does that make a black thing white ? No — no.
My son — my child is here 1 " he touched the loose papers
with a loving hand.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 11

Wyndham did not pursue the subject further, and as if to
show that it was ended, he stopped and threw some coals
upon the fire that now seemed to be at its last gasp. A
tiny smoke flew up between the fresh lumps, and after that,
came a little uncertain blaze. The fire had caught the
coals.

The Professor had gone back to his heart's desire.

44 To see the blossom of my labor bear fruit ! That is
my sole, my last demand from life. I have so short a time
to live that I would hasten the fulfilment of my hopes."

" You mean — "

" That I want to see the drug used on a human being. I
have approached the matter with some of the authorities at
Kilmainham, with a view to getting a condemned criminal
to experiment upon, but up to this I have been refused, and
in such a presumptuous manner as leads me to fear I shall
never receive a better answer. Surely a man respited
for seven days, as has been the case occasionally, might as
well risk three seven days in the cause of science."

Wyndham shrugged his shoulders. " I have never met
that man," said he. But the Professor did not hear him.

" The most humane people in the world," said he, " refuse
help to the man who has devoted twenty years of his life to
the cause of humanity. Such an anaesthetic as mine would
work a revolution in the world of medicine. As I have
told you, a man might not only be unconscious whilst a
limb was being lopped off, but might remain so until the
wound was healed, and then made free of pain and perfectly
well, be able to take his part in the world again."

44 It sounds like a fairy tale," said Wyndham, smiling.
44 You have, I suppose, made many experiments ? "

44 On animals ; yes. And of late without a single failure ;
— but on a human body, no. As yet no opportunity has
been afforded me. Either jealousy or fear has stopped my
march, which I feel would be a triumphal one, were the
road made clear. I tell you I have addressed many leading

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12 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

men of science on the subject. I have asked them to be
present. I would have everything above board, as you who
know me can testify. I would have all men look on, and
bear witness to the splendor of my discovery!" Here
again the Professor's strange deep eyes grew brilliant —
once again that queer flash of a youth long ago departed
was his. " I would have it shown to all the world in a blaze
of light. But no man will take heed, or listen. They
laugh. They scoff. They will not countenance the chance
of my killing some one ; as if," violently, " the loss of one
poor human life was to be counted, when the relief of mil-
lions is in the balance ! "

He sank back as if exhausted, and then went on ; his
tone hard, yet excited.

" Now it has come to this. If the chance were given me
of trying my discovery on man, woman or child — I should
take it, without the sanction of the authorities — and with
it that other chance of being hanged afterwards if the ex-
periment failed."

44 You feel so sure as that ? " questioned Wyndham. The
old man's enthusiasm had caught him. He too was looking
eager and excited.

" Sure ! " The Professor rose, gaunt, haggard, and with
eyes that flashed Are beneath the pent brows that overhung
them. 4i I would stake my soul, nay, more, my reputation,
on the success of my discovery. Oh, for a chance to prove
it!"

At this moment there was a low knock at the door.

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THE PK0FE660&X EXPERIMENT. IS

CHAPTER II.

a Of all things tired thy lips look weariest "
******
44 What shall I do to be forever known ? "

Thk handle was turned, and the door opened with a con-
siderable amount of caution (the Professor did not permit
interruptions). It was evidently however, the caution of
one who was suppressing badly a wild desire to make a
rush into the room, and presently a man's head appeared
round the corner of the door, and after it his body. He
came a yard or two beyond the threshold, and then stood
still. His reddish hair was standing out a little, and his
small twinkling Irish eyes were blinking nervously. He
looked eagerly first at the younger man, who was his mas-
ter, and then at the Professor, and then back again at
Wyndham.

" Well, Denis," said the latter, a little impatiently.
" If ye plaze, sir, there's an unfortunate young faymale
on the steps below."

The Professor frowned. As if such an ordinary occur-
rence as that should be allowed to interfere with a discus-
sion on the great discovery. Wyndham spoke.

" If she is noisy or troublesome, you had better call a
policeman," he said, indifferently.

" Noisy ! Divil a sound out of her," said Denis. " She
looks for all the world, yer honor, as if there wasn't a spark
o' life left in her ! Sthretched in the hall she is, an' the
color o' death."

" In the hall ? " said Wyndham, quickly. < " I thought
you said she was on the steps."

" She was. She "—cautiously— 44 was 1 But—" He

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14 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

paused and scanned anxiously the two faces before him.
" It's bitther cowld outside to-night — so I tuk her in."

And indeed though the month was May a searching wind
was shaking the city, and biting into the hearts of young
and old. As often happens in that " merrie month " a light
fell of snow was whitening the tops of the houses.

" I had better see to this," said the young man, rising.
He left the room, followed by Denis (who had stopped to
throw a few more coals on the now cheerful fire), and went
down to the cold, bare, hideous hall below. The light from
the solitary gas lamp scarcely lit it, and it took him a few
seconds to discern something, that lay on the worn tar-
paulin, at the lower end of it. At last he made it out, and
stepping nearer saw that it was the figure of a young and
very slight girl. She was lying on the ground, her back
supported against a chair, and Wyndham could see that
Denis had folded an old coat of the Professor's that usually
hung on the hat stand, and placed it behind her head.

The light was so dim that he could not see what she was
like ; but stooping over her he felt her hands, and found
that they were cold as ice. Instinct, however, told him
that life still ran within her veins, and lifting her quickly
in his arms, he carried her upstairs to the room he had just
left, and where the Professor still sat, so lost in fresh
dreams of the experiment yet to be made, that he started as
Wyndham re-entered the room with his strange burden ; it
was indeed with difficulty that he brought his mind back to
the present moment. He had forgotten why the young
man had left the room.

" She seems very ill," said Wyndham. His man had fol-
lowed him and now, through a sign from his master, he
pulled forward a huge armchair, in which Wyndham placed
the unconscious girl.

The Professor came nearer and stared down at her. She
was very young — hardly eighteen — but already misery or
want, or both, had seized and laid their cruel hands upon

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 15

her ; dabbling in dark bistre shades beneath her eyes, and
making sad hollows in her pallid cheeks. The lips, white
now, were firmly closed as if in death, but something about
the formation of them suggested the idea that even in life
they could be firm too.

It was a face that might be beautiful if health had
warmed it, and if joy had formed a seat within the heart
that now seemed at its last ebb. The lashes lying on the
white cold cheek were singularly long and dark, and Wynd-
ham roused himself suddenly to find himself wondering
what could be the color of the eyes that lay hidden behind
that wonderful fringe.

Her gown was of blue serge, neatly, even elegantly made,
and the collar and cuffs she wore were quite primitive in
their whiteness and simplicity. She had no hat or cloak
with her, but a little grey woollen shawl had been evidently
twisted round her head. Now it had fallen back, leaving
all the glory of her rich chestnut hair revealed.

Involuntarily the young man glanced at her left hand.

There was no ring there. An intense wave of pity swept
over him. Another ! Dear God ! What cruel sorrows lie
within this world of Yours !

The face was so young, so free of hardness, vice, of taint
of any kind, that his very heart bled for her. Misery alone
seemed to mark it. That was deeply stamped. Looking at
her, he almost hoped that she would never wake again —
that she was really dead, but even as this thought crossed
his mind she stirred, sighed softly, and opened her eyes.

For a while she gazed at them. On the Professor im-
passive, silent — on the younger man anxious, pained ; and
then with a sharp, quick movement, she released herself
from the arm Wyndham had placed round her, and raised
herself to a sitting posture. There was such terror in her
eyes as she did this that the younger man hastened to reas-
sure her.

u You are quite safe here," he said, kindly. The girl

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16 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

looked at him, then cast a frightened glance past him, and
over his shonlder, as though looking fearfully for some
dreaded object. " My man found you on the steps outside.
Tou were ill — fainting, he said — so he brought you in here
to," with a gesture towards the Professor, "this gentle-
man's house."

The girl looked anxiously at the Professor, who nodded
as in duty bound, but who seemed unmistakably bored for
all that, and angry enough, to frighten her afresh.

" If you will tell us where you live," said Wyndham,
gently, u we shall see that you are taken back there."

The girl shrank visibly. She caught the little shawl that
had slipped from her, and drew it round her head once
more, almost hiding her face.

" I can find my own way," she said. The voice was low,
musical ; it trembled, and as she moved forward to pass
Wyndham, so did she. She even tottered, so much indeed
that she was obliged to catch hold of a table near to keep
herself from falling.

" It is impossible for you to walk to-night," said the
young man, earnestly. " And there is no necessity for it.
My servant is at your disposal — he can call a cab for you
and he is quite to be trusted — he will see you to your
home."

The girl hesitated for a moment, then lifted her heavy
eyes to his.

" I have no home," she said.

It was a very forlorn answer, and it went to Wyndham's
heart. God help her, poor girl, whoever she was. He
glanced again at her clothes, which were decidedly above
the average of the extremely wretched, and he was conscious
of a certain curiosity with regard to her — a distinctly
kindly one.

The girl caught the glance and turned away her head.

" You can at least sa} r where you want to be driven,"
said he, gravely, but with sympathy ; he hesitated for a mo-
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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMElff. 17

ment and then went on. " So questionB #111 be a6k6d," he
said.

She made no answer to this, and White he waited for onfe
the Professor broke in impatiently,

" Come, girl, speak ! Where do you wtat to go ? Where
do you lire f "

On this followed another shorter siteticfe, And then at last
she spoke.

" I shall not go back," she said. Her tone Was low, but
defiant, and very firm.

"That means you will not tell," said the Professor.
"Then go — do you hear — go! You fire interrupting us
here." He motioned towards the door, Where Deriis fetOdd
mute as a sentinel — he was indeed ari old soldier for* ike
matter of that.

The girl stepped quickly, eagerly forward, tttit Wyrtdbain
stopped her imperatively, and standing between he* and the
door, he spoke to the Professor.

" It is impossible to turn her out tit thid hour— in thin
weather." He stopped, and now looked at the girl and
spoke to her.

"Why can't you trust us?" he said, with ahgry re-
proach. " Why can't you let us do something fbt you t
You must have a boine somewhere, however bad."

The girl thus addressed turned Upon hiih suddenly With
miserable passion shining in her large, dark ey&.

" I have not," she said. " tinder the sky of Odd, thert
is no creature so homeless as I am."

Her passion Was so great that it struck the listeners into
silence. She made a little gesture with her* artns suggestive
of awful Weariness, then spoke again.

" There was a place where I lived yesterday. It Was not
a hoine. I shall hot live there again. I h*¥d left it. I
shall not go back."

" But wherd, then, are you going f " Asked Wyridhaffi im-
pulsively.
2

18 THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT.

11 1 don't know." She drew her breath slowly, heavily.
It was hardly a sigh. There was enough misery in it for
ten sighs. But her passion was all gone, and a terrible in-
difference had taken its place ; and there was such con-
summate despair in her tone, as might have touched even
the Professor. But it did not. He had begun to study her.
He was always studying people, and now a curious ex-
pression had crept into his face. He leaned forward and
peered at her. There was no compassion in the glance, no
interest whatever in her as a suffering human thing, but
there was a sudden sharp interest in her as a means to a de-
sired end. Thought was in his glance, and a wild longing
that was fast growing to a hope.

" Have you no plans, then ? " asked the young man. His
tone was sad. He had looked into the depths of her dark
eyes, and found there no guile at all.

" None ! " She was silent awhile, and then very slowly she
raised her head — her brows contracted, and she looked past
them both into vacancy. If she was communing with her
own heart the results were very sad. Despair itself
gathered in her eyes. She turned presently and looked at
Wyndham. " I wish," said she, with a forlorn look, " that
I had the courage to die."

It was unutterably sad. This young creature,with all
her life before her, praying for courage to end it. Graving
for death in the midst of life, wishing she had the courage
to escape from a world that had evidently given her but a
sorry welcome.

Wyndham looked round at the Professor as if expecting
him to join in his commiseration for this poor, unhappy
child, but what he saw in the Professor's face checked him.
It startled him, and stopped the tide of sympathy for a
time— as great floods will for the moment always catch and
carry with them the milder rushes of the rivers near.

The Professor's face was indeed a study. It was radiant
— alight with a strange and sudden hope. His piercing

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 19

eyes were fixed immovably upon the girl. They seemed to
burn into her as though demanding and compelling an an-
swering glance from hers.

She obeyed the call ; slowly, languidly, she lifted her head.

u So you would die ? " said he.

"Yes," the word fell listlessly from her lips: but she
stared straight at him as she said it, and her young unhappy
face looked nearly as grey as the old merciless one bending
over it.

" Then why live ? " pursued he. " Death is easy."

" No, it is hard," she said. " And I am afraid of pain."

" If there were no pain, you would risk it then f "

She hesitated. His glance was now indeed so wild, so
full of frantic eagerness, that it might readily have fright-
ened one older in the world's ways. To Wyndham waiting,
watching, it occurred that the Professor was like a spider
creeping towards its prey. He shuddered.

" Speak girl, speak 1 " said the Professor. His agitation
was intense, and almost beyond control. Here I Here to
his hand was his chance. Was he to have it at last, or
lose it for ever ? Wyndham could stand it no longer, he
went quickly forward, and standing between the Professor
and the girl, took the former by the shoulders and pushed
him gently backwards, and out of hearing.

" If this drug of yours possesses the life-giving properties
you speak of," said he, sternly, " Why speak to her of death ?
Do you honestly believe in this experiment ? Or do you
fear it — when you suggest this sort of suicide to her ? "

" I fear nothing," said the old man. " But we are all
mortal. We can all err, even in our surest judgments. The
very cleverest of us can be deceived. The experiment
— though I do not believe it — might fail ! "

At the word fail he ronsed.

" It will not 1 It cannot 1 " he cried, with vehemence.
" But in the meantime I would give her her chance, too.
She shall know the worst that may befall her."

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% THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" Why not tell her all 1 " said the young man, anxiously.
li It," hfe hesitated and fcolored faintly. " It would givfe he*
her chance perhaps in another world if your experiment
failed, tt would take from her — in part — the sin of deliber-
ately destroying herself."

*fche Professor shrugged his shoulders. He thought it
wadte of time this preparing for another world — another
Judge.

" You think then that I should tell her."

" I do. I think, too," said Wyndham, strongly, 4< that
if ytiut Experiment succeeds you should consider her in
your debt for ever."

" I shall see to her future, of course."

il If," said the young man, gloomily, " anyone could see
tfc the future of such an one as she is ! "

The Professor looked at him.

u You are out of sorts to-night," he said, " Your nat-
tltfti instinct is deadened in you. That girl does not belong
to the class of which you are thinking. Whatever has
dfitfctt her to hef present desperate state of mind, it is not
Impurity."

u tou think that ! " Wyndham looked doubtful, but
watt still conscious of a faint wave of relief; and the Pro-
fessor watching him, smiled, the tolerant smile of one who
Understands the Cranks and follies of poor human nature.

" If so," said Wyndham, quickly, " she should surely not
be subjected to this experiment at all. Shfe " *

" For all that, I shall not lose this chance," said the Pro-
fessor, shortly. He turned, and went back to the girl.

She was sitting in the same attitude as when he left her
— hfei* hands clenchfed upon her knees, her eyes staring into
the fire. God alohfe knew what she saw there. She did
not change her position, but sat like that, immovable as a
statue, as the Professor expounded his experiment to her ;
attd theti asked her the cold, unsympathetic question as to
whether, now shfc kttfcw what thfc risk wad, shfe would accept

1$. l\ gaight jnj*n cjeaj;!*, tyjt if no*, it wqflM «ea» fftfetj
and protection in the future.

Wfe§n ^e bad f}nishe<}, she turged her sombre eygf on
his.

" I will ta|o the risk," she p%i<|.

Wyndham made * movement aq if to speak, but tfee Pro-
fessor checked him.

** Of course if the experiment is successful/' he wd, 44 I
S^ftll provide for you for life."

" I lppe you will not ^ve tq provide fqr me," sh$ said.

At this, a little §ilence fell upon the roqin, that seeniedto
gfefll 1$. ^he frofes^qr broke it.

" f w ^gree, thm ? "

" I agree." She rose, and hp}d out her hand. "> Qiy^ me

Wyndham started, Ijis Yqicg yibratiflg witfe feorrqr.
f* Bjfq, no," he criec|. " §N does not understand 1 & I H*! ?, **>
the PrQfes§qr, " neither dp yog. Jf this thing feils, i^ W*ll
jnjean jnurder. Think, I entreat yqu, before it is top lat$ |o
(h^ajc. Thjrt girl," ppinting to t\& ypqng stranger, w^o
Was standing regarding j^ w i t ^ g ^jj curiosity—" ?bg }s
ira* ft cfeild. She cannot know fopr qw& inin^. $1)0 qugfet
not to be allowed to settle so stupendous a question, pqqk
at |ter I " gis yojpe shpok. 44 Many 4 happier girl at her
j^ge Tfoujd still foe in her schoqlrooin. §}# is so ypftfig |h*t,
whatever her ^rrp^gs, Ijer sorrows pi$y tje, she has §til} t|n)e
befqr$ her tQ c 9 n fltt e F or live them flpwn. Professor, I im-
pl6re you, do not go on with this."

£he Pfofesgor res^P^ » contemptuous glance pfi bJm for a
njpmegt, tjipn swept it frqin him, and addressed Jjhe gif).

14 Yqu §rp wijlipg ? " he saic|.

44 Yes." She spoke quite firmly, but sh$ w^s lifting frt
Wyndham. It was a 8{,r*nge lpqk, iflacjp HP Q f surprise,
§3$| fpig@ otfrer feeling, Jiardly defined.

44 §he is ijqt ajlj" ferpke |fl Wyndham aga^, veb$p&entjy.
" Tfcfrt if yqu tp bf poRfidefed, tqo. If thi* sleep qf ygur

22 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

making terminates fatally, have you considered the conse-
quences to yourself? "

The Professor smiled. He pointed to the girl, who stood
marble-white beneath the dull gaslight.

44 Like her, I take the risk," he said. " I think I told
you a little while ago that I would chance the hanging."
His smile — a very unpleasant one — faded suddenly, and his
manner grew brusque and arrogant. " There — enough,"
he said. " Stand aside, man. Do you think that now —
now, when at last my hour has come — that I am likely to
let it slip, though death itself lay before me ? "

44 For God's sake, Professor, think yet a moment," said
the young man, holding him in his grasp. 4i She is young
— so young ! .... To take a life like that."

44 1 am going to take no life," coldly. " I see now that
you never had any faith in me at all."

44 1 believe in you, as no other man does," rejoined Wynd-
ham hotly. " But surely at this supreme moment a doubt
may be allowed me. If this thing were done openly in the
eye of day — in sight of all men, it were well — but to try so
deadly an experiment here — at midnight — with no witnesses
as it were — great heavens, you must see the pitfall you are
laying for yourself. If this experiment fails "

44 It will not fail," said the Professor coldly. 44 In the
meantime," he cast a scornful glance at him. " If you are
afraid of being called as a witness, it is," pointing to the
door, 44 still open to you to avoid such a disagreeability."

Their eyes met.

44 1 don't think I have deserved that," said the other,
proudly, and all at once in this queer hour both men felt
that the tie that had bound them for years was stronger
than they knew.

44 Stay then," said the Professor.

He went into an inner room and returned with a phial
and glass and advanced towards the girl with an almost
buoyant step. There was, indeed, an exhilaration

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 23

whole air, that amounted almost to madness. He looked
wild — spectral, indeed, in the dim light of the solitary
lamp, with his white hair thrown back and his eyes shining
fiercely beneath the rugged brows.

44 Are you ready ? " he asked.

She made a slight gesture of assent, and went a step or
two to meet him. She was deadly pale, but she stood with-
out support of any kind. The Professor poured some of
the pale fluid from the phial into the glass with a hand that
never faltered, and the girl took it, with a hand that fal-
tered quite as little, but before she could raise it to her lips,
Wyndham caught her arm.

44 Stop," cried he as if choking. " Have you thought —
have you considered that there is no certainty in this
drug." Her eyes rested for a moment in his.

44 1 thought there was a certainty," she said, slowly.

44 A certainty of death, perhaps," said he, poignant fear
in his tone. " At this last moment I appeal to you, for
your own sake. Don't take it. If you do, it is doubtful
whether you will ever come back to life again."

She looked at him steadily.

44 1 hope there is no doubt," she said. She raised the
glass and drank its contents to the dregs.

As she did so, some clock in the silent city outside struck
the midnight hour.

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U THE P#QFE8SQPti EXPERIMENT*

CHAPTER JII.

"A land of darkness, as darkness itself, and of the shadow of
death j without any older, and where the light is as darkness,"

MeEfijjNg Jia4 broken through the sullen gloom of night,
and still the twp pen watched beside the couch, on which
the gprj Jay, seemingly }n ajl the tranquility of death. The
Professor's drug had been calculated to keep her asleep for
exactly six hours. So long a time would be a test. If she
Jived, and wpfce at the right time, then he would try again.
He would make it wprtb her wb jle. For the younger man,
during thip anxjpus vigil ? there bad been passing lapses of
p)emory ? Jbat bfy however, would have disdained to acknowl-
edge as §|eep ? |>ut witty the pld man there bad been no ques-
tfcn of pJrfiFipi* ; and, now, as the vital moment drew near
that should test the trutji of the great discovery, even
Wyndham grew abnormally wide-awake, and with nervous
Jja^rt-ejnkings watched tfte pale death-like face of the girl.

Could it be unrpa} ? ^Vyndbam rose once and bent over
Jjgr, No faintest t>riea{;ty canie frpm ber lips or nostrils — the
whole face had taken the pinched ashen appearance of one
who had lain for a full day dead. The hands were waxen,
and the forehead too. He shuddered and drew back. At
that moment he told himself that she was dead, and that
he had undoubtedly assisted at a form of murder.

He turned to the Professor, who was sitting watch in
hand, counting the moments. He would have spoken, but
the old man's grim face forbade him. He was waiting. At
twelve o'clock the girl had sunk into a slumber so profound,
so representative of death, that Wyndham had uttered an
exclamation of despair, and had told himself she was indeed
■truck down by the Destroyer, and now when six o'clock

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THE PUQFESSQ&S EXPERIMENT. 26

strikes she ought to rise from ber strange slumbers if the
Professor's drug possessed the powerful properties attributed
to it by its discoverer.

As ^Yyudham stood watching the Professor, a sound
smote upon his ear. One 1 Again the city clock was toll-
ing the hour. The Professor rose, his face was ghastly.
One, two, three, fpur, five, six 1

Six ! The Professor bent down over the girl, and Wynd-
ham went near to him, to be ready to help him when the
moment came — when the truth was made clear to him that
his discovery had failed. Wyndbam himself had long ago
given up hope, but be feared for the old man, to whom his
discovery had been jnore than life or love for over twenty
years.

Tbe Professor still stood peering into the calm face.
Six I and no sign, no change I

Already the sun's rays were beginning to peep sharply
through the window ; there was a slight stir in the street be-
low. Six-thfrty ; and still the Professor stood gazing on the
quiet figure, as motionless as \t. Seven o'clock and still no
inovement. The face now lovely in its calm, was a marble,
and the limbs lay rigid, the fingers lightly locked. Death,
death alone could loofc like that 1

Palf-past seven ! As the remorseless clock recorded the
time, t\xe Professor suddenly threw UP his arms.

K She is plead 1 " be said- " Oh ! my God I "

He reeled forward, and the young man caught him in his
arms. He was almost insensible, and was gasping for breath.
Wyndbam carried him jntp an adjoining room and laid him
on a J>ed, and finding him cold covered him with blankets,
ftyis, $q far as it went, was well enough for the moment,
font what was the next step to be ? The old man lay gasp-
ipg, am} evidently there was but a short step between bis
state and that of his victim outside. Yet how to send for
a doctor wfth that viptifn outside ? To the Professor whose
hours were numbered it would mean little or nc

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26 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

to him, Wyndham, it would mean, if not death, eternal dis-
grace. He drew a long breath and bent over the Professor,
who was now again sensible.

" Shall I send for Marks, or Drewd ? " he asked, naming
two of the leading physicians in Dublin.

The Professor grasped his arm ; his face grew frightful.

" No one — no one," he gasped. " Are you mad. Do
you think I would betray my failure to the world. To have

them laugh — deride " he fell back gasping still, but

menacing the young man with his eye. By degrees the
fury of his glance relaxed, and he fell into a sort of slumber,
always holding Wyndam's arm, however, as if fearing he
should go. He seemed stronger, and Wyndham knelt by
the bed, wondering vaguely what was going to be the end
of it all, and whether it would be possible to remove the
corpse outside without detection. There was Denis — Denis
was faithful, and could be trusted.

Presently the Professor roused from his fit of unconscious-
ness. He looked up at the young man, and his expression
was terrible. Despair in its worst form disfigured his fea-
tures. The dream of a life had been extinguished ! He
tried to speak, but at first words failed him, then —

" All the years — all the years ! " he mumbled. Wynd-
ham understood, and his heart bled. The old man had
given the best years of his life to his discovery, and now —

" I have killed her ! " went on the Professor, after a min-
ute or two.

" Science has killed her," said Wyndham.

"No. I, with my cursed pride of belief in myself. I
have killed her," persisted the old man. " I would to God
it were not sol" He did not believe in anything but
science, yet he appealed to the Creator occasionally as some
moderns still do to Jove. His lean fingers beat feebly on
the blankets. " A failure — a failure," he kept muttering,
his eyes fixed on vacancy. " I go to my grave a failure ! I
set my soul on it. I believed in it, and it was naught."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 27

He was rambling, but presently he sprang into a sitting
posture, his eyes afire once more. " I believe in it still," he
shouted. " Oh, for time, for life ; to prove ... oh
God, if there is a God, grant me a few more days ! " He
fell into a violent fit of shivering, and Wyndham gently
laid him back in his bed, and covered him again with the
blankets, where he lay sullen, powerless.

Try not to think," implored the young man.

44 Think— think— what else is left to me. Oh ! Paul."
He stretched out his arm and caught Wyndham. " That it

should be a failure after all, I wish " He paused, and

then went on, " I wish I had not tried it upon her: she was
young. She was a pretty creature too. She was like

. . . someone " He broke off.

44 She was a mere waif and stray," and Wyndham, trying
to harden his voice.

44 She was no waif or stray of the sort you mean," said
the Professor. "Her face — was not like that. There,"
pointing to the room outside, " go, look on her for yourself,
and read the truth of what I say."

44 It is not necessary," said the young man, with a slight
shudder. And again a silence fell between them. It was
again broken by the Professor.

44 She was full of life," he said 44 and I took it."

44 She wished you to take it," said Wyndham, who felt
choking. Her blood seemed to lie heavily on him. Had he
not seen, countenanced her murder I The Professor did
not seem to hear him, his head had fallen forward, and he
was muttering again.

44 She is dead ! " he whispered to himself. He made a
vague but tragic gesture ; and then after a little while,
14 Dead I " he said again. His head had sunk upon his
breast. It was a strange scene. Here the Professor dying
— out there the girl dead — and between them he, Paul
Wyndham. What lay before him ?

He roused himself with an effort from his horrible

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28 TQE PlfQFltexaps VXPpMtMMT,

thoughts, and made a feint effort to withdraw tys h$nd
from the Prpfessor's ; but though tlje Jatter had fallen injio
a doze be still felt the atteppt at withdrawal, and tightened
his clutch pn Wyndham, and all at once it seeinei} tq the
young man as though tap years had rolled backward, and
he was s.till the pupil, and this old man bis tutor, and the
days were once more present when he had been ordered here
and there, an4 taken his directions from him, and loved and
reverenced him, stern and repellent as he was, as perhaps no
tutor bad ever bpen reverenced before.

After a Jittle while tbe Professor's grasp relaxed, and
^Vyndjiain rose to }iis feet. A shrinking from entering the
room beyond was combattecj by a wi}d desire tp go tbere,
and look once again upon the slender forni pf the girl, lying
|n death's sweet repose upon her couch. He went to the
door, hesitated involuntarily for a second pr two, and then
entered.

How still is death ! And hpw apart 1 Nothing pan ap-
proach it — or move it. He looked at hej: long and earnestly,
and all at once it came to him that she was beautiful. He
bad nqti thought her heautiful Jast n}ght, but now, the dig-
nity pf de#tb ba4 touphed her, and her fear and ber indiffer-
ence and her despair had drppped from her, and the face
shone lovely — the features chiselled, and a vague smile upon
the small closed }ips. He noticed ope thing, and it struck
hjm as strange, — that pinched look about the features that
^e had noticed an h°ur ago was gone npw. ftye mpi}th was
gpft, the rouncjed phin curved as if in life. AJmost there
seemed a little bloom upon the pale cold pbeelfs.

Wit}i a heavy sigh he turned away, and leaning bis arm
upon the mantel shelf gave himsplf up a prey tp miserable
thought. The fire had died opt long ago, and tjie mornipg
was cold and r$w, and frpm under the |ll-fitting (Joor a little
barsh wind was rushing, fhe Professor, though actually a
rich man, bad never cared to change the undesirable 1}P U ?P
that; bad sheltered bun when {frat he tried $ f§U wit)} £>r-

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ME PX0FE8S0&S kXPEklkENT. 29

tune, and conquering it came out at once to the front as a
man not to be despised in the world of science.

What was to be done f The Professor would have to see
a doctor, even if the medical man were brought in without
his knowledge. Would it be possible to remove the — that

girl — and trust to to-night for her removal to . To

where ? Again he lost himself in a sea of agonized doubt
and tincertainty.

Oehis wdtlld still be here, 6f course ; but what could
Denis do t He fell back updn all the old methods bf con-
cealing dead bodies he had ever heard of, but everything
seemed impossible. What fools all those others ibust h&ve
beeh. Well, he could give himself up and explain matters ;
but then the Professor — to have his great discovery derided
And held up to ridicule. The old man's look, as he saw it a
little while ago, seemed to forbid his betrayal of his defeat.
Great heavens, what was tb be done f

He drew himself up with a heavy sigh, and passed his
hatld across his eyes, then turned to go back to the inner
room to see if the Professor was still sleeping. As he went
he tried to avoid glancing at the couch where the dead' form
lay, but when he got close some force stronger than his will
cbmpelled him to look at it. And as he looked he felt
turned into stone. He seemed frozen to the spot on which
be stood ; his eyes refused to remove themselves from what
they saw. Staring like one benumbed he told himself at
last that he was going mad. How otherwise could he see
this thing ? Sweat broke out on his forehead, and a cry
escaped him. The corpse was looking at him !

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30 THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER IV.
" Look then into thine heart and write ! "

Very intently too, and as if surprised or trying to re-
member. Her large eyes seemed singularly brilliant, and
for a while the only thing living about her. But all at
once, as though memory had returned, she sprang to her
feet and stood, strong, and utterly without support, and
questioned him with those eyes silently but eloquently.
The queerest thing about it all to Wyndham was, that in-
stead of being enfeebled by the strange draught she had
drunk, she looked younger, more vigorous, and altogether
another person from the forlorn, poor child of eight hours
ago. Her eyes were now like stars, her lips red and warm
— the drug had, beyond doubt, a property that even the
Professor had never dreamt of; it gave not only rest, but
renewed health and life to those who drank it.

Seeing Wyndham did not, or could not speak, she did.

" I am alive ! Alive ! " she cried, with young and happy
exultation. Where was the desire for death that lay so
heavily on her only a few hours ago f It was all gone.
Now, it was plain that she desired life — life only. Her
voice rang through the room fresh and clear, filling it with
music of a hope renewed, and so penetrating that it even
pierced into the room beyond. And as it reached it, another
cry broke forth — a cry this time old and feeble.

Wyndham rushed to answer it, taking with him his last
memory of the girl, as she then stood, with her arms thrown
out as if in quick delight, and her whole strange beautiful
face, one ray of gladness.

The Professor was sitting up in bed a mere wreck, but with
expectation on every feature. He was trembling visibly.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 31

" That voice," he whispered wildly. " That voice ! I
know it. Long years ago, I knew it. Boy, speak — tell me
whose voice was that."

Wyndham knelt down beside him, and took his hand in
his. He too was trembling excessively, and his eyes were
full of tears.

" Sir," he said softly, " she is alive."

" She. She— Who?" asked the Professor— he bent for-
ward — his features were working.

44 That girl . . . last night . . . She lives, Sir.
Tour experiment has not failed after all."

He feared to look at the Professor when he had said this
and bent his head leaning his forehead on the wrinkled hand
he held. It quivered slightly beneath him, but not much,
and presently the old man spoke.

44 She lives ! " His voice was stronger now. Wyndham
looked up, and found the Professor looking almost his
normal self, and with that expression in his eyes that the
young man knew, as meaning a sharp calculation.

44 Yes. I have spoken to her, will you see her ? "

44 No." The Professor silenced him by a gesture. He
was evidently in the midst of a quick calculation now.

44 The hour she woke ? " he asked presently, with such a
vigorous ring in his tone that Wyndham rose to his feet
astonished.

44 Two minutes ago."

44 Hah I " The Professor went back to his calculations.
Presently a shout broke from him, 44 I see it now," he cried,
victoriously. 44 1 see where the mistake lay. Pool ! that I
was, not to have seen it before. It was a miscalculation,
but one easy to be rectified. An hour or two will do It.
Here, help me up, Paul "

44 But Professor, it is impossible, you must rest ; you — "

44 Not another moment, not one I tell you," cried the
Professor furiously. He lunged out of bed. 44 This thing
must be seen to at once. What time can any man be sure of,

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32 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

that he should waste it ? The Discovery must be assured.
And what time have I 7 "

He fell forward. He had fainted. Wyndham laid him
back, and rushed frantically into the next room.

The girl was standing just where he had left her. But
her arms were outstretched no longer, they were better em-
ployed — they were doing up her hair.

There was a glass on a wall opposite to him, and by this
she was trying to bring herself back to as perfect a state
of respectability as circumstances permitted her.

" You must go," said Wyndham. " And at once. Do
you hear ? At once."

And indeed it was imperative that she should be out of
the house before the arrival of the doctor, for whom he was
now about to go.

She rose. And suddenly gladness died from her face, her
arms dropped to her sides, something of the old misery, but
not all, settled down on her once more.

" I can go," she said. " I — I am not so afraid now when
it is day, but — he said — "

t>oor child, she had remembered the bargain of the night
before. She had not thought it worthy of thought thfen,
believing Death indeed lay before her when she drank that
draught, but, when she woke, when memory returned to her
(and it always came quickly after such a draught as that),
she had gladly told herself that now all her troubles were
at an end, that the old man would provide for her, protect
her. And now this young man, so forbidding, so unkind,
with his harsh voice and ways ; and yet last night he had
seemed so kind !

" He is dying 1 " said Wyndham shortly. " A doctor must
be summoned without delay. I shall arrange for your going
— for your safety, but you must be quick." He rang the
bell for Denis, who was waiting fbr him belo*. The Pro-
feasor's only servant was a charwoman, whb left nightly at
ten, and did not return till the same time next mbrnifag.

T&E PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 33

" You need provide for nothing," said the girl ; she
caught up the little shawl that had been wrapped round her
last night, and moved towards the door.

" Stay a moment, you can't go like this," said the young
man distractedly. " I have a servant who will take you to
some place of safety. It is impossible that you should go
like this. Why — " awkwardly. " You haven't even got a
bonnet."

She stopped and looked at him.

" It is not you who are responsible," she said. " And "
— she drew her breath quickly — "after all no one is. I
took that drug of my own accord, of my own will, but he

did promise to — to . But if he is dying f " She looked

at him anxiously, making the last speech a question.

44 I am afraid so."

44 Then that is at an end." She went towards the door.

44 Wait for my servant," entreated he, following her, and
laying a hand upon her arm. 44 1 cannot allow you to go
like this."

44 1 don't see what it is to you," said she.

" It is much — a great deal. For one thing, the Professor,
if he recovers, would never forgive me for letting you go
out of his life without reparation — without the fulfilment of
his promise to you. You are in his debt remember. It,"
eagerly, 44 was a bargain. And after all, if you throw off
his responsibility now, where will you go ? You say you
have no home. No "

44 Nothing ! Nothing ! " she said. He could see her face
pale again, and again that dreadful look of despair, of hope-
lessness, that had crowned her last night, aged and made
miserable her face.

He turned gladly from the sad contemplation of it to ad-
dress Denis, who had entered the room, his small twinkling
eyes as bright as ever ; but, then, he had slept tranquilly
the whole night through by a kitchen fire, that would have
been hard to rival in heat and brilliancy. Amongst all

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34 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Denis' many virtues, one stood out : he could always be
depended upon to look after himself. And really that is a
great thing in a faithful servant ; so many of them like to
pose as martyrs in the cause.

Wyndham led his servant a little aside.

" You see this " He hesitated for a word, and then

said, " young lady — you will take her away at once. There
is not a moment to be lost. Get her out of the house di-
rectly. I am going for a doctor. The Professor is seri-
ously ill. Do you understand ? You are to lose no time.
You must take her away at once."

Denis stared at him in the appallingly nonunderstanding
way that belongs, I believe, to the Irish servant alone. It
doesn't mean that they don't understand; it only means
that they are taking it all in, with a cleverness that few
other servants can show at a moment's notice.

" An' where, yer honor ? "

" Anywhere out of this ! "

This struck him as abominably unfeeling, and he added
hastily, " To the safest place you know — the very safest. I
depend upon you, Denis. Treat her as you would your own
daughter."

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THE PROFESSOR S EXPERIMENT. 35

CHAPTER V.

"For the shades are about us that hover,
When darkness is half withdrawn,
f And the skirts of the dead night cover,

The face of the live, new dawn."

Ths doctors when they came could do nothing for him.
The Professor, though hardly an old man as the ordinary
acceptation of the word goes, being still within the seven-
ties, had so burnt out his candle at both ends that all the
science in Europe could not have kept him alive for another
twenty-four hours. A spice of gruesome mirth seemed to
fall into the situation, when their declaration was laid bare,
and one thought of the Great Discovery !

Wyndham was the one who thought of it, and a wild
longing to rouse the old man who was now sunk into an
oblivion that presaged death, and compel him even in his
death throes to reveal the secret that might bring even him
back to life, seized upon him. But he felt it was impossi-
ble ; and presently the two great men went downstairs to
consult each other, and he was left alone with his dying
friend.

They had hardly gone when, watching as he incessantly
did the face of the Professor, he noticed a change. He
bent over him.

44 Why doesn't she speak now," said the Professor. He
was thinking of the girl's voice. A voice that had taken
him back to his early days in some strange way.

u Master," said Wyndham — he, too, had gone back to the
old days — " you are thinking "

" Of her. They said she was dead."

4< Who was dead ? " asked Wyndham,

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36 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

At this the old man roused. He had not known Wynd-
ham's voice the first time, but now he did, and he turned
and looked at him ; and presently consciousness once more
grew within his eyes. •

" It is you, boy. And where is she f "

" She ? The girl you mean ? "

" Yes. ... I promised her. You remember . . .
It is late now, very late * . . and I must sleep. But
. . a word, boy ... I have left you all, and she
. . . Out of it . . you must give her . . . Give
her ..." he sank back.

" All — all," said Wyndham, eagerly.

"No . . No" — he rallied wonderfully — "three hun-
dred a year — that for a girl. . . . The rest is yours.
. . . But see to her. ... I can trust you. You
are a good boy. But your Greek, boy — your Greek is bad
— your aorists are weak. You must mend — you must
mend. . . ."

His dying eyes tried to take the old stern look as they
rested on Wyndham — the look he used to give the boy
when his Greek or his Latin verses were hardly up to the
mark, but presently it changed and softened into a wider
light. " The boy " in the last of all moments, was for-
gotten for the love that was strongest of all.

" She was very like my wife," he gasped, Daintly — and
fell back and died.

It was all over. The doctors had taken their departure,
and the old dismal house was very still. The Professor
had died in the morning, and it was quite night again be-
fore Wyndham had time to think of ordinary matters. It
was the presence of Denis, who had come up to see — prob-
abty — how his master had continued to live so long with-
out him — that brought back the thought of the girl to
Wyndham'smind.

THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT. 37

" Where did you take her?" he asked, listlessly. Even
as the words passed his lips he knew it was most important
that she should be found again. She was now the inherit-
ress of three hundred a year — no mean thing for a girl who
only last night was ready and willing to die, of want,
amongst other things, no doubt.

" To the Cottage, sir ! "

44 To " Wyndham gazed at him as if too astonished

to give way to the words that evidently lay very near to
his tongue.

44 The Cottage, sir. Yer own place, sir."

44 The Cottage," repeated Wyndham, now breaking forth
in earnest. 44 What the devil did you take her there for ? "

His extreme anger would have cowed perhaps any other
servant in Europe, save Penis. That good man stood to
his guns without a flinch.

44 Pegs, sir, 'tis you can answer that," said he, with quite
an encouraging air.

44 What d'ye mean, Denis ? " demanded Wyndham almost
violently,

44 I'm manin' — what I'm manin'," said Denis, who cer-
tainly was not violent at all. 4t Ye know yourself, sir, that
the first thing ye said to me about the crathur was to take
her to the safest place ye knew."

44 Well," said Wyndham, with anger he tried hard to stifle.

44 Faix, yer honor, it seemed to me that the safest place J
knew for the young lady was the house that belonged to
yer honor."

This no doubt was distinctly flattering, but at the mo-
ment the flattery did not appeal to Wyndham. The girl
down there : and what the deuce was he to do with her ? —
and what would all the people round be thinking ? — for the
most part country folk. The Cottage lay twenty miles
outside Dublin. The Rector, Mr. Barry, would for one be
positively enraged. He would require all sorts of explana-
tions.

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38 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Denis had waited for a reply, but finding none, now went
on.

" Anything wrong, sir ? "

u Anything ! " said Wyndham. " Were you mad that
you should take a — a person like that down to my house ?
A girl found lying on the Professor's doorstep I Good
heavens, man, what could you mean by it f "

He exaggerated a little when he said " my house." As a
fact he lived very little in the cottage, only using it when
he felt tired and overdone by work. His real home was to
be found in rooms in Dublin; pleasant rooms in Upper
Merion Street. There he entertained his bachelor friends,
and was highly regarded by his landlady. He was one o?
those men — more usual than that the coming young lady
believes — who thought a great deal more of their work and
their reading, and their golf, than of the opposite sex.

" Well, sir, there's this," said Denis, who had remained
beautifully calm. " Besides tellin' me I was to take her to
a safe place, ye specially said as she was to be thrated as
me own daughter. I remimber the words well. Now ye
know well, sir, havin' bin intimate with me an' Bridget
since ye wur in yer first throusers, that we haven't a chile}
between us ; an' yet for all that I tuck it for manin' that
the young lady was to be given to Bridget."

" You took a great deal upon yourself then," said Wynd-
ham.

" May be so," said Denis, pursing up his lips. " But ye
said as how she was to be thrated like that ; an' if a girl
was my daughter, why — I'd take her to Bridget."

It was impossible to go into this involved affair. Wynd-
ham dismissed him with a gesture ; but Denis dallied at the
door.

" I suppose there's something wrong, sir f " persisted he.

" Nothing," said Wyndham, putting a match to his
cigar, " except that you are the most infernal ass I ever
met."

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPEUIMENT. T9

With a heavy heart Wyndham, assisted by a physician
of great note, had gone through the Professor's papers.
There were few of them, and with regard to the experiment
only a few useless notes here and there, principally written
on the backs of envelopes. There was nothing connected
— nothing that could be used. The Professor, it seemed,
had been in the habit of writing on his brain, and on that
only. Alas ! There was nothing left wherewith to carry
on the great discovery !

Wyndham abandoned his search with a sigh. There was
no doubt now that the wonderful experiment was lost to all
time. With this sad ending of it he told himself he had
closed one chapter in his life, but he made a mistake there
— the chapter was only beginning.

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40 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER VI.

"In her is highe beauty without pride,
And youth without© greenhood or folly,
To all her workes virtue is her guide.
Humbless hath slain in her all tyranny ;
She is the mirror of all courtesy,
Her heart a very chamber of holiness,
Her band minister of freedom for airoess ! "

— Chauckb.

41 No," says Susan. The word is not a denial, it is merely
an ejaculative expression of the most extreme astonishment,
largely mingled with disbelief.

The sun is glinting through the trees in the old orchard
right down on her head, striking a light from the glancing
knitting needles she has now let fall into her lap. This old
orchard is the happy hunting ground of the Barry children
old and young ; the place where they rush to in their joy-
ous moments, the place where they crawl to with their
griefs and woes. To-day neither joys nor griefs are near
them, and it is not of sheer love alone for its mossy old
apple trees and its sunlit corners that Susan had tripped in
here a while ago with a dilapidated old novel tucked into
her apron pocket, and the eternal sock with the heel half
turned between her pretty fingers. After her had straggled
Betty, a slender creature of sixteen, and Tom the baby.
Tom was five, but he was always the baby, there having
been no more babies after him, principally because his
mother died when he was born. And last of all came Bon-
nie, the little cripple — hopping sadly on his crutches, until
Susan saw him, and ran back to him and caught him in her
arms, and placed him beside her on the warm soft grass,
putting out her much-washed cotton skirt that he might sit

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 41

upon it, and bo be protected from even an imaginary damp
— and had cuddled him up to her, to the many droppings
of the stitches of the long-suffering heel.

Carew, who came between Betty and Susan, was away,
fishing somewhere in the Crosby river, and Jacky had not
put in an appearance since breakfast. How on earth his
lessons are going to be prepared between this — two o'clock
— and five, makes Susan wonder anxiously — why doesn't he
come home — what can he be doing ?

She has hardly got further than this in her thoughts of
the truant when suddenly he appears upon the scene, a very
rosy, bright-eyed rascal, big with news. Indeed it was the
coming of Jacky and the astounding revelation in his open-
ing sentence, — that he had sprung upon them in the most
unprincipled way, without a word of warning — that had
drawn from Susan that heavily emphasized " No I "

She speaks again now.

u I don't believe it," she says.

" Oh, Susan, why not ? " asks Betty, who is sitting with
her hands folded behind her head, perhaps because if she
brought them forward she might find some knitting to do
too. Idle hands they are, only made for mischief; so is the
face to which they belong.

" Because it's nonsense," says Susan, shrugging her
shoulders, and drawing Bonnie closer to her. " And be-
sides, I don't want to believe it."

" Oh, I do," says Betty, with a little grin from under her
big sun-hat. " Go on, Jacky."

" I saw her, I saw her plain," says Jacky, his rosy round
face fired with joy at the thought of being for once the
bearer of important news. " She was walking about in the
garden."

" In," from Susan, in a severe tone, " Mr. Wyndham's
garden ? "

" Yes, in there." Jacky now looks as though he is going
to burst. " Why don't you believe me. I saw^

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42 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

you. I saw her quite plain. An' her hair is dark, a lot
darker than yours, an' she's got a blue frock like your Sun-
day one, only better ! "

Susan interrupts him with dignity.

" I don't see how, Mrs Denis" (Denis' wife was always
called Mrs. Denis ; if she had any other name, it was sunk
beneath insuperable barriers.) Mr. and Mrs. Denis she
and her husband had been since the Priest poured his bless-
ing down upon them and made them one in the old chapel
built on the rock at the end of the village. This rock gave
the Parish Priest a distinct crow over the Protestant Clergy-
man.

" Ye would quote me the Scriptures, would ye I " Father
McFane would call to Mr. Barry as the latter drove by the
chapel in his Norwegian on his way to the church beyond.
" An' what did Saint Paul say ? ' Like a house founded
upon a rock.' Why here's the rock, man. Come in, come
in ; where are ye going ? "

It occurred every Sunday, and Mr. Barry would smile
back at Father McFane, and nod his head, for the two in-
deed were great friends; as the Protestants and Roman
Catholics often are in small places, until some one comes
into them, with wild news, and absurd tidings, from incen-
diaries outside, to upset the loving work of years.

" I don't see how Mrs. Denis' niece or cousin, or whatever
she is, should have a better gown than mine," says she.

" But she isn't Mrs. Denis' cousin, she's too young," says
Jacky. " She's a girl, and she was pulling the flowers like
anything, and if she belonged to Mrs. Denis she wouldn't
be let do that ! "

Jacky's English is always horrible.

" Oh, you've dreamt the whole thing," said Susan, con-
temptuously. " Run away and play " She has for-
gotten about the lessons.

" Oh, you are a marplot. I am going to believe in Jacky
for once in my life. Don't go, Jacky. Jacky, come back*

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 43

If you don't Aunt Jemima will make you do your les-
sons."

This has a magical effect. Jacky swerves round.

44 She is there," says he, indignantly. 4; I did see her."
He seems to dwell on this fact with gusto. " An' she's not
Mrs. Denis' niece. On old Meany down by the mill says
she's been there for four weeks."

44 The plot is thickening," says Betty, lazily. 44 'Tis a
clever villain whoever she is : fancy her being here for four
weeks without the very size of her shoes being known
throughout the length and breadth of Curraghcloyne.
Four days ought to have done it. Go on Jacky. Had she
a cloven foot by any chance ? "

44 No. But," and Jacky's e^es widen, and he seems to
swell, 44 Meany says she's a prisoner."

44 A what?"

44 Yes ; a real prisoner I She's not let go out of the place.
Mrs. Denis never opens the front gate now, but comes out
by the little green one we can see from the hall door, an'
even that's locked when she comes out an' goes back again,
Meany says."

44 Mrs, Denis very seldom comes out by any other," says
Susan.

44 But she doesn't always lock it behind her," puts in
Betty, who is evidently beginning to enjoy herself.

44 Now she locks the front gate too," says Jacky, trium-
phantly.

44 It's perfectly thrilling," declares Betty sitting up and
growing openly interested. Betty is frivolous. 44 A pris-
oner ! and a young girl ! Can she be the long lost Princess
of our infancy ! And imprisoned by Mr. WyndhamI Oh,
the terrible man."

" She is of course a friend of Mrs. Denis'," says Susan,
with the grand air of one who will have the truth at any
price, and who is bent on dismissing all theories, save the
practical one. " It's the most natural thing in the world.

44 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

We all know Mr. Wyndham told her he wouldn't come ,
down for a month or two, and so she is entertaining a niece
or a cousin, or something.' '

" She isn't a niece of Mrs. Denis', anyway," persists
Jacky, obstinately, "she," with a hopeful, yet doubtful
glance at Betty, whose latest idea has struck him, " she is
much more like a — a princess." Again he looks at Betty
as if expecting her to bring him through this difficulty of
her own making, but Betty fails him, as she fails most
people.

" After all I dismiss the romantic element," says she,
nursing her knees and swaying herself indolently to and fro
in the warm sunshine. " I incline now towards the super-
natural. Susan, addressing her elder sister with due so-
lemnity, perhaps she is a ghost ! " Her face thus uplifted is
sufficiently like Susan's, to let all the world know they are
of kin, but Betty's face, piquant, provocative, as it is, lacks
the charm of Susan's. Betty is pretty, nay, perhaps some-
thing more, for the Barrys are a handsome race, but Susan
— Susan is lovely. It is useless saying her nose is not pure
Greek, that her mouth wants this or that, that her forehead
is a trifle too low. Susan, when all is said, when long argu-
ment has been used, remains what she was before — lovely.
The smiling earnest lips, the liquid eyes, the rippling sunny
hair — all these might be another girl's, but yet that other
girl would not be Susan. Oh 1 beauteous Susan ! with your
youthful, starry eyes and tender, mirthful timid air, I would
that a brush and not a pen might paint you !

" A ghost. Nonsense ! " says she, now contemptuously.
" But," thoughtfully, " what a queer story." And again,
with a wrathful glance at Jacky, " After all, I don't be-
lieve a word of it."

" Oh I I do. I want to," says Betty, who revels in sensa-
tions. "And the ghost development is beautiful. I'd
rather see a ghost than anything. As you looked, Jacky,
did she vanish into thin air 1 "

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TBE PMOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 45

44 No ; only round the corner," says Jacky , reluctantly.
He would evidently have liked the vanishing trick.

44 Very disappointing. But perhaps that's her way of
doing it. Corners are always so convenient."

44 If the gates are all locked," says Susan, turning sud-
denly a magisterial eye upon her brother, " may I ask how
you saw her.'*

44 Ah ! that's part of it. That," says Betty, 44 is where
the fire and brimstone come in. That's what makes her a
ghost. It isn't everybody can see through stone walls,"
said she, lowering her voice mysteriously, and glancing at
the staring Jacky. 44 She had evidently the power to turn
Mrs. Denis' walls into glass ! It's very unlucky, Jacky,
for ghosts to fkll in love with people, and I'm sorry to say
I think this one has developed a mad fancy for you."

44 She hadn't ! " says Jacky, who is now extremely pale.

" Circumstances point to it," says Betty, who is nothing
if not a teaze. 44 And when ghosts fell in love they do
dreadful things to people. Things like this!" she has
risen, and is now advancing on the stricken Jacky with her
slender arms uplifted, and long fingers pointed downwards
and arranged like claws. She has taken to a sort of prance,
a high stepping walk that brings her knees upwards and
her toes outward, and she has worked her face out of all
recognition in an abominable grin. All this taken together
proves to much for Jacky, who, his fiice now visibly paler,
descends precipitately upon Susan.

Susan had been seeing to the comfort of her little
Bonnie, and had therefore been ignorant of Betty's flight
of fancy until the moment when Jacky stumbles somewhat
heavily' against her, and looking up she sees Betty'B diabol-
ical pose.

44 Betty, don't ! " says she, glancing back to Jacky's fece,
which is indeed a mixture of pluck and abject terror.

44 Would you not warn him, then," says Betty, reproach-
fully, returning, however, to her ordinary appearance ; and

46 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

making an aside at Bonnie, a pretence at shooting him with
her first finger and thumb that sends the delicate little
creature into fits of laughter. u Poor old Jacky I " return-
ing to the charge. " It isn't for nothing that ghosts reveal
themselves. It is easy to see that this one has her eye on
you I "

" She hasn't," says Jacky again, who is on the point of
tears. He is evidently not partial to ghosts. " And it

wasn't through a glass wall I saw her — it was " he

stops dead short.

" Yes," says Susan, still severely. " Do be quiet, Betty,
and let him speak. It was ? "

" Through the hole in the wall near the garden," confesses
Jacky, doggedly, but somewhat shamefacedly.

" You see it was through the wall, after all," says Betty,
breaking into a delightful laugh. " She'll get you Jacky,
she'll get you yet."

" I don't think it is a very nice thing to peep through
other people's walls into their grounds," says Susan, more
from the point of view that she is the eldest sister, and
bound to say a word in season now and then, than from any
feeling of horror at the act. " All boys peep through holes
in walls, when lucky enough to find them. How would you
like it ? " says she, " if you were found doing it."

" But it wasn't found," retorts Jacky, sulkily.

44 Susan," Betty breaks into the argument, with a vivac-
ity all her own, u you have no more morality than a cat.
You are teaching him all wrong. It isn't the not being
found out, Jacky, that is of importance, as Susan is most
erroneously bent on impressing upon you ; it is the fact of
peeping in itself that makes you the," shaking her finger at
him, * 4 miserable sinner that you are."

" Sinner yourself," says Jacky, now driven to desper-
ation, and the most unreserved impertinence. 44 1 often
saw you look through the hole in the wall yourself."

At this, instead of being annoyed, both Susan and Betty

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 47

give way to inextinguishable mirth; wherewith Jacky,
who had perhaps hoped that his shot would take effect,
prepares once more to march away. But Betty, making a
sudden grab at him, catches him by his trousers.

" Wait awhile," cries she, still shaking with laughter.
" Susan, seize his arm. Tell us the rest of it. Was
she—?"

" I won't tell you anything ; and I'm sorry I told you a
word at all. Let me go, Betty. D'ye hear. You are tear-
ing my breeches "

" And you are tearing our hearts," says Betty, " Jacky,
darling. Go on ; don't be a cross cat, now, of it. Was
she ?"

"Twice as pretty as you, anyway," says Jacky, with
virulence.

" Is that all? Poor girl," says Betty, who is very hard
to beat. " Prettier than Susan."

" Yes. Lots."

" She must be a real princess then, and no ghost. I'd
like to leave a card upon her. Perhaps you would kindly
push it through the hole in the wall, Jacky."

This is adding to the insult, and Jacky with the loss of a
button or two, and serious injury to his suspenders, breaks
away.

" There now ! " says he, beginning to cry. " Look what
you've done; and no one to mend it, and Aunt Maria will
be angry, and father will give me twenty lines — " sobs
check his utterance.

Susan rises hurriedly, and with a whispered word to
Bonnie, she passes him on to Betty, who in spite of her
carelessness, receives the little fragile creature with loving
arms, hugging him to her, and beginning to ransack her
memory for a story to tell him, such as his soul loveth ;
then Susan slipping her arm round Jacky's shoulder
whispers soft comforts to him. He shall come in now and
do his lessons with her, so that father shall not be vexgrt

48 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT,

this evening, and after dinner (the Rector's family dined at
two, and had high tea at seven) she would take him with
her up to Crosby Park.

Jacky's recovery is swift: his sobs cease, and he
graciously allows himself to be kissed. To go to Crosby
Park is always a joy. The big, huge, handsome place,
with its long gardens and glass houses, and best of all, its
absentee landlord.

It is indeed quite ten years since George Crosby had been
in the Park, and in all probability ten more years were
likely to elapse before he came again. The last accounts of
him were from Africa, where he had had a most unpleasantly
near interview with a lion, but had got off with a whole
skin, and another not quite so whole : The lion had come
to grief.

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TMZ PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 40

CHAPTER VII.

" Where there is mystery, it is generally supposed that there most
also be eYil."

It is three o'clock as Susan, with Jacky in tow, leaves
the Rectory gate and goes up the village towards the broad
road beyond that mounts steepwards to Crosby Park. Cur-
ragholoyne possesses but one street, and a very small one,
too, but as a set off to that it teems with interest.

This morning a pig fair was held in the " fair field " — a
square mass of beaten earth — anything but u fair," and as un-
like a field as possible, and now that the " payers of the
rint " have been mercifully removed, bought or sold — the un-
sightly patch is covered by young colts that are being rid-
den up and down by their owners, with a view to showing
them off; whilst in the far part of the field, over there,
cows, sheep and donkeys are changing owners.

Here, in the main street, much lively conversation is go-
ing on. On the right Salter, the hardware man — a virulent
Methodist who calls himself a Protestant — is retailing to a
hushed and delighted group the very latest ritualistic news
of the curate just lately imported, and who, if a most esti-
mable man, is undoubtedly abominably ugly. Short and
stout and ill-made, poor Mr. Haldane has not proved a suc-
cess amongst the Protestants of the parish. His views are ex-
treme, and so are his looks, and as Betty most unkindly put
it, he should on his ordination have been at once despatched
by the bishop of the diocese as a missionary to the Cannibal
Islands, with a view to getting rid of him as quickly as
possible. He is a sore trial to Mr. Barry, the rector of the
parish, and Susan's father. But he had to replace the last
curate in a hurry, that young man having resigned his
charge at a moment's notice, because the Rector would not
4

60 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

give his sanction to having matins at 6 a. m., he said, but in
reality because Susan had the evening before rejected him
with a haste that deprived him of all hope.

Just now the excitement amongst the groups at Salter's
is growing intense. The curate had been knocked down.
No ! But he had fallen — and so on — and so on. A few
shops lower down comes Mr. Murphy's the undertaker.
He, too, as indeed do all the shopkeepers in Curraghcloyne.
stands in the front of his shop door chatting to all who
come and go. A little, fat, jolly man, rather useless you
would think in a solemn business like his, and yet the best
undertaker for all that in the seven parishes round. Per-
haps it is well to have a cheerful person of that sort to dis-
pel the dreadfnl gloom of death. However it is, he is a
universal favorite, and no wonder, when I tell you he is the
man in all Curraghcloyne who can tell you most about the
babies ! The ones come, the ones to come immediately, and
those in the middle distance ! The gayest, happiest little
man in the town, with a wife as rosy as himself, and quite a
crowd of embryo little undertakers swarming round his
knees. But these, and many more of the Curraghcloyne
celebrities sink into insignificance before Ricketty, the pro-
prietor of " The Crosby Arms Hotel." This name is
painted on a swinging signboard, with a huge boar beneath.
The crest of the Crosbys from all time.

Ricketty — his name was once Richards — but time and
many devoted friendships has brought it down to Ricketty, is
a huge benign Irishman, with the biggest jaw in Europe, and
the smallest eyes. To his bones flesh have grown, until now
he might have exhibited himself in the most fastidious show
in New York as the " Last of the race of Anak," or some
such attractive title.

And as most big men are, so is he — the mildest-mannered
man on earth, who would have run away if he had been
asked to scuttle a ship, and who would have fainted if the
idea of cutting the throat, even of a mouse, had been sug-

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 51

gested to him. One side of his hotel has the usual bar
blind up in it, behind which is a parlor, where on special
occasions the politicians congregated to air their eloquence.
The other side is given up to a fancy shop, kept by his sis-
ter, Miss Ricketty.

Miss Ricketty is the wit, and therefore the scourge of the
village (very little wit suffices for a village such as Cur-
raghcloyne), and though nearly stone deaf, knows more of
the " goings on " of her neighbors than anyone else in the
small town.

Of course there is a bank and a post office in Curragh-
cloyne. And a town hall, where the future tenors and
sopranos of the world sometimes " kindly consent," to sing
to the poor people round them. And there is the draper's
shop called " The Emporium," very justly, of course, and
there is a market-place too where everyone says the beef
and mutton are both bad and dear — but even the interest of
all these fails before the caustic tongue of Miss Ricketty.

Just as Susan reaches the window of the hotel that holds
Miss Ricketty's show of note-paper, ballads, bull's-eyes,
woollen mufflers, the latest thing in veils ten years old, and
the flotsam and jetsam of various seasons past, she finds
herself iace to face with Wyndham.

" You have come back," says she, involuntarily. She is
glad to see him. He is — well — scarcely an old friend, be-
cause the distances between his comings and goings to the
cottage make such broad margins on the leaf of time that
he has hardly come into quite close contact with the family
at the Rectory. But they have known him for a long time,
and they have liked him, and there is a good deal of soft,
pleasurable welcome in the glance that Susan gives him.
He has been away now, she tells herself, quite two months.

" Yes," says Wyndham, smiling. His smile is a little
preoccupied, however. "And how are you, Jacky? My
goodness, how we are grown. You 11 be as big as Ricketty
presently if you don't put a weight on your head."

53 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Jacky sniggles, but, like Wynd ham's smile, his sniggles
are a little preoccupied. Having shaken hands with the
latter he retires behind Susan, and wonders if Wyndham is
going up to the Cottage, and if he is will the ghost catch
him. He rather hopes it. It would leave him, Jacky, free,
anyway, and Mr. Wyndham is a big man and would be a
better match for her.

Susan, too, is thinking of the ghost. As Wyndham is
facing now, the Cottage lies before him. Is he going to see
the mysterious " Prisoner ? " Perhaps he is married to
her? This seems delightful. Like an old romance — so
much nicer than the commonplace marriages of to-day.
She scans Wyndham's face swiftly with a view to saying
something nice and kind to him, if she sees anything there
to help her to believe in this sentimental marriage. But
evidently she seems nothing, because she says nothing.
After all, she tells herself, it is of course a secret.

" I hope you will come in and see father," she says,
presently, when she and Wyndham have discussed the town
and its inhabitants, and she has told him all the news. He
is in the habit of sleeping at the Cottage whenever he does
come down, and in the habit, too, of spending his evenings
at the Rectory, which is only just over the way from the
Cottage.

" Not to-night, I'm afraid," says Wyndham. u I must
go back to town by the evening train."

A slight frown gathers on his brow, but he dismisses it
as he bids her good-bye.

" Remember me to him," he says quickly, absently. He
pinches Jacky's ear, and is gone.

Susan who has been inveigled into a promise concerning
bull's-eyes, is now led triumphantly into Miss Ricketty's
shop where that spinster is discovered in an old English
attitude, her body being screwed out of all shape in her en-
deavor to catch sight of some one going down the street.
Her window is quite blocked up by her shoulders, and her

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. . 53

deafness prevents her from knowing of Susan's coming
until Jacky, falling over her left leg, which is sticking out
behind in mid air, brings her back to the perpendicular and
a view of Susan.

She is a small woman, thin to a fault, and shrewd visaged,
with a quizzical eye, and a bonnet. The latter is of the
historic coal-scuttle shape, and must have been a most ad-
mirable purchase when bought — " warranted to wear," in
the truest sense of the word, as it has lasted without a
break for at least fifty years : As no one in Curraghcloyne
ever saw her " outside of it," and as she is popularly sup-
posed to sleep in it, it may safely be regarded as a sound
article ; even her worst enemy had once been heard to say
that, " no mather how great an ould fool she was wid her
tongue," she had made no mistake about " the bonnet."

" An' is that you, Miss Susan, me dear ? " says she, when
Jacky has picked himself up, and she has ceased to rub her
ankle. " Ye're as welcome as the flowers in May, though
divil a flower we had this year, w^d the rain, an' all. Ye're
not in a hurry, miss, are ye now ? Ye can spare a minute
to the ould maid ? Come in, then."

She opens the little gate that hinges on to her little
counter, and draws Susan inside, to her " parlor," as she
calls the tiny space within — a cosy spot, in truth, where, in
the winter, a fire burns briskly, and with a wall lined with
bottles that make glad the souls of children. To Susan
Barry the old maid has given all the heart that remains
from her worship of her giant brother. Perhaps it is the
almost childish sweetness of her manner that has won the
old maid's heart, or else the young unconscious beauty of
her — beauty being dear to the Irish heart. However it is,
she has a warm corner in Miss Ricketty's.

"An' how's your good aunt?" says the spinster, ad-
justing the bonnet with one hand, whilst with the other
she pulls out from under the counter a huge ear-trumpet,
half a yard long, and big enough at the speaking end to

54 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT,

engulf Susan's small and shapely head. " She's been ex-
pectin' that clutch o' eggs I promised her, no doubt, but
them hens o' mine might as well be cocks for all the teggs
we get out of them."

" Aunt Jemima knows that eggs are scarce now," cries
Susan, softly, into the gulf.

" Scarce I 'Tis nothin' them ungrateful hens is doin' for
us now, an' we who coddled 'em up all the winther. The
saints forgive thiml Miss Susan," leaning towards the
girl, and speaking with the suppressed emotion of the born
gossip, " was that Mr. Wyndham as wint up the street just
now f "

" Yes," says Susan. " I was talking to him just before I
came in here."

" No ! Blessed Vargin ! " says Miss Ricketty, recoiling,
who had, of course, been the first to hear of the mysterious
stranger at the Cottage, and who had indeed told the news
to her brother, under promise of secrecy, that she knew he
would not keep. Nor did she want him to keep it. How
can you gossip unless you have someone to gossip with I
That is why people spread scandals.

" And what was he saying ? " asks she, presently, when
she has produced a little box of figs and given them to
Jacky, with a view to keeping him quiet until she has got
the last word of news out of Susan.

" Nothing, I think," says Susan, running over mentally
her late conversation with Wyndham. "He won't have
time to see father to-night, because he is going back to
town by the evening train."

" Is that what he says ? " Miss Ricketty gives her bon-
net a push. " Faith, he's full of smartness. An' did he tell
ye nothin' at all ? "

11 Oh, it was I who told him everything," says Susan.
" He wanted to know how the new curate was going on for
one thing, and "

" If 'twas Misther Haldane he was askin' afther so kindly ,

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 55

I could a tould him something" says Miss Ricketty. " But
never mind him! What else was Misther Wyndham
sayin' ? "

" There was not time to say anything," says Susan,
laughing. " He was in a hurry, and so was I — at least
Jacky was — he wants you to give him two pennyworth of
bull's-eyes. Though really, after those figs "

" Miss Susan." The old maid puts Susan's last remark
aside with an eloquent gesture. " Have ye heard anything
sthrange about the Cottage lately ? "

Susan starts, and Jacky comes to a dead set, the last fig
between his finger and thumb. Jacky must be far gone in-
deed when having anything edible between his fingers he
delays about putting it between his lips.

44 Ye have, I see," says Miss Ricketty. 44 I'm tould, me
dear," looking behind her, and beside her, and to the door,
and now for even better security putting up her opened
palm to one side of her mouth, " That there's a young — a
— " she hesitates as if to choose a word, then comes to a
safe conclusion, u A laymale there," she says.

44 There's a girl there. I think," says Susan, nervously.
44 At least," here Jacky looks at her appealingly , and she
changes her sentence, 44 Some one says there is. A niece,
or a friend of Mrs. Denis, I suppose."

44 Arrah ! Suppose ! " says Miss Ricketty, with consider-
able eloquence, but without committing herself.

44 Well, if not that," says Susan who is full of her late
romantic idea about a secret marriage between the unknown
and Wyndham, 44 Perhaps — perhaps Mr. Wyndham knows
something about her."

Miss Ricketty turns sharply, and looks at her. But the
girl's lovely, open, tranquil face betrays nothing but a soft
enthusiasm. A sense of amusement fills Miss Ricketty's
breast.

44 Fegs, I'm thinkin', ye're on the right thrack," says she
evenly.

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56 THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT.

" Tou won't say it again, Miss Rioketty , will yon ? "
says Susan, " But I have thought — at least it has occurred
to me— that perhaps she's Mr. Wyndham's wife ? "

This is the little too much for Miss Ricketty. She gives
way suddenly to a fit of coughing, and turning her back to
Susan dives under the counter, whether to recover from a
very proper confusion, or to indulge in very improper
laughter, can now alas! never be known. When she
emerges, however, her face is a fine crimson.

" That would be very romantic, wouldn't it ? " says
Susan, looking at her, and speaking softly, yet with a pretty
delight. " A marriage like that — with nobody knowing
anything — except they two you know — and I feel sure she
is lovely, and Mr. Wyndham is very nice looking too, and
after awhile, perhaps we shall know her. He will introduce
us to her, and we shall be friends, and "

" 'Tis a beautiful story," says Miss Ricketty, breaking
in with unction. " An' beautiful stories, we all know, come
thrue. I wish ye joy o' the bride at the Cottage, Miss
Susan, but I wouldn't be for intherferin' wid the young ■
married people too soon, if I were you, me dear."

" Of course, I shouldn't do that," says Susan hastily, her
fair face growing earnest. " But I thought that if "

" Well, ye'd betther wait I think," says Miss Ricketty.
" 'Tis bad bein' in a hurry, as Misther Haldane found out
last night."

" Mr. Haldane f What has happened to him f "

" Fegs, miss, it seems that last night as he was de-
scendin' the steps from the vesthry, he thripped, God help
us, an' fell on his ugly mug, an' broke his front teeth."

" Oh I How dreadful ! " says Susan, real compassion in
her tone, though the new curate is rather farther beyond
the range of her sympathy than even the old. " I wonder
father hasn't heard of it."

" It seems the poor gintleman is keeping it dark," says
Miss Ricketty, " wid the thought of gettin' thim put in

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 57

agin, widout anyone knowin'. But," wrathfully, u 'twill
be no use for him. I see that villain of a Salther down
there," with a glance out of the window, " tellin' every wan
of it. Why ye must have seen him yerself, miss, as ye
come by," and suddenly Susan does remember the crowd
round Salter's shop door, with Salter himself in its midst.
" He's got hould of it, for sure, and if he has 'twill be short
shrift for Misther Haldane."

" But why f " asks Susan.

" Why this, miss ! He hates your clergy because he's
not in wid ye like. A Methody he is — an' Mr. Haldane
goes agin his grain, wid the candles an' the flowers an' that,
an' he says how that Mr. Haldane had a dhrop too much
last night when he thripped on the vesthry stairs."

" What a shame 1 " says Susan, indignantly. " I know
for a fact that Mr. Haldane is "

" Yes, of course, miss. But that's how thim Methodys
does. An' as for that Salther himself. I don't believe in
him. 'Tis a power o' whisky he can get undher his own
belt widout bein' found out, until his timper is up. I know
for a feet that 'twas only a week ago that he bate his poor
wife until she let a screech out of her that would have
waked Father D'Arcy himself, only that the seven sleepers
aren't a patch on him."

It appears she cannot even spare her parish priest !
Susan, who has risen, and who is now dragging Jacky from
under the counter, where he has been in hot pursuit of a
kitten, bids her old friend good-bye for the present.

"Youll tell Miss Barry about the clutch," says the
spinster, and — " Yes " shouts Susan into the terminus, a
little louder than usual, perhaps, because Miss Ricketty
lifts up her hand and shakes it at her reproachfully.

"Wan would think I was deaf!" says she, tragically,
whereupon both she and Susan laugh together. The girl's
happy mirth — seen if not heard — delights the old maid be-
hind the counter.

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58 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 Good-bye, me dear, an' God bless you," says she, and
disdaining to even see Susan's pennies, she thrusts a big
parcel of sweets into Jacky's small hands.

44 Keep a few for Masther Bonnie," whispers she, as she
kisses him, and sends him after his sister.

At the door, however, Susan turns back, and once more
calls down the trumpet.

44 You will contradict that thing about Mr. Haldane,
won't you ? " says she, " surely it is bad enough that he
should have lost his front teeth without having scandalous
stories spread about him. Besides, they will make father
very unhappy."

44 I'll look afther him," says Miss Ricketty, 44 if only to
oblige ye, me dear. Though I think I'm not wantin'.
Providence seems to have his eye on that young man."

44 Oh, poor man, I'm afraid not," says Susan, 44 He was
ugly enough before — and now his front teeth are gone I "

44 That's it," says Miss Ricketty, 44 whin next ye look at
him, ye'll see what a fine openin' the Lord has made for
himl"

The last vision Susan has of Miss Ricketty shows her
leaning back in her chair, with her apron over her bonnet,
convulsed with joy at her own wit.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER VIII.

"Nature often enshrines gallant and noble hearts in weak bosoms
— oftenest, God bless her! in female breasts."

Quits close to the gardens Susan meets one of the under
gardeners at Crosby Park.

" I suppose Master Jacky and I can go in and see the
gardens, Brown ? "

14 Oh, yes, miss, o' course. But I'm afraid there's no one
there. As it happens no one's working there to-day. 'Tis
a holiday, you know, miss. An' the gates are locked/'

It happens, indeed, to be a Saints' Day, or holiday — one
of the innumerable Saints' Days that are held sacred in
Ireland, and on which no man will work — if he is a Roman
Catholic laborer — though the loss of the day's hire is a
severe strain upon his slender resources. And the funny
part of this arrangement is, that though they are too re-
ligious to support their families by working on these days,
they never know whose Saints' Day it is, or anything in
the world about him — or her.

44 Oh ! " says Susan — she had forgotten about its being a
holiday, though both the maids had gone to chapel in the
morning, leaving her and Betty to make up the many beds.
Her tone is so disappointed that Brown drags out a key
from his trousers pocket.

44 If ye'll take this, miss, ye can let yoself in, an' ye can
lave it at the lodge wid Mrs. Donovan whin ye're goin'
back."

44 Oh! thank you, Brown," says Susan, joyfully, and
diving into her pocket she produces twopence (it is quite a
sum for Susan, whose pennies are very scarce) and gives it
to him, an instinct born with her — a sort of pride — com-

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60 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

pelling her to reward the underling. And yet she had re-
fused to give Tommy — the baby — the youngest of all, and
the dearest to her of the children after Bonnie — a halfpenny
out of that twopence only this morning.

44 Thank you, miss," says Brown, with considerably more
gratitude than he would have shown another if she had
given him half-a-crown, and Susan, who had paid for the
key quite as much for her own sake as for Jacky's, goes on
her way rejoicing.

Yes, the gate is locked. Susan having unlocked it, care-
fully removes the key, locks it on the other side, and goes
down the broad, beautiful, scented path with Jacky beside
her. Some of the houses are near, but not so worthy of
notice as those that come after, and through these they
hurry to the great glass ones beyond — where the roses are
all a growing, all a blowing, in magnificent profusion — and
that are always kept up in a very perfect state, though the
master of them be in the Soudan, or North America, or
the highest peaks of the Andes.

Between these two sets of house runs a wall, now laden
with cherry trees in full fruit, and as Susan and her brother
emerge from the seeding house into freer air, Susan catches
sight of something that brings her to a standstill.

Against the wall, where the cherries are growing, lies a
ladder, and on the top of it — a man.

Now Susan knows all the gardeners at Crosby Park, and
even those beneath them, and certainly this man is not one
of them.

She turns and retreats on Jacky, who is just behind her,
and for a moment fear covers her. She has never been
brought face to face with a thief before. Few girls have
been — and a desire to fly is the thought uppermost in her
breast. She glances upward fearfully to the figure on the
top of the wall, who is hastily pulling off the cherries and
dropping them into the basket he has slung on to the top
of the ladder. She draws her breath quickly. Could any-
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TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 61

thing be more premeditated — could anything show more
plainly what a determined rogue he is? And to-day of all
days ! A holiday ! when, of course, he knew that all the
gardeners would be away, and the place safe to him ! No
doubt he had climbed the outside wall — thieves can do any-
thing — and had found the ladder inside with which to rob
poor Mr. Crosby, who is now, goodness knows, how many
miles away.

Susan stands rooted to the ground, not knowing whether
to stay or fly. Old stories of heroines return to her, and it
seems to her that it would be base to steal away now and say
nothing : even if she happened to gain the walk outside, it
is doubtful whether she should meet any servant, this being
a Saints' Day : and if she did would they be willing to
tackle a real live thief single-handed ? As she hesitates she
again looks at the man and notices that he is glancing from
right to left, hesitating, as if either uneasy or else with a
view to choosing the best fruit. Both ideas anger her, but
the second more than the first. Uneasy ? of oourse he is !
And no wonder, too. A thief must necessarily be uneasy.
And to attempt to steal here, in this lovely secluded place I

The owner of Crosby Park has been so long away that
Susan has almost adopted his place as her own. Many
years ago Mr. Crosby, who had been a pupil of Mr. Barry's,
had given directions that every member of the Barry family
should have free right to his grounds, and Susan once come
to years of discretion — not so long ago — has taken great ad-
vantage of this kindly permission. It is so near to the
Vicarage, and so lovely 1 All its walks and pretty windings
are so well known to her. They have been much to her
indeed during all these years, though so little to the actual
possessor of them — who has evidently found more pleasure
in shooting grizslys than in cultivating cherries !

That now someone has come to steal these cherries seems
dreadful to Susan. With that poor man away, too 1 at the
end of the world probably, shooting, or being shot, by some

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62 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

of those awful Indians I Again she casts her frightened
glance at the thief still high on his ladder, and secure from
detection now that all the servants are away : and some-
thing in his air — an insolent security, perhaps — drives her
to action.

No ! she will not fly. She will tell him at all events what
she thinks of him before flying. She makes her way
straight to the foot of the ladder, wrath in her bosom, and
thus addresses him.

" 1 wonder you aren't ashamed of yourself," cries she,
righteous indignation in her tones, and in her lovely uplifted
eyes.

The sweet voice rings up the ladder. The start that the
thief on the top of it gives, when he hears her, condemns
him to all eternity in Susan's eyes. "No one," argues
Susan to herself, " ever starts, unless they are guilty."
Susan is very young !

The man casts a sidelong glance at her. It is so one-
sided that Susan hardly sees him, but evidently he is trem-
bling, conscience-stricken, because he makes no reply.

" Come down ! " says Susan again, her courage mounting
with the occasion. Her tone is now severely calm, and
without a vestige of fear. After all he is a poor creature
whom even a girl can frighten, so small is the courage of
the unrighteous! "Do you know what you are doing? —
You," with accumulated scorn, " are stealing !"

This terrible charge brings the culprit round. He sinks
upon the topmost rung of the ladder as if overcome, and
pulls his cap over his eyes, evidently to avoid recognition.
Says Susan to herself. " He is ashamed, poor creature,"
and seeing the abject attitude of the wretch she grows
bolder, and presses the wondering Jacky to her side, and
tells him to take courage. This poor man will not kill
them. No — no, indeed.

" Yes, stealing," repeats she, her fair, beautiful face up-
lifted to the sinner's above her. There is a second pause,

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. *3

during which, perhaps, the sinner takes note of it. " I,"
begins he, then pauses. Susan's eyes are looking into his,
and Susan's face, implacable and austere, no doubt has
daunted him. But Susan tells herself that conscious guilt
has rendered him silent. After awhile, however, he makes
another attempt.

44 1," says he again, and again stops. It is contemptible I
Susan turns a scornful glance upon him.

44 It is not to be defended," says she. " To steal from a
garden like this! From a garden that the owner has so
kindly left open to many people— who has besides been so
kind, and who has helped all the poor in the district. He
has given forty blankets where another has given ten, and
coals without restriction everywhere. And these beautiful
gardens, too — he has given these as a recreation to some
who have no lovely gardens of their own, and now you take
advantage of a day like this, when all the servants are
away, to defraud this kind, kind man, and steal his cherries.
Oh ! how can you bear to be as bad as that ?"

44 If you would hear me," begins the man, on the top of
the ladder, in a low tone. He is evidently immensely
touched by the scorn of the young Evangelist below, be-
cause his voice is very low, and uncertain.

44 There is nothing to be said," says Susan, her eyes
gleaming with honest disgust. "There is no excuse for
you. You are here stealing Mr. Crosby's cherries, and, as
I said before, you ought to be ashamed of yourself."

44 Still, miss, if you would listen a moment." He has
pulled his cap even closer over his brows.

44 You needn't do that," says Susan. " Poor creature !
you need not be afraid of me, I will not give you up to
justice! "

44 Thank you kindly, miss," comes from the wretched
creature behind the cap. He is evidently struggling with
emotion.

44 1 don't want you to thank me," says Susan, who is

o4 TEE P&OFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

feeling inclined to cry — she has often read of thieves but
never met one until now, and it seems to her all at once that
they are decidedly interesting — so ready to hear — to receive
admonition too— " I want you to promise me that for the
future you will abstain from — from thieving of any sort."

" I'll promise you, miss. I will indeed. I'd promise you
anything." Poor thing 1 He seems quite overcome.
44 But, miss, I wasn't really stealing just now 1 "

44 Oh, nonsense!" says Susan, a revulsion of feeling
makes her once again hard to him. Confession is good for
the soul, but denial — and such a useless denial too — caught
in the act as he was — savors of folly, that worst of all
things — for which there is no forgiveness —

44 Do you think I did not see you ? Why look at that
basket. It is nearly full. How can you say you were not
stealing those cherries. Better to show some regret, than to
carry off your crime in such a barefaced way."

It is hardly barefaced. The unhappy culprit's face be-
ing now quite hidden by his cap.

44 Just think," says Susan, her clear sweet voice trembling
with grief because of this sinner. " If you had a garden,
would you like people to come into it and steal your
fruit ? "

The poor thief is evidently beginning to feel the situation
acutely. He has taken out his handkerchief in a surrepti-
tious fashion, and is rubbing it to his eyes.

44 1 shouldn't mind if it war you, miss," says he, in a
stifled tone.

Poor thing I' He is evidently very sorry.

44 You won't give me up, miss ? "

44 No, no," cries Susan, hastily. " But I do hope you see
and are grieved for what you are doing. When people are
so good and so generous as to let other people go through
their grounds, and get a great deal of enjoyment out of
them, I think the least those others may do, is to respect
them, and their shrubs, and fruit, and flowers."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 65

u You're right, miss. I seem as if I never saw it like
that till now."

" Ah ! that's what they all say," says Susan, sadly, and
with a sigh : She has a good deal to do with her father's
impenitent penitents. " But you are no doubt from some
distant parish. A tramp, I suppose ? " says Susan, with
another sigh. " At all events I am sure you do not belong
to this part of the world, as your voice is strange to me."

44 I've come a long way, miss, indeed."

44 Poor man I Perhaps you are hungry," says Susan.
Again she searches her pocket and produces the last coin in
it — the last coin she has in the world for the matter of that
— and lays a sixpenny bit on the lowest rung of the ladder,

14 Perhaps this may help you," says she. " I'm sorry I
haven't any more— but I haven't 1 And now remember I
expect you to keep your promise. I shall not report you,
or get you into trouble of any sort, in feet this " — gently —
" shall be a secret between you and me, but I do expect
you to go away without those cherries, and with the prom-
ise never to steal again."

44 1 promise you that, miss, most gratefully. I'll never
steal again. But miss, might I give the cherries to you or
the young gentleman ? "*

44 No, no," says Susan, in horror. She catches Jacky's
hand and draws him away from temptation. After going
a yard or two, however, she looks back ; and the thief, who
had been looking after her, again pulls his cap hurriedly
over his guilty fece.

44 The gate is locked," says she, 4< how will you get out? "

44 The way I came, miss," says the bad man, with open
signs of contrition.

44 1 see — yes," says Susan, sadly. u But go at once. I
trust you — remember."

44 I'll never forget it, miss," says the unhappy man, sink-
ing down upon the ladder and covering his fece with his
hands.

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66 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

u Jacky," says Susan, when they have left the garden
and locked the door carefully behind them, " if you ever
say a word about that poor creature, 111 never think the
same of you again. Do you hear ? He is a wretched thief,
but I have given my word not to betray him, and you
must give your word too. Poor man, I think he was sin-
cerely sorry. You won't say a word at home or anywhere,
Jacky?"

" No," says Jacky. He looks at her. " Why couldn't
you have taken the cherries f " says he.

It takes the entire remainder of the walk home to make
the " why " clear to him 1

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 67

CHAPTER IX.

14 He knew not what to say,
And so he swore."

Wyndham, when he met Susan, had been in rather a dis-
gusted mood. Shortly after the Professor's death he had
gone to Norway for a month with the friend whom he had
arranged to go with on the morning following the luck-
less night that had seen the last of the Professor's ex-
periment. He had induced his friend to wait for him — the
latter consenting with rather a bad grace — until the Pro-
fessor's funeral was over, and his affairs looked into. He
had had a last conversation with Denis about the uninvited
guest whom the latter had taken to the Cottage, and had
told him to find a suitable home for her at once — comfortable
— luxurious even — if necessary, as she was now undoubtedly
the possessor of £300 a year — but at all events to get her
out of the Cottage without further delay. He spoke per-
emptorily, and Denis promised all things ; yet only yester-
day, on his return, be had heard from Denis' own lips that
still that girl was located in the Cottage.

" Didn't I tell you to get her a home somewhere else ? "

11 Ye did, sirr, ye did. Faix I don't wondher ye're mad,
but 'twasn't aisy to do it."

" To do what ? " firmly.

" To get her to go."

" What nonsense ! A girl like that — as if she could re-
sist. Why, one would think there wasn't a policeman any-
where. Do you mean to tell me she refused to go ? "

" No, sir ; that's not me manin'. 'Tis that ould fool of a
wife o' mine. It seems she got set upon her wan way or
another, an' do all I could I couldn't gi^. l^er, b to turn the

68 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

young lady out. 'There's room for us all here,* says
Bridget. * But that's not his ordhers,' says I — manin' you,
sir. ( But whin is she to go?' says she. * That's nothing
to me,' says I. ' 'Tis so,' says she. 'A comfortable home he
tould ye to git for her, and where'll she find wan but here '
— an' divil a fat I could move her from that. Don't you
iver get married, Misther Paul. It will be undoin' o' ye.
Ye won't have a mind o' yer own in six months."

" I've a mind now, anyway," says Wyndham, still swear-
ing, " and that is to get rid of you without another second's
notice."

" An' I'm not surprised, sirr," says Denis, drawing him-
self up and saluting. He is an old soldier. " It was most
flagrant disobadience. But what can ye do wid a woman,
sir ? Fegs, nothing. Nothing at all. They carries all be-
fore thim — even a man's conscience. Whin Bridget refused
to let her go, what could I do ? " He pauses satisfied, hav-
ing put the blame upon his particular Eve. Is it yer wish
that I tackle Bridget agin, sir f "

u No. I shall go down to Curraghcloyne myself to-mor-
row," said Wyndham, getting rid of him with a gesture.

He had gone down, had met Susan, had read something
in her face that seemed to him (whose senses were very
much alive to impressions on the subject) to be studying
him — wondering at him. It was with a still more enraged
feeling he left her, and went on to the Cottage, where, to his
supreme indignation, he found, for the first time on record,
the entrance gate locked.

Good heavens ! What could be the meaning of this 1
Were they determined to compromise him in the eyes of the
world 1 When he has rung the bell until it is hopelessly
smashed, someone comes to the gate, and without opening
it says, in a voice evidently meant to alarm any unwelcome
intruder.

"Who's there?"

u Only the master of this place," says Wyndham, grimly,

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 69

who has recognized Mrs. Denis' handsome brogue even un-
der these new conditions. Indeed, it would be hard to mis-
take it anywhere, as Fitzgerald, who knows her, says, " you
could sit on it at any moment without the slightest chance
of a breakdown."

" Glory be ! " comes in a muffled tone from Mrs. Denis,
and with tremendous fuss and flurry, she draws the bolt, un-
locks the gate, and opens it wide to Wyndham.

" Oh, yer honor, who'd a' thought to see yerself this day !
Faix, I thought 'twas still in thim Haythin Countries ye
were. Sure, if I'd known I'd have had the gates open to
yer honor — and I hope ye'll forgive me cap, sir — I've
another wan just ironed, an' — "

" Are you preparing for a siege? " demands Wyndham,
grimly, " or what may be the reason of this * barring out '
on your part. Anything threatening on the part of the
land leaguers, or the Home Rulers round here ? "

" Oh, law, sir. How could ye think o' sich a thing? It
was only that the young lady, sir, was a trifle nervous."

" She will have to take her nerves somewhere else," says
the barrister. " Now, Mrs. Denis, I hear from your hus-
band that it is your fault that this — this distinctly un-
desirable person is still a resident in my house."

Mrs. Denis, who has been bowing and scraping up to
this, now grows suddenly alert.

" Arrah, what are ye sayin' at all," says she. " D'ye
mane to tell me that Denis knew ye were come back, and
niver give me tale or todin's of it ? "

"That is altogether besides the question. The thing

" Faix, the raal thing is this," says Mrs. Denis. " That
I'll break ivery bone in that thraitor's skin the next time I
see him. Why," says she squaring her arms, and growing
so wrathful that the questionable cap on the top of her
head begins to quiver, " sixpence would have brought any
boy down from Dublin wid the news of yer return, and — "

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with a truly noble declaration of an innate dishonesty. " I
could thin have," she stops herself happily at the last
moment. " Made mesilf clane to meet ye," says she.

Wyndham who is sufficiently Irish himself to put in the
broken paragraph, smiles coldly.

44 I am not going to discuss Denis with you," says he.
44 What I want to know is, why these gates are locked ? "

41 Well, sir, there was this. When the young lady came
she was that upset wid bad thratement of wan sort or
another that she seemed to be tremblin' all over. But whin
I questioned her as to what ailed her — not a word could I
git out of her. I put her to bed, an' she just clung to the
waH like, turnin' an' twistin' her purty head, an' always
keepin' away from me, an' refusin' the tay even, till the
night came down upon us. Ye will renumber, sir, that it

was in the airly mornin' that Denis " At this word she

breaks off and grows again intensely angry.

44 That varmint," says she, 4< what did he mane by not
tellin' me. Wait till I get me hands on him."

44 Yes — the early morning," says Wyndham, bringing her
back somewhat impatiently to the place where she had
broken off.

44 Well, yes, sir. I beg yer pardon. She come in the
airly mornin', an' I could see at once that she was very sad
at her heart, an' so I just tuk her in as I tell ye, for Denis,
though a divil all out in most ways " — here again a most
ominous frown settles on her forehead — " is still a man to
be depended on where a woman is concerned. And so I tuk
her in to oblige ye, sir."

44 To oblige me," says Wyndham.

44 Well, sir, I thought so thin 1 An' " — she pauses, and
looks straight at him u an' ye'll nivver regret it, sir. If ye
saw her a bit afther she came, an' her delight at yer purty
place. 4 Why, there's flowers growin',' she'd say, as if she
never see them before except whin sellin' I 4 And, Mrs.
Denis,' says she, 4 1 like these walls,' says she. 4 They is

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 71

so high,' says she. * An' it would be very hard for anyone,'
says she, * to git through thim, or even to look over thim 1 '
Faith, 'tis little the cray ture knows of the boys round here,
I said to meself whin she said that. But I declare to ye,
sir, it went to me heart whin she said it, for it made it plain
to me like, that there was someone in her life that she was
thinkin' of, that she didn't want to get through these walls
or thim aither. If he did, I could gather from what she
said that it would be wid no good intintions towards her-
self."

" Has she said anything as to where she came from ? or
who she is ? " asks Wyndham, with most disgraceful want
of sympathy for this moving story.

" No, sir, sorra a word, barrin' that she was very un-
happy until yer honor sint her here."

" Till I sent her here. What on earth do you mean ? "
says Wyndham, indignantly. " You must know very well
that it was that blundering idiot of a husband of yours that
brought her here."

" Fegs, 'tis plain that ye know Denis anyway," says
Denis' wife complacently. " Idjit is the word for him sure
enough I But, however it is, sir, the poor young lady is
very continted here entirely, an' " — waxing enthusiastic —
" 'twould do your heart good to heer her singin' about the
garden, for all the world like wan o' thim nate little
thrushes."

This expectation on Mrs. Denis' part that he will find de-
light in the thought of the unwelcome stranger making her-
self at home in his garden and singing there like a " nate
little thrush " naturally adds fuel to the fire that already is
burning vigorously in Wyndham's breast.

" Look here 1 " says he, so fiercely that Mrs. Denis starts
backwards, " you've taken a wrong impression of me alto-
gether if you think I shall for one moment sanction the
presence of that girl here. Tour husband has got me into
this mess with his confounded stupidity, but I can trust

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f2 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

myself to get out of it — and I expect you to understand at
once that your ' thrush,' " scornfully, " will be out of this
within twenty-four hours."

With this he brushes by her, his temper — never very
sweet, now considerably the worse for wear.

Nice situation, by Jove ! If it comes to the old man's
ears there will be the devil to pay : and its sure to. He
had felt there was something queer in his aunt's and Jo-
sephine's manner yesterday when he called at their house in
Fitzwilliam-square. Why if it gets about there isn't one in
forty amongst his acquaintances who would refuse to be-
lieve in the real facts of the case. . . It is a most con-
founded affair altogether. If he hadn't gone abroad trust-
ing — like the fool that he was — in Denis' ability to get her
out of the Cottage — at once, he could have done it himself
and so speedily that no one would ever have been the wiser
about it. But now it has gone a little far ; people no doubt
are beginning to talk. Well, it shall go no farther. He
will put an end to it at once. This moment.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 73

CHAPTER X.

" My heart is sad and heavy
In this merry month of May,
As I stand beneath the lime tree
On the bastion old and grey."

" This moment " has come ! As Mrs. Denis, routed, but
by no means vanquished, disappears hastily round one cor-
ner of the pretty cottage, someone else comes round the
other. A young girl, singing sweetly, merrily, though in a
subdued voice. Just as she reaches her corner she looks
behind her ; her singing ceases, and an amused look bright-
ens her face — a face that has known much sadness. Again
she looks behind her as if expecting something — this time
turning her back on Wyndham, and now, a moment later, a
huge dog tears across the grass, and literally flings himself
upon the girl, whose tall but slender frame seems to give
way beneath his canine embraces. For a second only, then
she recovers herself, her pliant body sways forward, and
catching the dog's handsome head in her arms a merry
tussle ensues between them. It is almost a dance, so agile
is the girl, so bent is the dog on entering into the spirit of
the fun with all his heart.

Wyndham watching feels no sense of amusement. Indig-
nation is still full upon him, and now it grows more intense
as he sees the dog — his dog — a brute hitherto devoted to
himself, lavishing its affection upon an utter stranger.

He makes an impatient movement, which the dog's quick
eye sees, and bolting from his late companion he comes
bounding towards Wyndham, from whom, it must be con-
fessed, he gets but a poor welcome.

The girl turning, surprised at the dog's desertion of ber,
becomes suddenly aware that there is someone bey

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U THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

as Wyndham emerges into sight she makes a movement to
fly, then stands stricken, as if turned to stone.

It is impossible under the circumstances but that she
should be known to Wyndham, but as he looks at her he
tells himself that if he had not known that Denis had
brought her down here on the morning of the Professor's
death, he would never have recognized her. Her dress, for
one thing, is so different I Of course he had found time to
send a check to Mrs. Moriarty before going abroad for the
use of the " Waif," as he had somehow called the girl to
himself, not knowing her name — a sum handsome enough
to dress her — as the young heiress of a most unexpected
three hundred a year should be dressed — and it comes to
him now, that the " Waif" had not been slow in the spend-
ing of it. No doubt Mrs. Moriarty had been the " middle
man," but the " Waif" had known what she was about, or
else some well known instinct had directed her.

" Well born ! " Pah ! A poor, miserable girl like that
with a shawl thrown over her head when first he saw her —
and yet, her face, her feet

He can see them from beneath her petticoats. They are
not like mice by any means, but they are of the proportions
usually assigned to those who have many grandfathers, and
they are very delicately clad.

If he has not recognized her at all at first, she had barely
recognized him. That was because of the surprise — the
shock perhaps. She had almost come to believe in the pos-
sibility of living here always and alone ; never seeing any-
one except kind Mrs. Moriarty and Nero, the dog.

She has turned as white as death, and Wyndham looking
at her tells himself it is the memory of that last dreadful
night, when she had accepted death as her portion, rather
than the life that lies behind her, that has flamed her cheeks,
and brought that terror into her eyes.

But in a minute all these theories of the clever barrister
are distilled, and floated into air.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 76

Having seen him, and dwelt upon his face, the color in
her own face has crept back and with a sharp sigh of relief
she draws nearer to him slowly — the dog, who has gone
back to her, following, his muzzle in her hand.

"I — I thought you were a stranger," says she, faintly.

It is an odd sentence I A stranger I What else is he to
her 1 Her manner, however, makes it clear to him, that
she has lived, since her entrance into the Cottage, in con-
stant dread of being discovered by someone, and of being
dragged back to a former existence— to which death, as she
had proved to him that night, seems far preferable.

This accounts for the locked gates, and the girl's admira-
tion for the walls, an admiration that no doubt has but little
to do with the ivy, and the Virginian creeper, now throw-
ing out its palest leaves of green, and the other trailing
glories that have lifted them into a dream of beauty.

" Your thought was very nearly right," says Wyndham,
with a cold smile ; he is quite unmoved by the nervous pal-
lor, and the frightened expression on the young face before
him. Barristers after a while get accustomed to young
frightened faces, and lose their interest in them. " But, no
doubt, you remember me."

He pauses, and the girl looks at him for a moment.

" Yes," says she, slowly, her eye sinking to the ground.
That last dreadful scene, in which he had played so con-
spicuous a part, and when in the sullenness of her despair
she had welcomed death, lies once again clear as a picture
to her eyes. She shudders, and a faint moisture breaks out
upon her forehead.

" I am glad to see you quite recovered," says he in a tone
which belies his words. " If you will be so good as to come
indoors, I should like to speak to you for a few minutes
about your future."

His tone is so curt, so positively unpleasant, that the girl,
coloring deeply and without another word moves towards
the hall door of the charming cottage, and leads the way

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re * THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

through the porch — so exquisitely festooned with delicate
greeneries — into the long many windowed room beyond.
This room runs the entire length of the house, and over-
looks the garden. As she goes a deep melancholy fidls
upon her. What has he come to say ? Why is his manner
so unkind ? That night — that awful night — he had seemed
to befriend her — to take her part — and now

" You are of course aware," says Wyndham, formally,
when they have reached the drawing-room, — the drawing-
room that used to be his, but that now seems to slip out of
his possession, as he sees the slender figure of the girl turn
after his entrance, as if to receive him. " You are of course
aware that the late Professor — Mr. Hennessy — left you
three hundred a year ? "

The girl standing midway between one of the windows
and Wyndham, makes a slight affirmative movement of her
head. She would have spoken, but words failed her.

" That was in accordance with his promise to you. If
the experiment foiled, well," with a careless shrug, " there
was nothing. If it was successful — you were to be the
gainer by it."

His voice is clear, unemotional, there is a sort of " laying
down the law " about it, that takes every spark of sympa-
thy that there might have been quite out of it.

" Yes." This time she manages to speak, but she colors
as she speaks, and blushes very painfully ; and now her
eyes seek the ground. If one were to exactly describe her,
one would say — but very reluctantly, I think — that she
looks ashamed.

" With three hundred a year you should be able to "

She interrupts him.

44 It is too much — far too much," says she, with an effort.
" I don't want so much as that. Fifty pounds a year would
be enough — I am sure I could "

She stops.

" All that is beyond question," says the barrister, coldly.

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THE PROFESSOR* S* EXPERIMENT. 77

" It was the Professor's wish that you should have three
hundred a year, and now that he is gone, there can be no
further argument about it. He has no near relations so far
as I can make out, so that there is no reason why you
should not accept the money left to you by him. What I
came to-day for, was, not about the Professor's gift to you,
but to know what you intend to do with it."

"With it?"

" Yes — what, in fact, are you going to do? "

" What am I going to do? " She looks up at him for the
first time, a startled expression grows in her large dark eyes.

" We all have a future before us," says Wyndham, " aijd

you " He hesitates here, hardly knowing how to go on

with those earnest eyes on his. " Of course, I feel that for
the time being, I am in a sense bound to look after you —

the Professor being an old friend of mine, and you "

Again he stops. It seems impossible indeed to refer to that
strange scene where he had had so prominent a part. " You
will understand," says he, " that the Professor wished you
to be placed in an assured position, and he left me to see to
that."

Here the girl makes a sharp movement of her hands de-
scriptive of fear.

" Naturally," says Wyndham, in answer to that swift
movement of the pretty hands. " You object to my inter-
ference. But I must ask your forbearance in a matter
that — " with a steady look at her — " does not concern me
in the slightest degree. Tou must really forgive me if I
seem impatient. But as you are aware I know nothing
about you, and to look after you as the Professor asked me
to do, requires thought. I lie in complete ignorance about
you. I can see that you are educated, but beyond that I
know nothing."

" Ah ! you know nothing indeed," says she quickly. " I
am not educated. I know hardly anything. I am one of
the most ignorant people alive."

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78 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" And yet—"

" I have read anything I could find to read," interrupts
she. " And at one time I went to a day-school, but that is
all."

" I see," says Wyndham. His tone is indifferent, but in-
wardly, curiosity is stirring him. So little education and
yet so calm, so refined a manner ! Who is this girl, with
her well-bred air, but with, too, the little touches here and
there that betray the fact of her having lived not only out
of the fashionable world, but very far from even the out-
skirts of it. What whim of Fate has given her that shapely
head — those shell-like ears, and pointed fingers, yet given
her into the clutches of the middle classes.

" You would wish to enlarge your studies f " asks he
presently.

For the first time since she came towards him, in the
garden outside, she now lets her eyes rest frankly upon his.

" Oh ! if I could I " says she.

" That is very easily to be managed I should think. You
have three hundred a year of your own and can command
advantages, that hitherto I imagine from what you say have
been withheld from you." He waits a moment as if expect-
ing her to speak, — to make some comment on his words, but
she remains mute.

" If you could tell me something of yourself— your his-
tory — what brought you to this," says Wyndham, "it
might make matters simpler for both you and me."

The girl shrinks backwards as though he had struck her.

« No— no," cries she, quickly.

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TEE PBOFESSOB'8 EXPERIMENT. 79

CHAPTER XI.

* 1 wept in my dream for I fancied
That yon had forsaken me,
I woke, and all night I lay weeping
Till morning, bitterly."

Wtndham lifts his brows.

" Pray do not distress yourself," says he. " It is a free
country, you can speak or be silent just as you wish. It
had merely occurred to me that there might be friends of
yours — naturally very anxious about you — and that I
might convey to them a message from you."

The unsympathetic nature of his tone has restored the
girl to her usual manner, more than anything else could
have done. She glances at him.

" Friends ! " says she, bitterly.

" At all events," says Wyndham, who has now begun to
acknowledge his curiosity with regard to her, even to him-
self, and is determined on pushing the matter as far as pos-
sible. " There must be someone on the lookout for you*' 9

At this she turns as white as death.

" Is there? — Have you seen — have you — " she looks as
though she is about to faint. " Heard anything ? "

u Nothing — nothing at all," exclaims he quickly, a little
shocked at her agitation, that seems excessive. " Do not
be frightened, I assure you I know as little of anyone con-
nected with you as I know of yourself."

Here again he gives her an opening, if she wishes to
make a declaration of any sort, and again she remains mute.
There is something even obstinately silent in her whole air.

Her hands in her lap are tightly clasped, as though to
help her to keep her secret to all eternity.

" You will not confide in me I see," says he, with a little

80 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

contemptuous shrug. " And after all there is no earthly
reason why you should. I am as great a stranger to you
as you are to me, and if I spoke at all it was, believe me,
because I fancied I might be of some assistance to you.
But women nowadays have taken the reins into their own
hands, and I have no doubt that you will be able to manage
your own affairs to perfection. In the meantime, however,
if I can be of the slightest use to you in looking out a
suitable home, for instance, I hope you understand I
shall be delighted to do all I can."

The girl has drawn nearer during this speech, and is now
standing before him, the frightened eyes uplifted, and her
breath coming short and fast. " You mean — but here —
can I not — might I not — a home you said "

" Well, yes," says Wyndham. " A home where you
might have a companion and be very comfortable — but not
here you know."

« But "

" You can't stay here I'm afraid," says Wyndham, who
between his anger and his suspicions of her is beginning to
wish he had never been born.

The girl turns away from him, in so far that only her
profile now can be seen, whilst her right hand has caught
hold of the back of a chair near her, as if for support.

" But, why ? " asks she in a low tone — " Mrs. Moriarty
likes me to be here."

" But you see," says Wyndham, gravely, " it is my house,
and not Mrs. Moriarty's."

" Yes." She looks at him as if hardly understanding,
but presently an expression grows upon her face that gives
him to know that she thinks him churlish.

" It is quite a big house," says she.

There is a pause. A pause in which he tells himself that
evidently up to this she had been accustomed to houses
of very cramped limits. The Circular Road in Dublin
would supply such houses, built for respectable artisans,

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 81

and clerks in commercial places, and the best of the decent
strata that cover the earth and are of the earth earthy. The
Circular Road or some other road has no doubt supplied the
kind of house to which the girl has been accustomed — this
girl, with her pale patrician face, and her singular strength
of mind. It is she who at last breaks the silence. " There
is plenty of room for me," says she.

" I know. Of course I know that," says Wyndham, hur-
riedly. " But then you see it — it wouldn't do, you see."

He looks deliberately at her, as if to explain his mean-
ing, but nothing coming of the look he falls back once more
upon facte.

" I come here sometimes," says he.

41 Yes, Mrs. Denis told me that," says the girl. " But,"
eagerly, " I shouldn't be in the way at all. I could stay in
that little room belonging to Mrs. Denis — that little room
off the kitchen."

" Oh, that isn't it," says Wyndham, frowning in his em-
barrassment. How the deuce is one to say it plainly to a
girl who can't, or won't, or doesn't understand. " The fact
is " He has begun with the greatest bravery, deter-
mined to explain the situation at all hazards, but happen-
ing to meet her eyes — this clever barrister who has faced
many a barefaced criminal victoriously, breaks down. The
eyes he has now looked into are full of tears !

"Look here," says he almost savagely , " it's out of the
question. Do you hear f " His tone was so terribly
abrupt that it strikes cold to the heart of the poor girl
looking at him. If he is going to turn her out of this house,
this haven of refuge, where, where can she go f

She struggles with herself; some touch of dignity that
belongs to her — wherever she came from, or whoever she is
— giving her a certain stength.

" Of course — I see——" She is beginning to stammer
dreadfully. "I am sorry about it — but I thought — I fen-
ded I could stay here. But now — I can go, I can go some-

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82 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

where. There must be other places, and indeed, just now
you told me there were other places, and that I could go
to "

She struggles with the word " them," the final of her sad
sentence, but can't speak it, and now all her hard found
dignity gives way to her everlasting shame, and to Wynd-
ham's terrible discomfiture she bursts into a passion of
tears.

" Don't — do that," said Wyndham, gruffly. It is im-
possible to conceal from himself, the fact that he is fright-
ened out of his life. Fear because of her tears is nothing,
but it is with ever increasing self-contempt that he knows
that he going even so far as to give in and let her stay at
the Cottage. After all there are many other places for him
in this big world, but for her, perhaps, not so many, and
she seems to have set her heart on this little spot, and hang
it all I why can't she stop crying?

" Oh I'm sorry," says she, at last, trying passionately to
stifle her sobs. She has turned away from him to the window,
and there is something in her whole attitude so descriptive
of despair, and fear, and shame, that in spite of his anger,
pity for her rises in his heart. " I don't know why I'm cry-
ing. I don't often cry. But if I leave this, where shall I
go ? Where shall I hide myself? "

What on earth has she done ? Her words denote fear —
a guilty fear ! What if he should be about to take as a ten-
ant for the Cottage a well-known and hardened criminal, for
whom perhaps the police are even now on the lookout.
Her face, however, belies her tone, and for the rest he has
not the courage to face again a flow of those pitiful tears.
Stay she must I

One last protest, however, he makes, as a salve to his con-
science.

44 What do you see in this place that so attracts you ? "
asks he, with ever increasing grumpiness. The girl turns
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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT, 83

" I never knew what a home could be like till I came
here," says she. " Never, never ! You have had one, all
the world has had one, except me. It means new life to me.
Oh I " bitterly, " it is the only life I have ever known — the
only happiness. If, sir — " she comes towards him and
with a little impulsive action holds out her hands — "if I
might stay "

" Well, you can," says he ungraciously.

He gives in so suddenly, and she is naturally so unpre-
pared for so quick a surrender, that for a moment she says
nothing. Her eyes are fixed on him, however, as if trying
to read him through. They are beautiful eyes, and Wynd-
ham, his professional instincts on the alert, finds himself
wondering what lies behind them in that brain of hers.

" Do you mean it ? " says she at last, breathlessly. " If
you do I cannot thank you enough. Oh ! To stay here,
within these lovely walls," instinctively she glances out of
the window to the ivy-clad walls as if in their protection
she finds great comfort. A moment later a cloud gathers on
her forehead. " But you don't like me to stay," she says.

" It doesn't matter what I like," says Wyndham, who
certainly does not shine on this occasion. " The arrange-
ment we have come to now is, that you are to rent this cot-
tage from me, at what sum we can agree about later on."

" To rent it ! I shall then be— It—" She tries to
hide the joy in her eyes, feeling it to be indecent. " It will
belong to me."

" Yes," says Wyndham. At this moment he feels very
little more will make him positively hate her.

" It will no longer be yours ? " — her voice is trembling.

" In a sense, no." He turns and takes up his hat, this
interview is getting too much for him. There will be an
explosion shortly if she goes on like this.

" It seems very selfish," says the girl. She is looking at
him, though for the last three minutes he has refused to
look at her. " I am taking your house away from you."

84 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" There are other houses." He is now putting on his
gloves.

" Ah 1 that is as true for me as for you."

" We have come to an agreement, I think," grimly.
" Let us keep to it." He turns to the door.

" You are going," says she, nervously. She follows him.

" You " She stops, and courtesy compels him to look

back. Two troubled eyes meet his.

" When ? " stammers she.

" I shall come down some day next week to make final
arrangements," says he impatiently, and again takes a step
or two away, getting so far this time as to turn the handle
of the door. Here, however, agafn he glances back. She
is standing where he last saw her, her young face looking
troubled, frightened, and uncertain.

" Next week I " repeats he jerkily, it is disagreeable to
him to think that it is through his fault that the nervous
anxiety has crept into her eyes. " And — er — good-bye."
He certainly had not meant to do it, but he now holds out
his hand to her, and with a little swift eager movement she
comes to him, and slips her own into it.

A slim little hand, and beautifully shaped, but brown,
and looking a little as though it had done some hard work
in its time, yet the grace with which she gives it to him is
exquisite!

Just at the gate he meets Mrs. Denis again.

" This young lady," says he, abruptly, " seems to have
set her heart upon living here. It is extremely unpleasant
for me, but she appears to have no other place to go to.
She will therefore become my tenant. She will, you under-
stand, take the Cottage from me."

" Bless us an' save us ! " says Mrs. Denis. " An' yer
honor — what will you do 1 "

" Keep out of it ! " says Wyndham, coldly. " I suppose

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 85

she will arrange to keep you on. She — what's her name ? "
sharply.

u I don't know, sir ; she don't seem to like to spake abut
it. Miss Ella, I calls her.' 9

" Ella. Did you say her Christian name was Ella? "

" Yes, sir."

" Ah," thoughtfully. " Well, good-bye— "

" But, sir, you'll be comin' again J "

" Yes, next week to arrange about the rent — not after
that."

He strides through the gate and up the road.

" Faix, an' I'm thinkin' ye will," says Mrs. Denis, watch-
ing him with her arms akimbo till he disappears round the
corner. " 'Tis mighty purty eyes she's got in that mighty
purty head of her : an' so he's not goin' to turn her out
after all 1 Didn't I tell you, Bridget Moriarty," rubbing
her chin, on which a very handsome beard is growing,
" that he'd soften whin he put his glance upon her I "

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XII.

44 Jest and youthful jollity,
Quips and cranks, and wanton wiles,
Nods and becks, and wreathed smiles."

" Where's our beloved auntie f " asks Mr. Fitzgerald,
looking generally round him from his seat on the tail of
Betty's gown.

It is the evening of the same day, and still divinely
warm. Not yet has night made its first approach, and
from bush to bush the birds are calling, as if in haste to
get as much merriment out of the departing day as time
will give them. From here — in the bushes round the
tennis ground — the one solitary court, that Carew Barry
and his cousin, Dom Fitzgerald, have made with their own
hands, after a hard tussle with the Rector for the bit of
ground, that seemed to him quite a big slice off his glebe-
to the big syringa tree beyond, the sweet glad music of
the birds swells, and grows, filling the evening air with
delicate throbbings. Ever the little creatures seem to call
one to another; passionately sometimes, as if bursting
their little throats in their wild joy, and anon softly, plead-
ingly, but always calling, calling, calling.

From the old-fashioned garden beyond comes the scent
of the roses. All old world roses as befits the garden, but
none the less beautiful for that. The rose celeste, and the
white nose unique, the cabbage rose, and the perfect rose
of a hundred leaves, all lend their sweetness to the air ; in-
deed on this June evening the place is " on fire with roses."

The little group sitting on the edge of the tennis ground
seems very happy and contented ; lazy, perhaps, is a better
word. Susan as usual has Bonnie in her lap, and Tom, the

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 87

baby, has fallen asleep with his head on Betty's knee.
Jacky, still full of memories of the awful burglar he had
interviewed in the morning, is wondering whether he will
raid the village to-night, and if so, whether he will carry
off Aunt Jemima! whilst Carew, the eldest son, who is
seventeen, and therefore a year younger than Susan, is
lazily dwelling on the best choice of a stream for to-mor-
row's fishing.

His cousin, Dom Fitzgerald, is the first to break the
lovely spell of silence that has fallen on them. He is a
cousin of the Barrys — and a nephew of their father's, and
of Miss Jemima Barry also, the Rector's sister, who since
the death of her sister-in-law has always lived with them,
and who, if a most exemplary person, is certainly what is
commonly described as " trying."

The parish of Gurraghcloyne is small ; the income even
smaller. But if Providence, in giving Mr. Barry this
parish as his special charge, had been niggardly to him in
money matters, it had certainly made up to him lavishly in
another respect. It had given him, for example, a large,
and what promised to be an ever-increasing family, so in-
creasing, indeed, that it would ultimately have beaten the
record but for the untimely death of Mrs. Barry, who had
faded out of life at Tom's birth. She was then just thirty-
two, but she looked forty.

To her husband, however, gazing at her dead face, sur-
rounded by its lilies and white roses, she looked seventeen
again — the age at which he had married her — and though
he was a man entirely wrapt up in his books and theories,
it is an almost certain thing that he never forgot her, and
that he mourned and lamented for her, as few men whose
lives are set in smoother places do for their beloved.

Miss Barry, his sister, came on the death of his wife and
took possession of the house — Susan being then just thir-
teen. She had but a bare sum wherewith to clothe and
keep herself, and was therefore of little use in helping the

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88 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

household where money was concerned ; and it was, there-
fore, with a sense of thankfulness that the Rector four
years ago accepted the charge of Dominick Fitzgerald, an
orphan, and the son of a stepbrother of his wife.

The poor, pretty wife was then a year dead, but he knew
all about Dominick's people. The Rector himself came of
a good old Irish family, and his wife had been even more
highly connected. Indeed, the lad who came to Mr. Barry
four years ago — though he had inherited little from his
father, would in all probability succeed to his uncle's title,
and five or six thousand a year. A small thing for a
baronet, but still worth having. Of course there was al-
ways a chance that the uncle, a middle-aged man, might
marry, though he was consumptive and generally an in-
valid ; but all that lay in the future, and at present it was
decided that the boy should be given a profession, but hav-
ing proved remarkably idle and wild at school — though
nothing disgraceful was ever laid to his charge — his uncle
in one of his intervals of good health had desired that he
should be sent down to Mr. Barry, for whom Sir Spencer
Fitzgerald had an immense respect and a little fear, for a
few reasons Jhat need not be specified. Though, if Sir
Spencer only knew it, the Rector was the last man in the
world to betray the secrets of any one.

The Rector accepted the charge gladly. He had passed
several young men (who had been private pupils of his be-
fore his marriage) very successfully for the civil service,
and he was doing his best for Dominick now, whom from
I the very first he liked, in spite of the reputation for idle-
ness that came with him.

Indeed, Dom Fitzgerald had fallen into the family circle
as though it had been made for him, and had grown to be
quite a brother to his new-found cousins. He at once grew
fond of Susan, and became on the spot a chum of Carew's,
who was reading with his father, for the army and expected
to pass next year. And he quarrelled all day long with

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THE PMOEESSO&'S EXPERIMENT. 89

Betty, who accepted him as a " pal " from the moment of
his appearing. Betty inclined towards slang.

As for the children they all loved him ; and, indeed, it
must be said that he loved them, and sp$nt a considerable
amount of the fifty pounds allowed him for yearly pocket
money upon them.

"Well, where is she ?" persists he, turning a lazy eye
from one to another, at last resting it on Susan.

" She has gone down to Father Murphy's about Jane,"
says Susan, reluctantly. " You know Jane is always
breaking everything, and to-day she broke that old cup of
our great grandmother's, and Aunt Jemima was very angry.
She has gone to tell Father Murphy about it, and to say
she will never -take a Roman Catholic servant again, unless
he punishes Jane severely."

11 And Father Murphy will laugh," says Carew with a
shrug. " He knows she must take Catholic servants or do
without them. All the Protestant girls of that class here
are farmers' daughters and either won't go into service at
all, or else only to Lady O'Donovan's or the O'Connors."

44 Oh I you should have heard Jane," cries Betty going
off into one of her peals of laughter. " When Aunt
Jemima had reduced her to a rage she came in weeping to
me, — all the forlorn hopes fall back upon me."

44 True ! Even this poor old forlorn one," says Dom
promptly seizing his opportunity to lift his head from her
gown to drop it upon her lap.

After which there is a scuffle.

44 Oh ! never mind Dom," says Susan impatiently —
44 What did Jane say to you about the cup."

" She said — * Go away, Dom.' "

44 I'm sure she didn't," says Dom with an aggrieved air.
44 It's an aspersion on my character, Susan ! You don't be-
lieve this do you ? "

44 She said," goes on Betty, very properly taking no
notice of the interruption. " 4 Law, Miss Betty, Miss, did

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90 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERI3TENT.

ye iver hear the like o' that : Did ye iver hear sich a row
about nothinV "

" ' It wasn't about nothing,' I said, ' Because you know
how even father valued that cup — though an uglier thing I
never saw in my life.' "

" * Fegs, I don't know what ye call anything' said Jane
(she was crying all the time, you know how she can roar) :
' But yer Aunt herself tould me that that cup is a hun-
dhred years ould, if a day, an' wid that, to make sich a
screech over it. Faix it must have bin,rotten wid age, Miss ;
an' no wondher it come to bits in me hands.' "

They are all delighted with the story.

" I don't think Aunt Jemima would have been so cross
with poor Jane," says Susan in a low tone and with a
glance round her to make sure of no one's being within
hearing, " but for those eggs this morning."

" The eggs under the speckled hen ? " asks Jacky. " I
heard her speaking about them : Won't they come out ? "

Susan shakes her head, and Carew and Dominick edge a
little out of sight. The latter, under a pretence of feeling
too warm, hides his face under the big straw hat that Betty
has thrown upon the grass beside her.

" They should have come out ten days ago," says Susan,
" but they " — she casts an uncertain glance at Carew, who has
turned over, and is now lying with his face upon his arms,
and is evidently developing ague fever — " but they didn't."

" Were they all addled ? " asks Jacky with amazement.

" No. They were all boiled," says Susan.

" Boiled I " says little Bonnie sitting up with an effort.
" Who boiled them ? The hen ? "

At this there is a stifled roar from under Betty's hat,
whereupon the owner of it lifts it and discovers Mr. Fitz-
gerald plainly on the point of apoplexy.

" Just the sort of thing one would expect from you,"
says she scornfully. " No wonder you want to hide your
face : But you shan't do it under my hat anyhow."

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TBE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 01

" Oh) Carew, think of that poor hen waiting and waiting
for three weeks, and then for ten days more. I call it hor-
rid/' says Susan. " I really think you ought to be ashamed
of yourselves, you two."

" Ought we 1 Then we will be," says Dom. " Never
shall it be said that I shirked my duty, at all events :
Carew, get out of that, and be ashamed of yourself in-
stantly."

" Oh, that's all very fine," says Betty, " trying to get
out of it like that. But let me tell you that I think "

However, what Betty may think of people who put
boiled eggs under sitting hens, is for ever lost to posterity,
because at this moment Jane, with red eyes and a depressed
demeanor, comes hurrying up to them across the small
lawn, a covered basket in her hand.

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62 THE PROFESSO&'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XIII.
"0, coward, conscience, how dost thoa afflict me.'

" Fob you, miss," says she, handing the basket to Susan.

Susan turns crimson. That basket ! She knows it well.

" For me ! " stammers she.

" Yes, miss ! "

" Who—" nervously,—" Who brought it? "

" A boy, miss." For an instant Susan's heart feels re-
lief, but for an instant only.

" Whose boy ? " falters she.

" I don't know, miss. He came an' wint in a flash like.
I hope, miss, as there isn't anythin' desthructive in it," says
Jane, whose misfortunes of the morning have raised in her
a pessimistic spirit. " They do pay thim moonlighters are
goin' about agin."

"Do you mean to say the — the messenger said noth-
ing?"

" No, miss, except that it was for you. That was all,
miss, and I'm not deaf, though I wish I was, before I heard
all that was said to me this mornin' about an ould cup

that " Here she lifts her apron, and sniffs vigorously

behind it.

"Oh, it can't be for me," says Susan, with decision,
" Take it away, Jane. There has been some mistake, of
course. Take it away at once. Do you hear ? The — the
boy will probably call for it again in a little time."

" I don't think he will, miss. He looked like a runa-
way," says Jane.

" Good heavens ! How interesting ! " says Mr. Fitzger-
ald, breaking at last into the charmed silence that has held

em all, since the advent of Jane and the mysterious

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 93

basket. " Who can this unknown admirer be ? No doubt it
contains roses," staring at the basket : " or heliotropes —
heliotrope in the language of love means devotion ! Susan,
are you above a peep ? "

" Yes, I am," says Susan, hastily.

" I am not," says Betty, springing forward, and pulling
open the cover. " Oh I I say ! Cherries ! And such
beauties too. Susan, you are in luck."

" And so are we," says Fitzgerald, putting a hand lightly
over her shoulder, and drawing up a bunch of the pretty
fruit between his fingers/

" Oh, I think we ought not to eat them — I do, indeed,"
says Susan, in a small agony. There can be no doubt now
about the fact that the thief, repentant and struck to the
very soul by her eloquent pleadings, had sought to redeem
himself in her eyes by sending the stolen cherries to her.
Whether with a view of giving her the pleasure of eating
them, or with the higher desire of proving to her that he
hadn't devoured them, must, she feels, and hopes (because
to meet him again would be very unpleasant to her), for
ever remain unknown.

" Poor fellow ! " thinks she, regarding the cherries with
mixed emotions, that are not altogether devoid of admira-
tion for her own hitherto unimagined powers of persuasion.
" He was certainly and sincerely penitent. One could see
that." She feels quite an uplifting of her soul. Perhaps,
who knows, she has been born as a worthy successor
to Mrs. Fry, or some of those good people. But then,
after all, it is, undoubtedly, to Mr. Crosby, he should have
made restitution, not to her. It is, however, difficult to re-
store English cherries — a rather perishable commodity, to
an owner who happens to be at the moment in the middle
of Africa, or America, — or China for all she knows.

" Not eat them," says Betty, indignantly. " Why, what
else are you going to do with them. Make them into
jam?"

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94 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" They are not mine — I'm sure they are not mine," says
Susan. " Who, for instance, could have sent them 1 "

Here Jacky makes a movement.

" Jacky, you know nothing ! " cries Susan, turning indig-
nant, warning eyes upon him; whereupon Jacky , remember-
ing his promise, subsides once again into dismal silence.

41 Jacky, I smell a conspiracy 1 " says Dominick, who has
caught the look between them. " And you are the Head
Centre. Speak, boy ! whilst yet there is time ! "

44 I've nothing to say," says Jacky, sulkily — who is
naturally of a somewhat morose disposition, and now feels
postively ill at not being able to divulge the delightful
story, of which these glowing cherries are the result.

44 Susan ! I do believe you have at last got an admirer ! "
says Carew, in the complimentary tone of the orthodox
brother, who never can understand why on earth any fellow
can admire his sister. " Gome ! out with it : he seems a
sensible fellow anyway. Flowers are awful rot, but there's
something in cherries."

44 Betty, when I fall in love with you I'll present you
with a course of goodies," says Dominick, regarding that
damsel with an encouraging eye.

44 1 have no admirers, as you all know," says Susan, her
pale and lovely face a little heightened in color. She is
thinking with horror of what would have happened if that
poor awful thief had brought them in person. But, of
course, he was afraid.

44 Perhaps Lady Millbank sent them," suggest Betty,
after a violent discussion with Fitzgerald on the head of
his last remark.

44 1 saw her in town yesterday."

44 So did I," says Carew. 44 Like a sack — not tied in the
middle."

Susan feels almost inclined in the emergencies of the mo-
ment to say 44 perhaps so," and let it stand at that, but cop-
science forbids her.

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THE PROFESSOR' 8 EXPERIMENT. 95

" She would have sent a footman and her card," says she,
dejectedly. " No," decidedly, and preparing to close up
the basket, " they are not meant for me, and even if they
were, I could not accept them, unless I knew where they
came from."

" Do you mean that you are not going to give us some ? "
says Betty, rising, not only figuratively but actually to the
occasion, and standing over Susan. " I never heard any-
thing so mean in all my life."

" Susan ! " says Fitzgerald mildly, but firmly, u if you
think to escape alive from this spot with these cherries, let
me at once warn you of a sense of impending danger."

" Oh ! I say, Susan, don't be a fool," says Carew, turning
his lazy length upon the grass, a manoeuvre that brings him
much closer to Susan and the cherries.

" It's a beastly shame," says Jacky, in a growl. And at
this little Tom, as if moved to the very soul — or stomach
— sets up a piteous howl.

Susan, with all the " young martyr " air about her, looks
sternly round. No, she will not give in, and it's perfectly
disgusting of them to think so much of eating things.
Her glance finishes at Jacky, who is scowling and threaten-
ing her with the fellest of all fell eyes, and then descends at
last on Bonnie !

Bonnie, who is lying in her arms, his pretty, thin, patient
little face against his shoulder. Poor little Bonnie!
Darling little Bonnie ! who has said nothing — not a word —
but whose gentle eyes are now resting on the fruit. Bon-
nie, whose appetite is always miserable — so difficult to
please. Susan, seeing that silent, wistful glance, feels her
heart sink within her.

Must she — must she deny him ? Her poor little delicate
boy. Her best beloved of all the many that she loves.
Oh, she must. She will be firm. These cherries really are
not hers. Even for Bonnie she —

The child stirs in her arms and sighs, t

96 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

gentlest little sigh — only one who loved him could have
heard it, but with that little sigh went out all Susan's stern
resolutions. Almost unconsciously her hand goes towards
the basket that holds the cherries. Slowly, slowly, at first,
as if held back, but as it nears the glowing fruit it makes
a rush as it were, dives into it, and in a second more
Bonnie's thin little paws are filled with a huge and crimson
bunch of the sweet cherries.

Alas! for Susan's principles. They have all vanished
away like snow in the sun, beneath two little pain-filled eyes.

Alas, for Susan's principles again. As Bonnie's white
little face lights up as he catches the pretty fruit, and bites
one of them in two with his sharp childish teeth, and as
after that he lifts the other half of it to Susan's mouth,
and presses it against her closed but smiling lips, she does
not refuse him. She opens her lips, and against all her be-
liefs lets the stolen thing glide between them. The happy
laughter of the child as she takes the fruit is nectar to her
and in a little joyous way she hugs him to her, catching
him against her breast, and though she does not know it,
her one thought is this —

" Let all things go so long as this one is happy." And
certainly Bonnie for the moment is happy with his cherries.
But the cherry he gave her is the first and only one out of
her basket that passed between her lips. And that is self-
denial, I can tell you from experience — for a girl of
eighteen.

After this there is a general raid upon the basket, Betty
and Fitzgerald being quite conspicuous in their efforts to
secure the largest cherries, whilst Jack runs them very
hard. And Susan, afraid lest the supply should fail before
Bonnie gets a handsome share, pulls him to her and fills his
little hands. But her own hands ! Never ! Stern is her
youthful virtue! Those stolen cherries! No, no, she
could not touch them, and besides to watch Bonnie's de-
light in them, is enough for her.

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Bonnie 1 It seems such a sad critiqne upon the little
fragile child racked with rheumatism and so sadly disabled
by it.

In happier days, when he was, in truth, the bonniest lit-
tle being of them all, his poor mother — now mercifully in
heaven — had given him the dear pet name. And of course
it had clung to him through all the ills that followed.

The beginning was so simple, so easy to be described. A
wet day when the child had escaped from home and had
been forgotten until the early dinner reminded them of him.
There were so many to remember, and they all ran so
loosely here and there, that up to that hour no one had
missed him. His mother was dead ! The keynote of course
lay there. She was dead and lying in her grave for a year
or more, and the young things who tried to take her place,
when they had asked a question or two, never thought of
Bonnie again. Carew, the eldest boy, then only twelve, did
not appear at dinner either, and it was naturally and care-
lessly supposed that Bonnie was with him.

Alas ! for little Bonnie. Late that night he was discov-
ered and brought home, saturated to the skin, and almost life-
less. Asleep he had been found beneath the shade of a big
beech tree, and sleep eternal he would have known indeed
had he not been discovered before morning by the frightened
people from the vicarage who, when night set in, had gone
hunting for him far and near. The Rector himself roused
from his notes and papers by Susan's terrors, had joined in
the search, but it was Susan who found him, tired, ex-
hausted (after a ramble in which he had lost himself, poor
little soul) and wet through from the rain that had fallen
incessantly since three o'clock in the afternoon.

It was Susan who carried him home, staggering some-
times beneath the weight, but strong in the very misery of
her fear. When at last home was reached, it was Susan
who undressed him, and lay awake the long night through
with him, holding him in her warm arms to heat his shiver-

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98 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

ing little body. And, indeed, when the morning came he
seemed nothing the worse for his exposure.

Bat towards the evening he began to shiver again, and
next day he was lying prone, racked with all the pangs of
the rheumatic fever. The3 r twisted and tore his little
frame, and though at the last the doctor pulled him through,
and he rose again from his bed, it was but as a shadow of
his former merry self—a stricken child — a cripple for life.

Poor Susan — then thirteen — took it sorely to heart. Her
mother in heaven ; had she looked down that night when
Bonnie lay under the dripping tree, and seen her pretty
lamb, alone, deserted ! The mother who had left him to
Susan to look after and care for. She had seemed to think
more of Bonnie in her dying moments than of the baby
who had brought death to her with his own life. Susan
had been left in charge as it were— sweet Susan — who was
barely twelve, and who with her soft shy ways and lovely
face, should have been left in charge herself to someone
capable of guiding her tender footsteps across Earth's
thorny paths.

Her remorse dwelt with her always, and became a bur-
den to her, and made havoc of her color, for many a day.
Oi course she grew out of all that — youth, thank God, is
always growing — and at last after many days, joy came to
her again, and all the glorious color of life, and all the
sweetness of it. But she never lost a little pulsing grief
that came to her every now and then, telling her how she
ought to have seen, that Bonnie had not wandered so far
afield.

Oh ! if only he could be made strong and well again.
This was the heart of the sad song, that she often sang for
herself alone, when time was given her, in her busy life.

She had dreamed dreams of how it would be with the
little lad if he could have been sent abroad. She had heard
of certain baths, and of wonderful cures worked by them.
If be could go abroad to one of them he ™g|| b A

THE PROFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 9

But such baths were as far out of her reach as heaven it-
self. It seemed hard to Susan, to whom life was still a
riddle. And she reproached herself always — and always
mourned that there would never come a time when Bonnie
would be strong again, as he was when his mother left him ;
and when she might meet that dear mother in heaven
without fear of reproaches.

All this lay in the background of Susan's life, and now
as years grew, seldom came to the front. But, the child
was ever her first thought, and her dearest delight — and
the fact that he was not as his brothers were was the one
little blot on the happiness of her young life.

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100 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XIV.

11 that this calculating soul would cease
To forecast accidents, time's helping errors
And take the present, with the present's peace,
Instead of filling life's poor day with terrors."

About seven o'clock Wyndham (who had come up to
Dublin by the afternoon train), going down Nassau Street,
finds himself face to face with a tall, big, good-humored look-
ing man of about thirty-two.

" Hallo ! That you ? " cries the latter, stopping Wynd-
ham, who in somewhat preoccupied mood would have gone
by without seeing him. The preoccupation disappears at
once, however, and it is with genuine pleasure that he
grasps the hand held out to him.

" You, Crosby, of all men ! "

" Even so."

" Why, last week, when we met in Paris, you told me you
were going to Vienna to see a friend there."

" The friend came to me to Paris instead the very day
after you left."

" But I thought you had arranged with him to go on an
expedition to some untranslatable place in Africa ? "

" So I had, but he proved disappointing. Hummed and
hawed, said he couldn't go just now ; but perhaps a little
later on. One saw through him at once. I told him I
never travelled about with fellows 9 wives, and that settles
it."

" He was going to be married f "

" Of course. Love was writ large all over him — in huge
capitals. And he was in such a hurry over everything.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 101

People in love are always in a hurry — to get back. So I
dismissed him with my blessing, and a bauble for the ven-
turesome young woman he has chosen to explore life's
boundless ways with him. R. I. P. He's done for, and
a right good fellow he was too I Well, what's np with
you?"

"With me?"

" Think I can't see ? You're out of your luck in some
way."

" Nothing much any way," says Wyndham, with an in-
voluntary smile.

" Too vague. Too vague by half," says Crosby, laughing.
It is the happiest, heartiest laugh. " Come, what's the
matter ? Out with it. Money ? "

" No, no," says the barrister, laughing in turn.

" Still there is something."

" Is there ? I don't know," says Wyndham, in a tone
half comical, half forlorn.

At this Crosby thrusts his arm into his, and wheels him
down the street.

" It must be hunger ! " says he, gaily, seeing the other is
not ready for confession yet. That the confession will come
he knows perfectly well. Ever since they were boys to-
gether, Wyndham, whose brain was then as now very
superior to Crosby's, had still always given in to the per-
sonal attractions of the stronger and older boy, whose big
fists often fought Wyndham's battles for him on the public
playground.

Crosby had been a big boy then, he is a big man now.
And in spite of his adventurous wanderings by land and
sea, looks younger than Wyndham, though he is actually
four years older. A splendid man, bronzed, bearded and
broad shouldered, with the grand look of one who has been
through many a peril, and many a fight, who has led a
cleanly life, and can look the world in the face fearlessly.
His eyes are large and blue and full of life and gaiety. He

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lOfc TBE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

has a heart as true as gold, and a strong right arm, good
for the felling of a foe, or the saving of a friend.

" For my own part I'm starving," says he. " Gome along ;
we're near our club, and you'll dine with me. Considering
what a stranger I am in my own land, you'll be able to help
me out a bit. I feel as of I did not know anyone — that is,
if you are not going anywhere else. There's a wander-
ing look about you. No J No other engagements 1 That's
good."

They had reached the steps of the Kildare Street Club
by this time, and presently are in the pleasant dining-
room.

" By the way, talking of engagements," says Crosby be-
tween the soup and fish. " I have one for to-night, at your
aunt's — Mrs. Prior's. In some odd fashion she heard I was
in Dublin, and sent a card to the Oresham for me. You,"
glancing at Wyndham's evening dress, " are going some-
where too, perhaps."

" There, too," says Wyndham, u I've got out of it a good
deal lately, but it doesn't do to offend her over much. She's
touchy ; and the old man, my uncle, Lord Shangarry — you
remember him t How he used to tip us at school long ago t
— makes quite a point of my being civil to her."

" To her, or 1 "

" My cousin J " Wyndham lifts his brows. " I feel sure
my cousin is as indifferent to me as I am to her." He
pauses : " still I will not conceal from you that my uncle
desires a marriage between us."

" Is this the cause of your late depression f " asks Crosby
with a quizzical expression.

" Not it," says Wyndham. " By-the-bye," a little hur-
riedly, " what of that late adventure of yours in Siam ? — you
were just telling me about it when "

Crosby at once plunges into the interrupted anecdote,
bringing it, however, to a somewhat sharp close.

" Tou know what life is I " says Wyndham a little m<

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TEE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT. 103

When it is over. " I envy you ; I often think I too should
like to break off the threads of society that bind one in, and
start on a career, that would leave civilization and — its
worries behind."

" Its worries t "

" Well, gossip for one thing and that delicate espionage
that so often leads to the damning of a man."

"Poor old boy, got into deep water," thinks Crosby
whilst toying with his champagne.

" Once in it one never gets out of civilization," says he.
" It sticks to one like a burr. Don't hope for that when
you start on the wild career you speak of, For myself I
like civilization. It's clean for one thing — savages don't do
much in the way of washing. But I confess I like wander-
ing for wandering's sake. It's a mania with me. . Here to-
day and gone to-morrow. That's the motto that suits me*
Yet I daresay in time I shall get tired of it."

44 Not you 1 Where are you going next 1 "

4i Not made up my mind yet. But I'll tell you where I've
been last. Right into Arcadia I A difficult place to find
nowadays, the Savants tell you — but the Savants, like the
Cretans, are all liars. And in my Arcadia I fell in with an
adventure, and met "

He pauses, and leaning back in his chair clasps his hands
behind his head and gives way to silent laughter. Evi-
dently some memory is amusing him.

44 Some one who apparently was kind to you," says
Wyndham, indifferently, breaking off from the stem, but
not eating, the purple grapes before him.

" Kind ! " says Crosby. " Hardly that."

"Unkind?"

" More than that."

" She told you "

44 That I was a thief." Wyndham 's indifference ceases
for a moment.

44 Strong language," says he.

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104 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" True, I assure you. Do I look like one f Ever since
that terrible denunciation I have often asked myself
whether so much knocking about as I have known has not
ruffianized me — in appearance at all events."

"Where on earth is the Arcadia you speak of?" asks
Wyndham.

" Well, to tell you everything, I went down to Curragh-
cloyne this morning to have a look at the old place."

" What I There I Why I was there to-day too," says
Wyndham, and then pauses as if suddenly sorry he had
spoken.

" We must have missed each other, then, and come up by
different trainso"

" I suppose so," says Wyndham, slowly. " And so your
Arcadia is Curraghcloyne f Fancy an adventure there ! "
He shrugs his shoulders and leans back in his chair. " Tou
have had so many real adventures that I expect you like to
revel in imagining one now and then."

" Perhaps so," says Crosby. " Still even in Arcadia one
doesn't like to be called a thief. I say it is getting late,
isn't it. Tour aunt spoke of ten. It is now well after
eleven. Buck up, my child, and let us on."

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TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 105

CHAPTER XV.
11 The web of our lift is of * mingled yarn, Good and ill together."

The rooms are crowded to excess, and it is with difficulty
that Crosby and Wyndham make their way to the place
where some one has told them their hostess is to be found.
They have arrived very late, in spite of Crosby's attempt
at haste, so late indeed that already some of the guests are
leaving, a fact that had somewhat embarrassed their journey
up the staircase. The heat is intense, and the perfume of
the many roses makes the air heavy.

Quite at the end of the music room Wyndham sees his
aunt, and presently she, seeing him and Crosby in the door-
way, makes them a faint salutation. The Hon. Mrs. Prior
is a tall woman, with a high aristocratic nose, fair hair, and
blue eyes — now a little pale. She was the handsomest of
the three daughters of Sir John Burke, and, what is not
always the case, had made the best marriage. Her young-
est sister, Kate, had however done very well too when she
married James Wyndham, but the eldest sister had made a
distinct fiasco of her life. She had run away with a ne'er-
do-weel, a certain Robert Haines, who came from no one
knew where and went no one knew where either, taking Sir
John's favorite daughter with him. It was hushed up at
the time, but the old man had caused ceaseless secret in-
quiries to be made for the missing daughter, always, how-
ever, without result. It was for a time a blot upon the
family history, but it was forgotten after a while, and Mrs.
Prior and her daughter have for some time taken leading
parts in Dublin society.

A tall thin woman is singing very beautifully as the two
young men enter, and Mrs. Prior's slight movemenkPf

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106 THE PtlOPESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

recognition to her nephew conveys with it, a desire that he
should not seek her until the song has come to an end.
And presently the last quivering note dies away upon the

air, and the crowd is once more in motion. Lady H is

being congratulated on the beauties of her voice by many
people, and Mrs. Prior having done her part, is now able to
receive her nephew and Crosby without having to pause
and wonder who she is to speak to next.

Indeed, Lady H 's singing has virtually wound up

the evening. Few would care to sing after her, and now
the rooms are beginning to look deserted.

" Always a laggard, Paul," says his aunt, who, having
bidden good-bye to her principal guests, has left the rest to
her daughter. " But I suppose something of it must be
put down to to-night." She smiles at Crosby, whom she
has known since he was a little boy. " You should have
been here earlier, you two, she sang even better in the be-
ginning of the evening. It was l Allan Water,' and you
know how that would suit her voice. But now that you
have come so late, you must stay a little later and have
supper with Josephine and me."

She talks on to them in her cultivated yet somewhat hard
voice, rising now and then to say good-bye to someone,
until the rooms are quite cleared and her daughter is able
to join them.

Josephine Prior comes across the polished floor of the
music-room to where they are sitting in a curtained recess ;
she is as tall as her mother, and as fair, and a little harder.
Miss Prior was undoubtedly the handsomest girl in Dublin
this season (now all but over), and has been for the past
two or three. Tall, distingude, and with irreproachable
manners, there are very few who can outdo her. She
sweeps up to them now, her pretty silken skirts falling
gracefully around her, and her mother rising, motions her
into her own seat — that next to Wyndham's, while she
sinks into a chair on Crosby's left.

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Ittfc PROPESSO&S EXPEBIMBNT. 107

It has been a settled thing with Mrs. Prior for years,
that Josephine, her only child, should marry Paul Wynd-
ham, who, though only a barrister, is still a very rising one,
and heir to his grand-uncle, Lord Shangarry. To know
Josephine a countess I There lay all the hope, all the am-
bition of Mrs. Prior's life. And the fact that old Lord
Shangarry shared her hopes about this matter, naturally
led to the idea that in time it must be accomplished. If
Paul were to offend his uncle, then — well, then — the title
would be his indeed, but the enormous income now attached
to it, not being entailed, could be left as Lord Shangarry
wished. Few people fly in the face of Providence where
thousands a year are concerned, and Mrs. Prior depended
upon Wyndham's common sense to secure him as a husband
for her daughter. As for Wyndham — though up to this
not a syllable has passed between him and Josephine to
bind him to her in any way, he has of late brought himself
to believe that a marriage with her, considering the stakes
—is not out of the question. She is a handsome girl too—
and as a countess — would look the part.

Now as she seats herself beside him, he again acknowl-
edges the beauty of her chiselled nose and chin. But —
yes, there is a but — . All at once it occurs to him, that
beauty is very seldom to be found in perfect features. The
really artistic face has always one feature, quite beyond the
bounds of art I Strange that it had not occurred to him be-
fore I Still — Josephine is undoubtedly handsome.

Josephine's voice is like her mother's, clear, and very
hard. She is talking now.

" Do you know we were down in your part of the world
the other day," says she. " We were lunching with dear
Lady Millbank, and then went on to your cottage. We
wanted to get some flowers. You know how mean Lady
Millbank is about her roses, so we decided on saying noth-
ing to her, and trusting to your place. But when we got
there," with an elephantine attempt at playfulness, " the

108 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

cupboard was bare, at all events to us, because we could not
get in."

" Yes, so odd I " says llrs. Prior. " We rang and rang,
and rang, but no one came for quite a long time. At
last your housekeeper appeared, a most disagreeable person,
my dear Paul. She was indeed almost rude, and said she
had your orders to admit nobody t "

She looks back at Wyndham, who looks back at her with
an immovable countenance.

44 Not my orders certainly," says he, calmly. " I was
abroad until the other day, you know, so I can hardly be
responsible for Mrs. Moriarty's manoeuvres."

His voice is perfectly even, though a perfect storm of
rage against Mrs. Denis is rendering him furious. Con-
found the woman 1 what does she mean by seeking to create
a scandal out of a mere nothing — a mountain out of a mole-
hill I

Crosby, glancing at him steadily for a moment, turns his
eyes away again and breaks into the discussion.

44 1 am sorry you did not go up to my place," says he,
addressing Miss Prior. " It is quite a terrible thing to con-
template — your having been in want of flowers."

" Ah I But you weren't there," says Josephine, with a
wild attempt at coquetry. 44 If you had been, we might
have made a raid on you."

44 Well, I'm at home now," says Crosby, cheerfully.
44 You must come down some day soon, and help me to
gather my roses."

44 You mean to stay then," says Josephine, leaning a little
towards him across her mother. She is quite bent on
marrying her cousin, though she is as indifferent to him as
he is to her, but in the meantime she is not above a slight
flirtation with Crosby. To tell the truth, this big, good-
humored, handsome man appeals to her far more than Paul
has ever done.

44 Until the autumn at all events," says he.

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TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 109

As for Wyndham, he is still sitting mute, apparently
listening to his aunt's diatribes about society and Dublin
society in particular, but in reality raging over Mrs. Denis 9
shortcomings, and the deplorable Irish sympathetic nature
that has led her to sacrifice everything — even the excellent
situation she has at the Cottage — to a mere passing fancy
for a girl whom she has known at the longest for four or
five weeks.

Crosby, noting his abstraction, is still rattling along.

" Now it's a promise, Mrs. Prior, isn't it ? You" — here
he glances deliberately at Josephine — " you will come and
look round my place soon, won't you f I'm thinking of
making up a little house party in September or August,
and I hope you and Miss Prior will leave a week open for
me." He throws a look over his shoulder. " You too,
Wyndham?"

" Thank you," says Paul, absently.

" What a charming idea," cried Josephine, ecstatically.
Here she decides upon clapping her hands, and she does it
in her perfectly well-bred way. The result is deadly. " To
stay with a bachelor I Mamma, you will consent f "

Mamma consents. Josephine, again leaning towards
Crosby, says something delightful to him. It has seemed
to her since Crosby's coming that to have two strings to
your bow is a very desirable thing. Paul is well enough,
and in the end, of course, she will marry him, though at
times she has thought that he — but, of course, that is non-
sense. He would be afraid to marry anyone else — afraid of
his uncle I What a pity he is not Mr. Crosby, or Mr. Crosby,
Paul I Well, one can't have everything one's own way,
after all, and there is the title t Lady Shangarry — Mrs.
Crosby ! — Yes, the title counts ! But really Paul is so very
dull, and Mr. Crosby, though he has no title, so infinitely
better off than Paul will ever be ; and the Crosby's is an
old family, dating back to — goodness knows where I — still a
title!

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110 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Finally she gets back to the title, and stays there.

44 But yes, really, dear Paul," Mrs. Prior is saying, " I
think that housekeeper of yours, or caretaker, or whatever
she is, takes too much upon her. I tried to explain to her
I was your aunt, and indeed she has seen me several times,
. but I could not shake her determination to let no one in.
Anyone might be excused for imagining that she was con-
cealing something."

" Garden party for her own friends, no doubt," says
Crosby. He has cast a half-amused, half-enquiring glance
at Wyndham, but the latter's face is impassive.

" I think it a little serious," says Mrs. Prior. "Young
men, as a rule, are always imposed upon by women of her
class; caretakers, of course, I mean," with a careful glance
at the innocent Josephine. " Landladies and that. Do you
think, dear Paul, that she is quite honest t "

44 Quite, I think."

44 Then why this extraordinary step on her part f This
locking out your very nearest, and," with an open glance at
Josephine, " dearest ? No — no, George," to Crosby, 44 you
really must not jest on this subject. I feel it is quite im-
portant where Paul is concerned. You really know of no
reason, Paul, why she should have forbidden us an en-
trance?"

Is there meaning in the question t Wyndham looks at
her steadily before replying.

44 1 was in France at the time," says he, carelessly. 44 If
she had a motive, how could I know it f "

Crosby leans back, and crosses his arms negligently.
44 What an idiotic equivocation," thinks he.

44 You certainly ought to speak to her about it."

44 Of course I shall speak to her."

Crosby smiles.

44 1 really think you ought," says Mrs. Prior. 44 You can,"
severely, " mention me if you wish. I consider she be-
haved extremely badly. And I quite tremble for the dear

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. Ill

little old place. You know it was an uncle of ours — a
grand-uncle of yours — who left the place to your mother,
and as girls we — that is, your aunts and I — used to be very
fond of running up from your grandfather's place in Kerry
to spend a few weeks in it. We were all girls then — your

mother and I, and you " She stops, and sneezes most

opportunely behind her lace handkerchief. The innocent
Josephine had touched her foot under cover of her gown.
Of course the aunt who had disappeared so unpleasantly
had better not be mentioned.

" I hope, Paul, you will see that this woman keeps the
dear old place in order," says Mrs. Prior, rather hastily.

" To confess a dreadful truth," says Wyndham, smiling
somewhat briefly, " I have almost made up my mind to let
the Cottage. It has been rather a burden to me of late.
And "

"To let it. But why?"

44 Well, as you see yourself," says Wyndham, desperately,
14 Mrs. Moriarty does not seem capable of looking after it.
It is an awful bore, you know, and," with a rush of affection
hitherto unborn, " the idea of her having kept you out of
the place seems to put an end to my trust in her for ever."

Crosby flecks a little point of dust off his coat sleeve.
" Oh, the handsome liar," thinks he.

44 But my dear boy you must not be too precipitate. A
word to her would perhaps "

44 I've quite made up my mind," says Wyndham stead-
fastly. " I shall look out for a tenant."

44 Dear Paul I " says Mrs. Prior, touched by this nephew-
like act, 4i I of course appreciate your sweetness in this
matter. It is very dear of you to be so angry about the
woman's incivility to me, and if you have made up your
mind about getting a tenant for the dear old cottage, I think
I can help you."

Here Crosby leans forward. It is proving very interest*
tog.

112 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" You mustn't take any trouble," says Wyndham, " I
couldn't allow you."

" It will be no trouble — for you," says Josephine, break-
ing into the conversation very affectionately.

" Thanks awfully, but I think I've got a desirable tenant
in my eye," says Wyndham. " One suitable in every re-
spect."

" The real thing is to know if he is solvent," says Mrs.
Prior.

" Oh, I think so — I think so," says Wyndham thought-
fully.

" Is he young or old t " asks Josephine, who feels she
ought to show some interest in his affairs. Wyndham re-
mains wrapt up in thought for a moment then apparently
wakes up. " Oh, the tenant," says he dreamily. " Not old ;
no, not old I "

" At that rate you must introduce us to him," says Mrs.
Prior, with quite surprising archness. " Solvent and not
old? Quite a desirable acquaintance! What is his name,.
Paul?"

" I don't know," says Wyndham.

" Not know t But my dear Paul I "

" I positively don't," says Wyndham, in quite a loud
voice. It occurs to Crosby that now at last he is telling
the truth, and that he is wildly glad at being able to do so.
But the truth ! Where does it come in f Crosby grows
curious. " Strange as it may sound the name is unknown
to me. And for the matter of that nothing is settled.
There have been only preliminaries. There must always be
preliminaries you know," talking briskly to his aunt.

" Well, be careful," says Mrs. Prior. " And whatever you
do Paul, don't take a lady tenant. They are so difficult I
Now promise me, Paul, you won't take a lady as a tenant."

Providentially at this moment the very late supper is
announced, and Paul, rising, gives his arm to Josephine,
after which the conversation drifts into other channels.

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THE P&OFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 113

CHAPTER XVI.

41 This is the short and long of it."

The moon is streaming brilliantly over the silent streets
as the two men leaving Fitzwilliam-square turn presently
into Stephen's Green, and then down Dawson Street.
Crosby's footsteps are bound for the Oresham Hotel, and
Wyndham, who should have gone the other way, consider-
ing his rooms are in Elgin Road, walks with him silently
and so mechanically, that it becomes at once plain to Crosby
that he has lost himself a little in a world of troublous
thoughts.

Determining to let him find his way out of his mind's
labyrinth by himself, Crosby maintains a discreet silence,
refraining even from good words, and the whistle that has
come to be part of him, during his strange wanderings by
sea and land, and is difficult to discard when in the midst of
civilization.

It is not until they have reached the railings that run
round Trinity College — where the glorious light of the
moon is lighting up the old and splendid pile, that Wynd-
ham speaks.

" I've had the deuce of a time," says he.

" Well, I could see that," says Crosby, turning his cigar
in his fingers. " I'm rather disappointed in you, do you
know, Paul. How you are to make a fortune out of your
profession is to me a mystery. Throw it up. Tou are cer-
tainly not a liar born."

" I'm in a tight place," says Wyndham, disgustedly, " but
I daresay I'll get out of it well," reluctantly. " Good
night."

" Not a bit of it," says Crosby, tucking his arm into his ;

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114 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 come and have a pipe with me, and — if you can bring
yourself to it — give voice to this worry of yours, and get it
off your mind." .

A pipe is a great help ; soothed by it, and the influence
of the society of his old chum, Wyndham, seated comfort-
ably in a huge armchair in Crosby's room, tells the latter
the whole of his remarkable acquaintance with his unknown
guest at the Cottage.

It is, to confess the truth, a rather lame story, very
lamely told ; and at the close of it Wyndham looks at his
friend, at least at as much of him as he can see, Crosby
being now enclouded in smoke. He had been smoking very
vigorously indeed all through the recital, and there had
been moments when he had seemed to be choking, but
whether altogether from the smoke Wyndham felt uncertain.

" Well, that's the story," says he, at last, flinging himself
back in his chair.

There is a short silence.

" Then I suppose you could not think of a better one ? "
says Crosby, beginning to choke again.

44 Oh, I knew how you'd take it. How any fellow would
take it," says Wyndham, wrathfully. " I can see that there
isn't a soul in the world who would believe such an idiotic
story as mine. But there it is, and you can take it or leave
it as you like. But for all that, Crosby, you ought to know
me well enough to understand that I should not trouble
myself to lie to you unless there was occasion for it."

At this Crosby gives way to a roar.

44 Well, I honestly believe there's no occasion now," says
he ; u and for the rest, dear old chap, of course I believe
every word you have said. You must be thoroughly hipped
or you'd have seen how I was enjoying the joke. Come, it
seems we have both had adventures in Arcadia ; and that
we have both come in rather sorry fashion out of them."

44 Oh, you— you can afford to speak of adventures," says
Wyndham, rueftilly. 44 You're accustomed to them— but I

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THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 115

—I confess this last and first has been enough for me. You
who have faced lions "

44 Not so many, after all," interrupts Crosby, laughing.
44 Don't magnify them like that. I've shot a few, I confess,
but I only seem to remember seven. One does remember
them when one's face to face with them. But there is not
such a lot to remember after all."

44 It would serve, so far as I am concerned," says Wynd*
ham, frankly. " Indeed I think I could do with one—
always supposing he was dead. As for how I feel now, it
is as though I were in a den of them, and I doubt if I'll
come as well out of it as Daniel did."

Crosby regards him with an amused eye.

44 Apropos, your tenant," says he. 44 When are you going
to introduce your aunt to your young man ? "

44 Oh, get out," says Wyndham.

44 That's a lion if you like," says Crosby.

44 Which ? My aunt or my tenant f "

44 1 haven't seen the tenant. Still it strikes me that she
will be a lion too. I'd get out of that den if I were you."

44 Well, I want to. But what's one to do. I can't get
rid of either of my lions."

44 Not even of the tenant f "

44 1 don't see how I can, now I have given my promise."

44 Well ! Introduce them to each other, that's a capital
suggestion if you will only look into it. Whilst they claw
each other, you may be able to make your escape."

44 Introduce them 1 " Wyndham pauses, as if sounding
the proposition, then gives way to wrath. 44 Hang it," says
he, 44 you are worse than Job's three comforters all rolled
into one I "

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116 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XVIL

44 No hinge, nor loop
To hang a doubt on."

Today is Sunday. The first Sunday since that eventful
day when Susan had tackled and disarmed the thief, and
certainly the warmest day that has come this season. In
here in the church, the heat is almost intolerable, and
Susan, when the Litany begins, feels her devotion growing
faint.

She has indeed up to this had a good deal of troublous ex-
citement. To keep one eye on Jacky, who had left home in
a distinctly resentful mood, and the other on Tommy, who
doesn't believe in churches as a satisfactory playground, is
a task to which few would be equal, and even now, when
Tommy has been reduced to silence by Betty and lemon
drops, the excessive warmth of the day leaves Susan too
tired to follow the beautiful service.

Mechanically she says, " We beseech Thee to hear us,
good Lord," but her mind is wandering, and presently her
eyes begin to wander too.

The curate ! How hideous he is, poor little man, and
what a pity he is so painfully conscious of the loss of his
front tooth, and what a lovely light that is from the window
falling on his gown. It must be nice outside now. How
the fires are buzzing on the panes, just like the organ.
Maria Tanner should not be laughing like that, if father
saw her he would be so angry, and Maria is such a nice
girl and so clever — took all the prizes at the Diocesan Ex-
amination last year, and her sister is considered quite an
excellent housemaid by Lady Millbauk. What a pretty
bonnet Lady Millbank has on ; those violets suit her. Who

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 117

is the man in the pew behind her ; whj*, that is the Crosby
pew — and

For one awful minute Susan feels the walls of the church
closing in upon her ; a sensation of faintness — a trembling
of the knees— oppressed her : she is conscious of all this —
and then the mist fades away.

No, no. Of course it was not true. It was impossible.
A remarkable likeness, no more ! She could have laughed
almost at her own folly, and very nearly did so, in her
nervous state, but providentially the sight of a gloomy
black and white tablet erected to the memory of a dead and
gone Crosby that stands out from the wall right before her,
prevents this act of desecration.

She — she will look again. If only to assure herself of
her own folly. Slowly, slowly, she lifts her eyes, the eyes
that now are standing in a very white face, and looks with
a desperate courage at the Crosby pew. Her eyes met full
the eyes of its one occupant, and then Susan tells herself
that it is all over, and death alone is to be looked for.

For the eyes of the Crosby pew-man are the eyes of
Susan's thief. There can be no mistake about it any longer.
The man who sits in Mr. Crosby's pew and Susan's repent-
ant thief are one and the same.

Her eyes seem to cling to his. In the fever of horror that
has overtaken her, she feels as if she could never remove
them. For a full minute the man in the Crosby pew and
Susan kneel, staring at each other, and then suddenly some-
thing happened. Lady Millbank, who is sitting in the pew
before that of the Crosby's, turns round and hands Susan's
thief a prayer-book. That in itself would be very well ;
everyone should give a thief a prayer-book, but Lady Mill-
bank has accompanied her gift with a friendly nod of recog-
nition, a charming smile — the smile that Susan so well
knows — the smile that is only given to those whom Lady
Millbank desires to honor or to be in with.

It is all quite plain now. The thief is Mr. Crosby, and

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118 THE PEOFESSO&S EXPERIMENT.

Susan with a groan lets her face fall upon her clasped hands,
and hopes vainly for the earth to open and swallow her up
quick.

But the earth is a stupid thing, and never does anything
nowadays. Not a single earthquake appears for Susan's
accommodation, and the good old church is not conscious of
even a quiver. The service goes on. The Litany is done.
They all rise from their knees and the curate gives out a
hymn.

"Oh Paradise! Oh Paradise ! "

Poor Susan feels as if " Oh Purgatory I " would be much
nearer it so far as she is concerned. She would have stopped
the hymn there and then if she could, feeling utterly upset
and nervous. But it would take a great many feelings to
stop a church service when it is once in full swing, and the
hymn goes on gaily in spite of Susan's despair. It reaches
indeed a most satisfactory ending in spite of a slight con-
tretemps occasioned by the one unlucky Protestant maid
belonging to the rectory, called Sarah.

Poor Sarah had that day for the first time put on a hat
of which a brilliant majenta feather is the principal feature.
Hitherto it had not caught Miss Barry's eye — a wonder in
itself even greater than the majenta feather — as this esti-
mable spinster with a view to keeping the servants 9 moral
conduct perfect has elected that they shall sit on a bench
in the big square rectory pew right before her and her
nephew and nieces.

It is at the beginning of the first verse that Miss Barry's
eye lights on the monstrosity in Sarah's hat ! Feathers
and flowers are abominations in Miss Barry's eyes when
worn by the " common people," as she calls those beneath
her in the social scale. How dare that impertinent girl
come to church with such an immodest ornament on her
head ? What on earth is the world coming to f She must,
she will, speak to her — impossible to let her enjoy that
feather another second.

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THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 119

If she can't speak, she can at all events sing at her.

She darts across the pew, and leaning over Sarah's
shoulder sings, piercingly into her ear —

" Oh Paradise! Oh Paradise ! Sarah, what do you mean?
(Rising note). How dare (prolonged shriek on top note)
you wear that feather, girl? Where did you get that
hat?"

She is simply screaming this to the hymn tune. You all
know the hymn of course, and can understand how Miss
Barry's voice rose to a shrill yell in the u Dare." Sarah,
with a convulsive start, turns round. It seems to her that
this loud voice shouting in her ear must be heard by every
other soul in the church, and frightened, ashamed, she
sinks down into her seat and prepares to hide herself and
the majenta feather behind her prayer-book. But at this
breach of church etiquette Miss Barry grows even more in-
censed, and proceeds to rouse the wretched girl to a sense
of her further iniquity by well directed and vigorous
punches and prods of her prayer-book on her back.
Whereon Sarah dissolved in tears rises to her feet once
more. She is evidently on the verge of hysterics, and
would have undoubtedly given way to them, but that at
this moment, Betty, who is afraid of nothing under heaven,
lays her hand on Miss Barry's arm and forcibly pulls her
back to her accustomed place.

The hymn has now come to an end, and only Sarah's
stifled groanings are heard upon the air. Most people take
these to be the buzzing of the innumerable blue-bottles col-
lected in the window panes, so that the whole affair goes
off better than might have been expected.

Slowly, slowly, go the minutes — slower and slower still
is the voice of the curate, as he intones the commandments.
The blue bottles, as if invigorated by it, buzz louder than
ever, until poor Sarah's sobs are completely drowned.

The heat grows more and more intense. Jacky beneath
its pressure has fallen sound asleep, and is now giving

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190 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

forth loud and handsome snorings. Miss Barry, horrified,
makes frantic signs to Dominick, who is next to the culprit,
to stop this unsolicited addition to the church music that
Jacky has so " kindly consented " to give, and Dom waves
back at her wildly. No — no, of course. He quite under-
stands; he will see that no one interferes with the dear
boy's slumbers on any account whatever. The wavings
backwards and forwards grow fast and furious — furious on
the part of Miss Barry, and really as fast as lightning on
the part of Mr. Fitzgerald, who is having a thoroughly
"bon quart d' heure " — but Carew ends it.

He has been trying mentally to get through one of his
papers for his next examination, and finding Jacky's snores
a deadly .interruption to his thoughts, he fetches that
resounding hero a telling kick on a part that shall be name-
less, which brings him not only to his senses, but the floor.

There is a momentary confusion in the rectory pew, but
as every member of the congregation is more or less
drowsing, Jacky is picked up and restored to his seat be-
fore the real meaning of the confusion is known. And, in-
deed, when any one does look, all the Barrys are sitting so
demure and innocent that no one could connect them with
anything out of the way. Susan, alone flushed and un-
nerved, in spite of her determination not to do it, looks
quickly at the Crosby pew — to find the thief looking at her
with a singular intensity of regard. It is at this moment
that Susan for the first time In her young happy life, wakes
to sympathy with those unfortunate people who sometimes
J wish that they were dead.

The curate, a short squat little man — a man so short in-
deed that a footstool has had to be placed in the pulpit for
him to let the congregation see him as he preaches, is now
droning away like the flies ; " shooting out shafts of elo-
quence to the bucolic mind," is how he puts it when writ-
ing to his people, but even his people, if here, could hardly
catch the shafts to-day. The fact is, he has not yet had

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THE PEOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 121

time to get in the teeth he lost by his fall last week, and,
however admirable his discourse may be, the beauties of it
are known to him alone.

The farmers who are awake are leaning forward, their
hands to their ears to catch the gospel words that never
reach them. Lady Millbank has fallen gracefully asleep.
Sarah is still weeping copiously, but now — thank heaven —
quietly. The curate, vainly striving to pronounce his
" this " and his " that," grows more and more nervous.
He leans over the pulpit and thunders at the sleeping
farmers, and at the leading families around in whose pews
too " Somnus " is holding a full court. Farther and farther
he leans, striving with his parishioners as much as with his
teeth — a very passion of anxiety grows upon him. He
lifts his arms from the desk before him, the desk that is
supporting him and waves them frantically.

" Hear — hear, my brethren," cries he. " Hear and

SCO

His cry, like the Excelsior young man's clarion, rings
loud and clear. It wakes some of the sleepy members, who
look up to see what it is all about. But when they do look
up there is nothing to see I

Most unexpectedly and disgracefully — considering its re-
lation to the church — the footstool had given way with a
crash, and Mr. Haldane, the curate, had given way with it,
and disappeared holus bolus into the big old pulpit.

For quite a minute — though no doubt " to memory dear "
— the curate is certainly " lost to sight," and when at last
he ventures once more to mount the offending stool and
look down at his parishioners it is to find that the far larger
half of them are gladly streaming down the aisle to the
fresh air outside, under the fond delusion that " Church is
over."

These are the specially drowsy ones. The crash caused
by the curate's unpremeditated descent had roused them
from their happy dreams, and on opening their eyes, seeii

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122 THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT.

no preacher in the pulpit, they had naturally come to the
conclusion that the performance was at an end.

Yain to call them back I Mr. Haldane spreads out his
arms to heaven in a mournful appeal, but hearing some
unmistakable tittering to his left, turns and incontinently
flies.

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THE PROFESSO&S &XP&RIMENT. 123

CHAPTER XVIII.

"Life is thorny and youth is vain."

Not so quickly as Susan, however. He could hardly
have flown with the fleetness of that heart-troubled nymph.
She— at the first chance, when her father, rising hurriedly
at the flight of his curate, had breathed the blessing — had
flown down the side aisle and through the small oak door
into the golden air outside. And from there into a small
lane, filled with flowering weeds, that led straight home-
wards.

Running, racing indeed, goes Susan, with her heart on
fire, as her cheeks, and her lovely childlike eyes darkened
and bright with the sense of coming disaster. .

She never draws breath until she finds herself safe in her
own little room with just five precious minutes (precious
unusual five minutes, gained only by that swift run that
had left them all behind) in which to think out as calmly
as she can what has befallen her.

A thief! She had called him a thief! He— Mr. Crosby.
The distinguished traveller ! Oh ! What is to become of
her ? Not even now, at this last gasp, does she try to per-
suade herself that the man in the Crosby pew was a fraud
— that he wasn't Mr. Crosby : She knows as positively as
though she had been introduced to him that he is Mr.
Crosby !

Introduced to him ! As if . She covers her face with

her hands. No. No, there need be no fear of that. He
will go away soon. At once. People say he cannot bear
civilized life, that he always hankers after savages, and
lions, and things. He will go away, of course. Oh ! if only
he will go away soon enough, and never come back. Susan

124 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

with her hands before her gentle eyes has sadden dreams of
people who have been devoured by lions, and for the first
time fails to see the extreme horror of it.

Yes, he will go away soon, and in the meantime — well, in
the meantime, it is very unlikely that she will come face to
face with him !

" Susan, Susan, are you there?"

" Yes," says Susan. She goes to the door and finds
Jacky on the threshold of it.

" Dinner is ready," says that solemn youth. " And they
sent me up for you."

" I can't come down," says Susan. " I have a headache,
Jacky. Dear, dear Jacky, say I have a headache. And I
have too. I have indeed. There won't be any lie. The
heat — you must have felt the heat in church — you fell asleep

" Yes, I know," says Jacky, in his queer way, that al-
ways expresses anger with difficulty suppressed. " You
won't come down then ? "

" No. I can't — I " she lifts her hand to her head.

Jacky hesitates, turns slowly, and then throws a glance
at her.

" Susan, did you see that man in the Crosby pew ? "

Susan's nerves being a little overwrought she almost
jumps at this.

" Yes, yes," says she in a hurried way.

" He was very like the thief, wasn't he ? " says Jacky
anxiously. Susan colors hotly.

" Nonsense, Jacky," with a very poor attempt at scorn.
" That gentleman in Mr. Crosby's pew was, I think, Mr.
Crosby himself, or, at all events, some friend of his."

" Well, the thief was the image of him," says Jacky
slowly. That's the worst of Jacky, he is always so abom-
inably slow. " I looked at him and I said to myself ( that's
Susan's thief, ' " and, with awful obstinacy, " I think it
was too."

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 126

" No, no, no," says Susan. " It was Mr Crosby I tell
you. I saw Lady Millbank nod and smile at Mm."

Jacky considers.

" Very well," says he, in a thoroughly unconvinced tone.
He moves away a bit and then looks back. " If that is
true," says he " Mr. Crosby looks like a thief."

At half-past three Susan, having come to the conclusion
that sitting up here won't help her out of her difficulty,
wanders downstairs and into the schoolroom, where Betty
makes much of her, and makes her sandwiches out of the
still warm mutton, which in spite of their nastiness and her
headache Susan devours with avidity. Hunger is a great
sauce ; no one has ever yet invented one to beat it, and, per-
haps if all were known Susan's ache belongs more to the
heart than the head. When the sandwiches are finished
she declares herself much better, and Jane coming to say
that Lady Millbank is in the drawing-room, she rises and
expresses a desire to see her.

Lady Millbank, or " The Sack," as the irreverent young
Barrys always call her, thinks it the correct thing to be in
with, and civil to, her Rector — without giving herself any
unnecessary trouble. The drive from Millbank to the Par-
ish Church is five good miles, so she always makes a point
of lunching with some of her friends and taking afternoon
tea at the rectory. Even so far she would not have con-
descended but that the Rector, poor as he is, has sprung
from a good old stock, and that his wife was a connection
of the late Sir Geoffrey Millbank.

" So sorry to hear you have been ill," says she as Susan
enters. Susan is a favorite of hers. " The heat, eh." She
speaks exactly as she looks. She is one of those people
who can be very gracious when they like, and perfectly
abominable on other occasions. She is ugly and shapeless,
and careless about her dress, but no one could mistake for
a minute that she was well born.

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126 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" It was very warm," says Susan.

" You look pale, my dear. I think, Miss Barry, she ought
not to go to church this evening."

" No, no. Of course not, Susan," says Miss Barry, se-
verely, who is sitting behind a wonderfully battered old
teapot that has certainly seen service, and must have been
pure at heart to have come out of the trial thus victor-
iously, though maimed and wounded. It is the pride of
Miss Barry's life, and had come down to the Rector after
many days.

" I suppose you saw that George Crosby has come home,"
says Lady Millbank. " I had heard a rumor of his coming,
a week or so ago, but thought nothing of it. Such a man
as h$ is can never be relied upon, and when he turned up
actually alive last week, I was more surprised than I can
tell you."

Last week ! She had seen him — had talked with him.
Had he told her ? Susan's heart sinks within her. Posi-
tive despair makes her raise her eyes, and look at Lady
Millbank. Oh ! if

But Lady Millbank is still chatting on, and in her eyes,
as they meet Susan's, there is no " arrive pensta. No — he
had not betrayed her.

" I don't suppose we shall see much of him. He is al-
ways on the stampede," Lady Millbank is saying. " One
would think from his habits that he was a criminal running
before the law. I told him so. Ah," rising suddenly and
looking out of the window, " there he is ! And coming here I
Of course to call upon Mr. Barry. Your brother was a
great friend of George Crosby's father, I think. Eh ? "

" There was a friendship," says Miss Barry. " Susan,
how pale you are. Come out of that dark corner, child,
and sit near the window. The air will do you good."

" I like being here," says Susan, quickly.

There is no time to say any more. Susan's " thief" is in
the room I

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 127

CHAPTER XIX.

"A secret is in my custody if I keep it; bat if I blab it, it is I
that am prisoner."

The Rector has come in, and has stayed to have a cup of
tea with Mr. Crosby. Lady Millbank declares herself
charmed and very jealous. He never leaves his beloved
books to see her I Mr. Barry smiles and then falls back
upon the memories of Crosby's father that are always so
dear to him. He is a tall, gaunt man, severe, with a far
away look, and indifferent air of those who live with dead
authors, and who are besides a little worried by the money
transactions of life.

To have to think of the daily needs is hateful to Mr.
Barry, who ought to have been a bachelor, with nothing but
his notes to worry him — living in a world in which he could
sit loosely. Even now, he sometimes forgets how time flies,
and to tell him that Susan is almost a woman grown, would
have roused him to quite an extraordinary wonder. The
world goes on, whilst he stands still, and to-day the drag-
ging of him out of his shell, even to the ordinary business
of a drawing-room conversation, has bewildered him. After
a little while he retires.

His sermons — his visits to the sick — the poor (he never
visits the rich unless they specially send for him) — all these
things concern him : but when he knows himself happiest
is when his study door is shut for the night to all intruders,
and he can read, read, read, until the little hours begin to
chime.

As Crosby entered the drawing-room Susan felt her heart
stand still. She rose mechanically and held out her hand
to him, as he came up to her, but she did not lift her eyes.
She felt vaguely conscious that she had flushed over cheek

128 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

and brow. Such a blush ! So quick — so deep ! Oh, he
must have seen it and known the meaning of it.

If he did, he made no sign whatever, and until the de-
parture of Lady Millbank he devoted himself to the Rector.

When Lady Millbank rose to say good-bye, Susan told
herself that now at last the ordeal was at an end, and that
he would go too. But apparently he had no intention what-
ever of stirring. And the climax came when Dom and
Garew asked him to come out into the garden and have a
cigarette. The cigarettes were Dom's. Mr. Crosby seemed
only too willing to accept this lively invitation, and Dom,
thrusting his arm through Betty's, asked her to come along
with him.

" And you, Miss Barry," says Crosby, now walking up
deliberately to Susan, who is still sitting in her shady cor-
ner. The elder Miss Barry had gone out into the hall to
bid Lady Millbank a last adieu, and tell her of the latest
misdoings of the young women of the Christian Association
in Curraghcloyne. " I hope you will come too."

" Oh, yes, Susan — come on," says Betty. " It's lovely
outside to-day, and father won't be able to see the smoke
through the beech hedge." The Rector objects to smoking
so that Dom and Carew have quite a time of it keeping
their pipes and cigarettes out of his way.

" I hope you will come," says Crosby. He is bending
over Susan now, and he has distinctly lowered his tone.
" Do you know I have come over to-day to see and thank
you. I felt it quite my duty to do it."

" To thank me ? " For the first time during the after-
noon Susan looks straight at him. Her large and lovely
eyes are full of wonderment. " To thank me ? "

" Yes, indeed ; I have great cause to be grateful to you,"
says Mr. Crosby, with such extreme earnestness and
gravity that she rises. What if after all she was wrong,
and the thief was not really Mr. Crosby.

A cousin perhaps — a disagreeable one — cousins are very

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 129

often disagreeable, and often too, more like one than one's
own brothers are. Of course, if he was a kinsman, Mr.
Crosby would be very grateful to her for hushing up the
whole affair, and telling nobody. And yet —

Again she lifts her eyes and studies his face. No— not
even twins were ever so alike as this man and the man that
stole the cherries.

" Are you coming ? " calls Betty, impatiently, and Susan
moves forward. In a moment she is stepping from the low
sill of the rectory drawing-room on to the little plot of
grass beneath — disregarding Mr. Crosby's hand as he holds
it out to help her.

She and he are well behind the others now, and Crosby
speaks again.

" Tou don't ask me why I am grateful," says he, re-
proachfully. " Don't you care to know f I care to tell
you. I have had it on my mind since that day in the gar-
den. You remember ? "

" Yes," says Susan. She stops short, and confronts him
with flushed cheeks and nervous eyes, but with a little touch
of courage that sits most charmingly upon her. " I do re-
member. You — you were the man who " she hesitates.

" Stole the cherries ? " suggests he.

" No," coldly ; " who sat on the top of the ladder and
made fun of me."

There is a little silence.

" That is a most unkind speech," says Crosby, at last.
" After all, I don't feel as grateful now, as I did a minute
ago. I came here to-day to thank you for looking so kindly
after my property, and you meet me with an accusation
that absolutely strikes me dumb."

At this Susan cannot refrain from bitter jest.

" True," says she, scornfully ; " one can see how silent
you are."

Mr. Crosby regards her with apparent awe, tempered

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130 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 If you persist in your present course," says he, " I
shall commit suicide. There will be nothing else left for
me to do."

44 In the meantime," says Susan, with astonishing spirit,
44 you had better come into the garden. They are expect-
ing you."

Not so veiy much after all. Betty, Carew, and Dom
Fitzgerald are engaged in a lively discussion on Miss
Barry's wild attack on the unoffending Sarah in church
this morning, and in the delights of it, have almost forgot-
ten Mr. Crosby. The children are playing about on the
tennis ground below, and Crosby's eyes fall on Bonnie as
with great difficulty and with the help of a stick, he tries
to follow little Tom. Jacky, in the distance, is stretched
on his stomach reading.

44 Those are your brothers? " asks Crosby, looking more
deliberately at Bonnie, whose charming little face, though
pale and emaciated, attracts him.

44 Yes, I have four brothers and one sister."

44 Five brothers, I thought."

44 Oh, no, Dominick Fitzgerald is our cousin. He lives
with us nearly altogether, and father is coaching him for
the Indian Civil."

44 Oh, I see. That little brother," gently indicating Bon-
nie, 44 does not look very strong."

44 No, he had rheumatic fever, and he has not been," cor-
recting herself, hastily, as though it is impossible to her to
say the more terrible word — " very strong since."

" What a beautiful face," says Crosby, involuntarily.
And indeed the loveliest flower of all this handsome Barry
family, is the little suffering, cripple child.

Susan is conscious for a moment of a choking in her
throat. Oh, her little lovely darling brother. To hear
him praised is a great joy to her, but with the joy follows
pain unutterable. If only she had looked more closely
after him. And poor, poor mamma — who had told her to

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 131

* be a mother to him ! Then all at once she remembers the
cherries and, how he had enjoyed them ; and a queer pas-
sion of feeling, arising first of all from the fact that Crosby
had admired the child, makes her turn to him.

44 Mr. Crosby, I want to. tell you something," says she
timidly ; " those cherries that you sent me " — he is about
to teaze her again, to pretend he knows nothing of the gift,
but her face, pale now and filled with a strange but care-
fully held back emotion, keeps him silent. " They gave
Bonnie a happy half-hour. No matter how I am feeling
towards you, about your pretending to be — you know —
still, if only for the pleasure your cherries gave Bonnie, I
feel intensely thankful to you. He is not strong, as you
see. They say he will never be strong again, and it was
my fault ; for I forgot him one day — one day — and mamma
was dead too. I was cross to you about your pretending
to be a thief — I hope you won't mind me."

It is such a childish speech, and there is such tragedy in
the dark eyes 1 She has not broken down at all. There is
not a suspicion of tears in her low, clear, young voice ; but
that the child's ill health is a constant grief to her, is not to
be doubted for a moment.

44 If it comes to that," says he, slowly, " it is I who ought
to apologize. And the worst of it is I haven't an apology
ready. The plain truth is that I couldn't resist the situa-
tion. If I could hope that you would try to forgive me "

He breaks off. Susan has looked at him and through the
deep gloom of a minute ago a smile has broken on her face.
Such a smile I It makes her look about twelve years old,
and is indescribably pretty. " What a lovely child," says
Crosby to himself. She holds out her hand to him frankly.

44 But don't tell anybody," says she, in an eager little
whisper.

44 Tell I 4 Is thy servant ' — But the brother over there
catching cold on the grass with a book before him. He was
with you, I think."

132 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" Ah I Jacky and I are chums," says she. This seems
to settle the question. It occurs to Mr. Crosby that it
would be rather nice to be chums with Susan, and he
vaguely wonders if she would accept a chum who was not
one of the family. Is Dominick a chum ! But then he is
one of the family. When Susan has chums does she trust
them — have little secrets with them ? If so he may clearly
rise to the desired position in time ! He is conscious of a
sense of exhilaration as he tells himself that Susan once re-
garded him as a thief, and that he is bound by her to keep
that regard a secret.

" Oh ! There you are, Mr. Crosby," says Carew. " Come
here and sit down."

" Don't sit on Betty whatever you do," says Dominick
from his place beside her on the grass, " she'd be sure to re-
sent it. She takes after our own particular auntie in the
way of temper ; Susan my darling," making a grab at Su-
san's ankle which she has learned from long practice to
avoid — u come and sit down by me — No f Your brain
power must be weak. Have a cigarette, Mr. Crosby. You
need not mind the girls. It is all we can do to keep our
4 baccy ' from them."

" If I wanted your nasty * baccy ' " says Betty, " It isn't
likely you would be able to keep it from me. Give Mr.
Crosby a match."

" Thanks, I have one," says Crosby. He had accepted
Dom's offer of a cigarette without hesitation, and indeed
would have smoked it to the bitter end, rather than offend
any member of the little group around him. They all
please him, they all seem in unison with him — frank, happy,
rollicking youngsters, without a scrap of real harm amongst
them. Perhaps the secret of their success with Crosby lies
in the fact that in spite of his being well in tbe thirties, he
is still a boy himself at heart, with a spice of mischief in
him not to be controlled. The cigarette, however, proved
very tolerable and Susan having seated herself wh<

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 133

can distinctly see her, be feels that he is going to spend an
uncommonly pleasant afternoon.

" It's a shame to say Betty's got a temper," says Susan.
" I'm sure she hasn't — not a bad one, anyway."

" You needn't defend me, Susan," says Betty, clasping
her long, lean arms behind her head. " I prefer to do it for
myself-— and," with a fell glance at the doomed Dominick,
" I think I know where revenge lies ! "

" I give in," cries Mr. Fitzgerald, frantically ; " Betty —
pax."

" Never," says Betty.

" Ifcyou burn my fly-book a second time, I warn you that
there will be murder," says Dom, " and then, Betty, have
mercy,"

u A public retraction, then ! " demands she, viciously.

" A hundred of them. I swear to you, Mr. Crosby, that
I wronged her, and that her temper is like that of an angel,
and not a bit like our Aunt Jemima " — softly — " may I be
forgiven."

" Did you hear her' in church ? " asks Carew, turning to
Crosby. " Aunt Jemima, I mean, not Betty. She was
mad with Sarah this morning "

Crosby looks rather helplessly round him.

" Another sister ? " asks he.

" No — no," says Susan ; whilst the others explode, and
Crosby, unable to resist their gaiety, joins in the merri-
ment. " A servant "

" Had a majenta feather in her hat," cries Betty, roaring
with laughter ; " and Aunt Jemima hates feathers, and "

" This is my story, Betty," interrupts Carew ; " I insist
on telling it. When the Paradise hymn began, Aunt Je-
mima saw the feather "

" Pounced upon Sarah I " cries Susan, who is nearly in
hysterics, " Oh, did you see her ? She sang the most dread-
fill things at her until the poor girl nearly fainted, and "

" And then our only auntie punched her in the back with

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134 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

her prayer-book," puts in Dom. " Really, Betty, I did
wrong you. You aren't in it with her. She cussed and
swore like anything, but worse than all, Susan, was her ri-
bald rendering of music hall songs within the sacred pre-
cincts of the church."
" Nonsense, Dom, you spoil the story by exaggeration."
" Exaggeration ! My dear girl, didn't you hear her 1
Why, she was shouting it. She got rather mixed up in the
music — I'm bound to say the two times are not the same—
but she managed it wonderfully. Tou heard her, Carew
didn't you ?

' Where did you get that hat ? '

" I waited for the rest, but I suppose her courage failed
her, or else the organ drowned it ; at all events the second
line —

1 Where did you get that tile V

did not come in. But I think we ought to speak to our
auntie, Susan, don't you ? That sort of thing is very well
outside, but in a church. Betty, you look as if you'd love
to speak to somebody. We'll put you on for this job. You
shall expostulate with Aunt Jemima on her deplorable
weakness for low-class comic songs."

" I shall leave you to interview her on the subject," says
Betty.

" Interview ! What a splendid word," says Dom.
" What '11 you sell it for ? " But Betty very properly de-
cides on not hearing him.

Softly, sweetly, the sun is going down, topping the distant
hills, and now falling behind them. A golden color is light-
ing all the world. Overhead the swallows are darting here
and there, and from the beds of mignonette in the old-
fashioned garden exquisite perfumes are wafted ; and now
" at shut of evening flowers " faint breezes rise, and corners
grow rich in shadows, and from the stream below, comes a
song that makes musical the happy hours.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 136

Crosby with a sigh of distinct regret, rises to his feet.

" I fear I must go," says he.

" What, not so soon ? " cries Carew, getting up too ; in-
deed as Crosby persists, though evidently with reluctance,
in his determination to leave them, they all get up, the in-
nate courtesy of this noisy group being their best point.

" Have another cigarette for the walk home ? " says Dom,
hospitably.

" We'll all go with you to the gate," cries Betty.

" I suppose a big traveller like you doesn't play tennis,"
says Carew diffidently, but with an essence of hope in his
tone.

" Oh, don't I ! " says Crosby, " I'm quite a dab at it I can
tell you. If I were to come down to-morrow afternoon,
would there be any chance that any of you would be here to
play a game with me ? "

He looks at Susan.

" We'll all be here," cries Betty ecstatically. To have a
new element thrown into their daily games seems too en-
chanting for anything. " You will come ? "

" May I ? " says Crosby. Susan had not answered, and
now he purposely addresses her.

" Oh, I hope you will," says she cordially. She had been
thinking hurriedly if it would be possible to ask him to
luncheon — to their early dinner. But with the children
and Jane's attendance — Oh, no I a thousand times no. Tet
it seems so inhospitable.

" Thank you, I should very much like to come. It is
quite taking pity on an unfortunate bachelor," says he.
And this being settled, they all in a body prepare to accom-
pany him to the gate. Even little Tom runs up to them,
and Bonnie, with uneven steps hurries as fast as the poor
mite can. Susan turns to help him, and Crosby, watching
her for a moment, follows her, and taking the child in his
arms, without a word swings him to his shoulder.

At the gate, having bidden them good-bye, and Dom hav-

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136 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

ing taken Bonnie on his back for a race home, Crosby looks
at Susan.

" Are you fond of cherries ? " asks he. His face is pro-
foundly grave, but she can see the twinkle in his eyes, and
her own gave him back a reproachful glance.

This playing with fire is hardly prudent.

" Sometimes," says she demurely.

" And you, Bonnie ? " asks Crosby, pinching gently the
child's pale pretty cheek, as he rests on Dominick's back.
" You like them I'm sure. Well I'll send you some to-mor-
row and every day while they last, and perhaps the red of
their cheeks will run into yours. See that it does now."

The child laughs shyly, and Crosby turns to Susan
again.

" Good-bye, Miss Barry ! "

" Oh, don't call her that," cries Betty. " That makes her
sound like Aunt Jemima. Susan tell him he can call you
by your own name."

This handsome advice ought, thinks Crosby, to fill Susan
with angry confusion. But it doesn't.

44 You may, you may indeed ! " says she, quite sweetly
and naturally looking him fair in the eyes. " I should like
you to call me Susan — and I am very much obliged to you
for promising the cherries to Bonnie."

She gives him her hand, he presses it, and goes up the
road towards his home. A little thorn in his heart goes
with him. If he had been her own age would she so
readily have permitted him to call her Susan ? I daresay
she regards him as quite a middle aged old fellow, and truly
next to her youth, that promises to be eternal, he is nothing
less.

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TBE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 137

CHAPTER XX.

u Fear oftentimes restraineth woYds,
Bat makes not thoughts to cease."

The weather since the beginning of the summer has been
exceptionally warm, and to-day has outdone itself,

Here in the cottage garden, surrounded by its ivied walls,
the heat is excessive, and there is a certain languor in the
lithe figure of the girl as she comes forwards, the dog be-
side her, to greet Wyndham, that meets his eye. Perhaps
nervousness has conduced to the pallor that is whitening
her lips and brow, and is making even more striking the
darkness of her appealing eyes. There is something about
her so full of grief suppressed that he hastens to allay it.

"I have come you see," says he. He holds out his
hands, and she lays hers in it. He holds it a moment.

" To speak about our rent." He smiles at her. The
smile, to tell the truth, is a little grim, and hardly reassures
her. " I have come to the conclusion that as you wish to
become my tenant you must pay me a huge rent."

" Ah, and I have been thinking," says she very sadly,
with the mournful air of one who is giving up all that is
worth having in this world, " that I shall not be your tenant
at all — and shall never pay you any rent."

" Do you mean to say," says Wyndham, reading her like
a book, but humoring her mood, " that you've found an-
other house more suited to you."

u Oh no, it isn't that. There is no house I shall ever like
as well as this."

" Then let me tell you beforehand that I shall charge you
a very handsome rent," persists Wyndham, trying to be
genial. He smiles at her, but the smile is a dismal failure.

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138 THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT.

" I can't accept your offer — I can't indeed," says the girl,
who, in spite of her protests, has brightened considerably
beneath his apparent determination to let the cottage to
her. "This is your own house. Your mother gave it to
you. Mrs. Denis has told me all about it, and if you give
it to me, you will never come here again."

" I shall indeed — to collect my rent," says Wyndham, a
little touched by her evident earnestness, and assuming a
more natural air of lightness.

" Ah that ! " says she. She pauses a moment, and then,
" If," timidly, " you would promise to come here sometimes
to see your dog, and the flowers, I might think of it. . .

. . I could keep out of your way when you came. I
could sit in my own room ; and you could "

" What a cheerfhl prospect for you," says he. " I'm not
a very agreeable fellow I know, when all is told, but I be-
lieve I am so far on the road to respectability as to be incap-
able of enjoying myself, at the expense of another fellow
creature's comfort. Fancy my taking the joys of the coun-
try with the knowledge that you were stifling in some cellar
downstairs with a view to saving me from the annoyance
of your presence."

" It wouldn't be a cellar, and it isn't downstairs," says
the girl, anxiously. " It is a pretty little room — upstairs."

" It's all the same," says Wyndham. " The prettiest
little room in the world is a bore if one is imprisoned in it."

Silence follows upon this. Wyndham, going forward,
stoops down to a bed of seedlings, that he had ordered to
be planted a month ago. They are in a very promising
condition, and the regret he feels for this little home of his
that is slipping through his fingers increases. And yet to
thrust her out — he knows quite well now that he will never
do that.

"Mr. Wyndham," says the girl. She is at his elbow
now. " Don't be so sorry about it — I shall go ! To-mor-
row if possible."

.

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 139

He is not prepared for this, nor for the soft breathings
of her voice in his ear. He turns abruptly.

" All that is arranged," says he, peremptorily. " You
cannot go — you have nowhere to go to — as," pointedly,
44 you tell me. In the meantime it is absolutely necessary
that you should have someone to live with you."

" There is Mrs. Denis," says she, nptfvously.

" Not good enough for an heiress like you," returns he,
smiling. Now that he has finally, most unwillingly, and
most ungraciously given in to the feet that she is to be his
tenant, he feels more kindly towards her, and more human.
u You will want a lady companion to read with you. — You
say you wish to go on with your studies — and to go out
with you."

"Go out!" She regards him with quick horror. "I
shall never go out of this. Never," cries she.

The extraordinary passion of her manner checks him.
She has sunk upon a garden chair, as if incapable of sup-
porting herself any longer, and from this she looks up at
him with a sad and frightened face.

" I will leave," says she, at last. It is a most mournful sur-
render of hope, and all things that make life still dear to her.

" There is no necessity for that," says Wyndham hur-
riedly. " If I knew more — if I knew how to help you —
but," breaking off abruptly, " you yourself have decided
against that. You must pardon me. You have already
told me that you do not wish to tell me of yourself— your
past "

She makes a little gesture with her hand. Wyndham
standing still upon the gravelled path looks at her.

" I have been thinking about that," says she, " and," with
growing agitation, " it has seemed very ungrateful of me to
distrust you. You, who have done so much for me— who
are now giving up your lovely home for me. Mr. Wynd-
ham," rising and coming towards him, " I have made up
my mind, I — will tell you all."

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140 TEE PR0FE8S0&3 EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXL

11 Confidence imparts a wonderons inspiration to its ]
It bears him on in security, either to meet no danger or to find mat-
ter of glorious trial."

******

Shb seems powerfully affected by this determination, so
much so as to be almost on the point of feinting. Wynd-
ham catching her by the arm, presses her back into the gar-
den chair.

" Not a word," says he. "Why should you tell me? "

" I must, I will ! " She sits up, and with marvellous
strength of will recovers herself. " There is very little to
tell," says she, faintly. " I have lived all my life in one
house. As a little child I came to it. Before that I remem-
ber nothing. If," she looks at him, " I tell you names and
places you will keep them sacred f You will not betray
me ? " Her glance is now at once wistful and frightened.

" I shall certainly not do that," says he, gravely. " But
why speak if you need not ? "

" I don't know." She pauses, clasping her hands tightly
together, and then at last. " I want to tell you."

" Well, tell me," says Wyndham, gently.

" The name of the people I lived with was Moore," says
she, speaking at once, and rapidly, as if eager to get rid of
what she has volunteered to tell. " They called me Moore,
too. Ella Moore, though I know, I am sure, I did not be-
long to them."

" Ella."

" Yes, Ella, I think," hesitatingly, " that is my real
Christian name, because far, far back someone," pressing
her hand to her head, as though trying to remember, " used
to call me Elly. Someone who was not Mrs. Moore. It

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THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 141

was not her voice. And Moore — that is not my name, I
know." Her tone has grown quite firm. " Mrs. Moore
always called herself my aunt, but I don't think she was
anything to me. She was kind sometimes, however, and I
was sorry when fehe died. She had a husband, and I lived
with them ever since I can remember anything."

u Perhaps you were Mr. Moore's niece."

44 Oh, not that ! " She grows very pale, and makes a
quick gesture of repulsion with her hands. " Not that.
No i Thank God ! " She pauses, and he can see that she
has begun to tremble as if at some dreadful thought. " She,
Mrs. Moore, died two months ago, and after that he — she
was hardly in her grave — and he. . . . Oh, it is horri-
ble ! " burying her face in her hands. u But he — he told me
he wanted to marry me ! " She struggles with herself for
a moment, and then bursts into wild tears. One can see
that the tears are composed of past cruel memories, of out-
raged pride, as well as grief.

44 Oh, monstrous ! " says Wyndham, hurriedly. He begins
to pace rapidly up and down the walk, coming back to her,
when he finds her more composed.

44 It is true though," cries she miserably ; 44 Oh ! how I
hate to think of it," emphatically. " When I said no, that
I'd rather die than marry him (and I would) he was fhr-
ious. A fortnight afterwards he spoke to me again, saying
he had ordered the banns to be called, and when I again said
I would never consent, he locked me in a room, and said he
would starve me to death, unless I gave in. " I," clench-
ing her small white teeth, " told him I would gladly starve
in preference to that. And for three nights and two days I
did starve. He brought me nothing. But I did not see
him, and that kept me alive. On the third day he came
again, and again I defied, and then — then — " she cowers
away from Wyndham, and the hot flush of shame dyes her
cheek. u Then— he beat me ! "

44 The scoundrel I " says Wyndham between his teeth.

142 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" He beat me," says the girl, dry sobs breaking from her
lips, " until my back and arms were blue and swollen — and
then he asked me again if I would give in and marry him.
And I "

Here she pauses, and stands back as if confronting some-
! one. She is looking past Wyndham and far into space. It
is plain that that past horrible degrading scene has come
back to her afresh. The gross indignity — the abominable
affront, is again a present thing. Again the blows rain
upon her slender arms and shoulders. Again the brute is
demanding her submission, and again, in spite of hunger
and pain and fear, she is defying him. Her head is well
upheld, her hands clenched — her large eyes ablaze. It is
thus she must have looked as she defied the cowardly
scoundrel, and the effect is magnificent.

" I said no again 1 " The fire born of that last conflict
dies away, and she falls back weakly into the seat behind
her. " That night I ran away. I suppose in his rage he
forgot to lock the door after him, and so I found the matter
easy. It was a wet night and very cold. I was tired, half
dead with hunger, and with bitter pain. That was the
night "

She comes to a dead stop here, and turns her face away
from him. A shame keener than any she has known before,
even in this recital made to him, is filling her now. But
still she determines to go on.

" That was the night your servant found me I "

" Poor child," says Wyndham. His sympathy, so unex-
pected, coming on her terrible agitation, breaks her down,
she bursts into a storm of sobs.

" I would to God," says she, " that I had died before he
found me. Yes ! yes I would, though I know it was His
will, and His alone, that kept me alive— half-dead from cold
and hunger as I was. I can't bear to think of that night.
And what you must have thought of me I It was dreadful
—dreadful. Tou shrank from me because I courted death

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 143

so openly. Yes — yes you did," combating a gesture on his
part, " but you did not know how near I was to it at that
moment. I was famished — bruised — homeless. I was
almost senseless. I knew only that I could not return to
that man's house, and that there was no other house to go
to. That was all I knew, through the unconsciousness that
was fast overtaking me. To die seemed the best thing —
and to die in that warm room. I was frozen. Oh 1 blame
me, despise me if you like, but anyone would have been glad
to die, if they felt as homeless and as starving as I did that
night."

" Who is blaming you ? " says Wyndham, roughly.
11 Good heavens ! is there a man on earth who could blame
you, after hearing so sad a story ? Because you have met
one brute in your life, must you consider all other men
brutes f"

His manner is so vehement that Ella, thinking he is an-
noyed with her, shrinks from him.

" Don't be angry with me," says she, imploringly.

" Angry with you ! " says he, impatiently. " There is
only one to be angry with, and that is that devil. Where
does he live f "

She gives him the road and the number of the house
where she had lived with the Moores. A road of small
houses, chiefly occupied by artisans and clerks, a road not
very for from the Zoological Gardens.

" But what are you going to do ? " asks she, nervously.
" You will not tell him I am here."

" Of course not. But it is quite necessary that a fellow
like that should feel there is a law in the land."

" But if you say anything about me," says she in a tone
now thoroughly frightened; "he will search me out, no
matter in what corner of the earth I may be."

" I don't think so, once I have spoken to him," says the
barrister, grimly.

14 You mean J " She looks at him timidly, " Y014 think

144 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

that if " She breaks off again. " He told me that his

wife, who he said was my aunt, had made hjm guardian
over me, and that he would be my master for ever."

" Even supposing all that were true, and Mrs. Moore was
your aunt, — which I doubt — and had left her husband
guardian over you ; still there are limits to the powers of
guardians."

" Then if you see him you think " — with trembling anxiety
— " you can tell him that he has no hold over me ? "

" Yes, I think so."

"And I shall be free l n

"Quite free!"

Ella leans forward. Her hands are upon her knees, and
are tightly clenched. She is thinking. Suddenly a soft
glow overspreads her face. She lifts her eyes to his, and he
can see that a wonderful brilliance — the light of hope — has
come into them.

" It is too good to be true," says she, slowly.

" Oh, no, I hope not. But I wish I had a few more par-
ticulars, Miss Moore. I am afraid," seeing a shade upon
her face, " I shall be obliged to call you that until I have
discovered your real name. And to do that you must help
me. Have you no memory that goes farther back than the
Moores? You spoke of some one who used to call you
EUy "

" It was a woman," says she, quickly. " Often, often in
my dreams I see her again. She used to kiss me— I re-
member that."

It is such a sad little saying — once, long ago — so long ago
that she can scarcely remember it, some woman used to kiss
her ! But evidently since that, tender kisses had not fallen
into the poor child's lot.

" But she died. I saw her lying dead. I thought she
was asleep! She was very beautiful — I remember that
too. I don't want to see anyone dead again. Death," says
she, with a shudder, " is horrible."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT, 145

This comes sharply from her — who had braved the terrors
voluntarily so very lately, that Wyndham looks at her in
some surprise.

" You," says he. " And yet that night when the Pro-
fessor gave you something that might have led to death,
were you frightened then ? "

" I think I have explained that," says she, with a slight
touch of dignity.

" True." He continues the slow pacing to and fro upon
the garden path that he has taken up occasionally during
this interview. " There is nothing more, then, that you can
tell me f The lady of whom you speak, who used to kiss
you — was perhaps your mother ? "

" I think so — I believe it," says the girl. She turns to
him a face flushed and gratified. " Mr. Wyndham, it was
kind of you to call her that — a lady I — to me, too, she seems
a lady, and, besides that, an angel."

A lady I Wyndham's kindly instincts go out to this
poor waif and stray with an extreme sense of pity. A
lady ! Very likely, but perhaps no wife. The mother, if
a lady, has certainly left the gentle manners of good birth
to this poor child, but nothing else. A vindictive anger
against the vices of this life in which he lives, and the still
greater anger against the betises of society that would not
admit this girl into their ranks, however faultless she may
be, because of a blot upon her birth, stirs his soul. That
she is one of the great unknown seems very clear to him,
but does not prevent his determination to hunt out that
sooundrel Moore and break his hold over the girl. In the
meantime it would be well for her to mix with her kind.

" About a companion," says he. " You told me you
were anxious to continue your studies. I think I know a
lady — elderly, refined, and gentle— who would be able to
help you. You could go out with her."

" I shall not go out of this house," said the girl. She
had begun to tremble again. " Mr. Wyndham, do not ask
10

146 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

me to do that. Even," slowly but steadily, " if you did
ask me I should refuse. I will not go where I can be
found. This lady you speak of, if she will come and live
with me, and teach me — I should like that ; but "

" You will require very little teaching, I think," says
Wyndham, who has been struck by the excellence of both
her manners and her speech, considering her account of her
former life.

44 I know nothing," says she calmly. " But, as I told
you I had read a good deal, and for the past three years I
used to go as nursery governess to a Mrs. Blaquiere, who
lived in Westmoreland Road. I used to lunch with her
and the children, and she was very kind to me, and she
taught me a good deal in other ways — society ways."

"You were an apt pupil," says he, gravely; a little
doubtfully, perhaps.

" I liked the way she talked, and it seemed to come very
easy to me after a while," says the girl indifferently, not
noticing his keen glance at her. " But this governess, this
companion," asks she. " Will she want to go out — to be
amused ? If so I could not have her. I shall never go
out of this place until "

" Until ? " asks he.

" You tell me that man has no longer any power over

me. I " She looks at him and again terror whitens

her face. " I am sure you are wrong, and that he has the
power to drag me away from this, if he finds me."

" I should advise you not to dwell on that until I have
found him," says Wyndham, a little stiffly. The successful
barrister is a little thrown back upon himself by being told
that he will undoubtedly find himself in the wrong.

44 But this Mrs. Blaquiere, who was so kind to you. Why
do you not apply to her for protection ? "

"She and her husband and her children all went to
Australia in the early part of last spring, and so I lost
sight of them."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 147

" Lost your situation too ? " regarding her carefully.

" Yes ; and I had no time to look for another. Mrs. Moore
grew ill then, and I had to attend her day and night, until
she died. The rest I have told you."

" I see 1 " says Wyndham. " Tell me again this man
Moore's address." He writes it now in his pocketbook,
though it was written well into his brain before, but he
wished to see if she would falter about it the second time.

He bids her good-bye presently, refusing her timid offer
of tea.

At the gate he finds Mrs. Denis, presumely tying up a
creeper, but most undoubtedly on the lookout for him.

" Good evening, yer honor."

" Good evening," shortly. Wyndham is deep in thought,
and by no means in a good temper. He would have
brushed by her ; but armed with a garden rake, a spade,
and a huge clipper Mrs. Denis is not lightly to be dealt with.

" Askin' yer pardon, sir. 'Tis just a word I want wid
ye ; Miss Ella, the crathure — ye're goin' to let her stay
here, aren't ye ? "

" Yes," says Wyndham gruffly.

" The saints be praised," says Mrs. Denis piously.
u Fegs ! 'Tis a good heart ye have, sir, in spite of it all."
What the all is she leaves beautifully indefinite. " An' sure
'twas meself tould Denis — that ould raprobate of a fool o'
mine — that ye'd niver turn her out. For where would she
go," say 8 I, " if he did. A born lady like her. An' there's
plenty o' room for her here, sir."

" I daresay," says Wyndham, feeling furious. " But for
all that I can't have all the j'oung women in Ireland stay-
ing in my house just because there is room for them."

" God forbid, yer honor ! All thim young women would
play the very divil wid the cottage, an'," thoughtfully,
"aitch other too. Wan at a time sir, is a good plan, an'
I'm glad it's Miss Ella has had the first of it."

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148 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

stony glare that goes lightly over the head of Mrs. Denis.
That worthy woman is too much elated with the news she has
dragged out of him, to care for glares of any sort. Child-
less, though always longing for a child, and especially for a
daughter, Mrs. Denis 9 heart had gone out at once to the
pretty waif that had been cast into her life in so strange
a fashion, and now she hastens back to the house to get
" her Miss Ella a cup o' tay, the crathure ! " and wheedle
her out of all the news about the masther.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 149

CHAPTER XXII.

" Tell me how to bear so blandly the assuming ways of wild young
people!

Truly they would be unbearable if I had not also been unbearable
my self as well."

— Goethe.

When Mr. Crosby had told the Barrys that he would
come down next day for a game of tennis they had not al-
together believed in his coming, so that when they see him
from afar off, through the many holes in the hedge, walking
towards them down the village street, surprise is their
greatest sentiment.

" Susan 1 " says Dominick solemnly, pausing, racquet in
hand. " It must be you. I always told you your face was
your fortune, and a very small one at that. You'll have to
marry him, and then we'll all go and live with you for ever.
That'll be a treat for you, and will doubtless make up for
the fact that he is emulating the Great Methusaleh. If I
can say a good word for you, I — I how d'ye do, Mr.
Crosby. Brought your racquet, too, I see — Carew. Now
we'll make up a set : Mr. Crosby and "

" Miss Susan, if I may," says Crosby, looking into Su-
san's charming face, whilst holding her hand in greeting.
There are any amount of greetings to be got through when
you go to see the Barrys. They are all always in evidence,
and all full of life and friendliness. Even little Bonnie hur-
ries up on his stick and gives him a loving greeting. The
child's face is so sweet and so happily friendly, that Crosby
stoops and kisses him.

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160 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 Certainly you may," says Susan, genially. " But I'm
not so good a player as Betty. She can play like anything.
But to-day she has got a bad cold in her head. Well,"
laughing, " come on, we can try : and after all, we can only
be beaten."

They are as it happens — and very badly too— Mr. Crosby ,
though no doubt good at big games, being rather a tyro at
tennis.

" I apologize 1 " says he, when the game is at an end, and
they have all seated themselves upon the ground, to rest
and gather breath, " I'm afraid Su — Miss Susan — you will
hardly care to play with me again."

" I told you you could call me Susan," says she, calmly.
44 Somehow I dislike the Miss before it. Betty told you
4 Miss Barry ' sounded like Aunt Jemima, but I think ' Miss
Susan ' sounds like Jane 1 "

u Poor old Jane I And she's got such an awful nose ! "
says Betty. " I think I'd rather be like Aunt Jemima
than her."

" Susan hasn't got an awful nose," says Bonnie, stroking
Susan's dainty little Grecian appendage, fondly. " It's a
nice one."

44 Susan is a beauty," says Betty, " We all know that I
Even James went down before her. Poor James I I won-
der what he is doing now ! "

" Stewing in the Soudan," says Carew.

u He was always in one sort of a stew or other," says
Dominick, " so it will come kindly to him. And after Su-
san's heartless behavior "

" Dom 1 " says Susan, in an awful tone. But Mr. Fitz-
gerald is beyond the reach of tones.

44 Oh, it's all very well you're taking it like that now,"
says he, 44 but when poor old James was here it was a differ-
ent thing."

44 It was not," says Susan, indignantly.

44 Are you going to deny that he was your abject slave ?

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 161

That he sat in your pocket from morning till night — well,
very nearly night ! That he followed you from place to
place like a baa-lamb. That you did not encourage him in
the basest fashion ? "

" I never encouraged him. Encourage him 1 That boy I "

" Don't call him names, Susan, behind his back," says
Betty, whose mischievous nature is now all afire, and who
is as keen about the baiting of Susan as either Carew or
Dom. " Besides what a boy he is 1 He must be twenty-
two at all events." This seems quite old to Betty.

" What did you do with the keepsake he gave you when
he was going away ? " asks Carew. He is lying flat upon
the warm grass, his chin upon his palms, and looks up at
Susan with judicial eyes. " What was it ? I forget now.
A lock of his lovely hair ? "

" No," says Betty — " A little silver brooch : an anchor ! "

" That means hope 1 " says Dominick, solemnly. " Su-
san, he is coming back next year — what are you going to
say to him ? "

" Just exactly what everybody else is going to say to
him ! " says Susan, who is now crimson. " And I didn't
want that horrid brooch at all."

" Still you took it," says Betty. " I call that rather
mean — to take it, and then say you didn't want it."

" Well, what was I to do ? "

" Refuse it. Mildly, but firmly," says Mr. Fitzgerald.
" The acceptance of it was, in my opinion, as good as the
acceptance of James. When he does come back, Susan, I
don't see how you are to get out of being Mrs. James 1
That brooch is a regular binder 1 How does it seem to you,
Mr. Crosby ? "

" You see I haven't heard all the evidence yet," says
Crosby, who is looking at Susan's flushed, half angry,
wholly delightful face. James, whoever he is, seems to have
been a good deal in her society at one time.

u There's no evidence," says she, wrathfully. " And I

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152 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

wish you boys wouldn't be so stupid I As for the brooch—
I hate it— I never wear it."

" Well, if ever anyone gives me a present I shall wear it
every day and all day long," says Betty. " What's the
good of having a lover if people don't know about it ? "

" Is that so ? " says Mr. Fitzgerald, regarding her with
all the air of one to whom now the road seems clear. " Then
the moment I become a millionaire — and there seems quite
an immediate prospect of it just now — I shall buy you the
Koh-i-noor, and you shall wear it on your beauteous brow,
and proclaim me as your unworthy lover to all the world."

" I will, when I get it," says Betty, with tremendous sar-
casm.

" The reason you won't wear it," says Carew, alluding to
Susan's despised brooch, " is plain to even the poor inno-
cents around you. Girls, in spite of all Betty has said sel-
dom wear their keepsakes. They get cotton wool and wrap
them up in it, and peep at them rapturously on Christ-
mas Day or Easter Sunday, or on the beloved one's birth-
day, or some other sacred occasion. What's James' birth-
day, Susan ? "

" I don't know," says Susan, " and I don't know either
why you tease me so much about him. He is quite as lit-
tle to me as I am to him." Her voice is trembling now.
They have gone a little too far perhaps or is the memory of
James " stewing in the Soudan " too much for her ? Which-
ever it is, Mr. Crosby is growing anxious for her — but all
the youngsters are now in full cry, and the proverbial
1 cruelty of brothers and sisters is well known to many a
long-suffering girl and boy.

" Oh, Susan," says Betty, " where does one go to when
they tell naughty naughties ? Dom, do you remember the
evening just before James went abroad when he went into
floods of tears because she wouldn't give him a rosebud
she had in her dress ? It took Dom and me, and Carew,
nd a pint of water to restore him."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 153

At this they all laugh, even Susan, though very faintly
and very shamefacedly. Her pretty eyes are shy and
angry.

" He wanted a specimen to take out with him to astonish
the natives," says Carew. " You were the real specimen he
wanted to take out with him, Susan, but as that was im-
practicable just then (it will probably be arranged next
time), he decided on taking the rosebud instead."

" He wanted nothing," says Susan, whose face is now
bent over Bonnie's as if to hide it. " He didn't care a bit
about me."

" Indeed he did, Susan."

A fresh element has fallen into the situation. Everyone
looks round. The voice is the voice of Jacky. Jacky, who,
up to this, has been as usual buried in a book. This time
the burial has been deeper than ever, as the day before yes-
terday some one had lent him Mr. Stevenson's enthralling
" Treasure Island," from which no one can never extract
themselves until the very last page is turned. Jacky since
he first began it has been practically useless, but just now
a few fragments of the conversation going on around him
have filtered to his brain.

Now in his own peculiarly disagreeable way he adores
Susan, and something has led him to believe that those
around her are now depreciating her powers of attraction,
and that she is giving in to them for want of support.
Well, he will support her. Poor old Jacky I he comes
nobly forward to her rescue, and as usual puts his foot in
it!

" He liked you better than anyone," says he, in his slow
ponderous fashion, glaring angrily at Betty, with whom he
carries on an undying feud. " Why, don't you remember
how he used to hunt you all over the garden to kiss you ! "

Tableau !

Betty leads the way after about a moment's awful pause,
and then they all go off into shrieks of laughter. Jacky

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154. THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

alone, sullen, silent, not understanding, stands as if petrified.
Susan has pushed Bonnie from her and has risen to her feet.
Her face is crimson now, her eyes are full of tears — invol-
untarily Crosby rises too.

" He used not," says poor Susan. Alas, this assertion is
not quite true. " And even if he did, you," to the horrified
Jacky, " should not have told it. You Jacky 1 " trembling
with shame. " I wouldn't have believed it of you. It was
hateful of you ; you," with a withering glance around, " are
all hateful, and — and — "

She chokes, breaks down, and runs with swift flying feet
into the small shrubbery beyond where lies a little summer-
house in which she can hide herselfl

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 165

CHAPTER XXIII.
" Tears are often to be found where there is little sorrow,"

An embarrassed silence fells upon the group she leaves be-
hind her. It had not occurred to them that she would care
so much. They had often chaffed her before. It must — it
must have been Mr. Crosby's being there that had put her
out like that. To tell the truth they are all penitent —
Betty perhaps even more than the others. But even her
remorse sinks into insignificance before Jacky. His takes
the nature of a wrathful attack upon the others, and ends
in a storm of tears.

" You've been teasing her ; you know you have— and
she's mad with me now. And I didn't mean anything.
An' she's crying, I know she is. And you're all beasts —
beasts!"

It is at this point that his own tears break forth, and
like Susan, he flees from them — but, unlike Susan, howl-
ing.

" I didn't know. I didn't think she'd care," says Betty,
in a frightened tone. " We often teased her before," and
she might have said more but an attack of sneezing lays
her low.

" But before a stranger," says Carew, anxiously. " I am
afraid Mr. Crosby, it is because you were here."

" It isn't a bit like Susan to care like that," says Dom.
" I say," contritely, " I'm awfully sorry. I wonder where
she is, Betty."

" In the summer-house. She always goes there when
she's vexed or worried."

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166 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" Why don't you go to her then ? "

" I can't. I've a cold. I'll wait awhile," says Betty,
holding back.

" I think as it has been my fault," says Crosby, quietly,
" that I had better be the one to apologize. Where is this
summer-house of which you speak ? "

" Right round there," says Betty eagerly, pointing to the
corner of the house.

" Just behind the rose trees," says Dom, giving him a
friendly push forward.

" You can't miss her," says Carew, who is dying to give
him an encouraging clap on the shoulder. They are all evi-
dently very anxious to get the task of " making it up "
with Susan, on to any other shoulders than their own.

" Well, I think I'll take a little hostage with me, or shall
we say a peace offering," says Crosby, catching up Bonnie,
and starting with him for Susan's hiding-place. " Anyway
I've got a pioneer," says he. " He'll show me the way."

The way is short and very sweet. Along a graveled
pathway — between trees of glowing roses, to where in the
distance is a tiny house made evidently by young untutored
hands, out of young and very unseasoned timber.

A slender figure is inside it. A figure flung miserably
into one of the corners, and crying — perhaps after all, more
angrily than painfully.

" Now what on earth are you doing that for f " says
Crosby. He seats himself on the rustic bench beside her,
and places Bonnie on her knee. It seemed to him that that
would be the best way to bring down her hands from her
eyes. And he is not altogether wrong. It is impossible to
let her little beloved one fall off her knees, so quickly, if re-
luctantly, she brings down her right hand so as to clasp
him securely.

" What are you crying about ? " goes on Crosby, very
proud of the success of his first manoeuvre. " Because
somebody wanted to kiss you ? You will have a good deal

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 1S7

of crying at that rate, Susan, before you come to the end of
your life."

He is laughing a little now, and as Bonnie has climbed
up on her knees, and is pulling away the other hand from
her face, Susan feels she may as well make the best of a bad
situation.

" It wasn't so much that," says she. " Though," anxiously,
" Jacky exaggerated most dreadfully. As to my objecting
to their teazing me about James Mcllveagh — you have not
seen him, or you would understand me better. It is not
only that he is uninteresting, but that he is awful 1 His
nose is like an elephant's trunk, and his eyes are as small
as the head of a pin. And his clothes — his trousers — I
don't know where he got his trousers, but Dom used to say
his mother made them in her spare moments. Not that
one would care about a person's trousers, of course," says
Susan, with intense earnestness, " if he was nice himself,
but James wasn't nice, and I was never more glad in my
life than when he went away."

" He's coming back, however."

" Yes, I know, and I'm sorry for it, if they are going to
tease me all day long about him, as they are doing now. I
think," with a hasty glance at him, born of the fact that
she knows her eyes are disfigured by crying, " you might
have tried to stop them."

u Well, you see, I hardly knew what to do at first," says
Crosby, quite entering into the argument. " And when I
did, it was a little too late. Of course, it seemed to me a
very possible thing that you might have given your heart
to this young man with the nose and the unfortunate trous-
ers, who is stewing in the Soudan."

" You might have known by my manner that I hated
them to tease me about him," says Susan, very little ap-
peased by his apology.

" I'll know better next time," says Crosby, humbly.
u But when I heard he had been following you about like a

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158 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

baa-lamb, and that you had taken that anchor from him, and
that he used to "

He is checked by a flash from Susan's eyes. There is a
pause. Then suddenly she presses her face into Bonnie's
flaxen hair, and bursts into smothered laughter.

44 Well, I don't care. He did — once. All round the
gooseberry bushes, and I threw a spade at him, and it hit
him on the head, and I thought I had killed him. I,"
with another glance at Crosby, now from between Bonnie's
curls, " was dreadfully frightened then. But now I almost
wish I had. Anyway he never tried to — he never, I mean,"
confusedly, " hunted me again I "

44 I begin to feel sincerely sorry for James," says Crosby.
44 He seems to me to have led but a sorry life before he
started for the Soudan. When he comes home next year,
what will you do ? He may be quite "—he looks at her and
smiles — " a mighty hunter by that time."

Susan laughs.

41 Like you," says she.

Crosby looks at her. It is a ready answer, and with an-
other might convey a certain meaning, but with Susan
never.

44 Ah, I'm afraid of gooseberry bushes," says he. 44 They
have thorns in them. James, you see, surpasses me in
valor. Talking of valor reminds me of those you have left
behind you, and who have sent me here as their pleni jtoten-
tiary, to extract from you a promise of peace. They are
all very sorry they annoyed you so much about the redoubt-
able James ; and they desired me to say so. I was afraid
to come by myself, so I brought Bonnie with me. Bonnie !
tell her to come back with me now, and say 4 Peace is re-
stored with honor. 9 Say it for her, Bonnie."

44 Peace is restored with honor," repeats Bonnie, sweetly,

44 There, that settles it," says Crosby. 44 He knows his
lesson. So do you ; come back and forgive us all."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 159

44 Oh, I can't," says Susan. " They would know I had
been crying. Look at my eyes ; they are quite red."

" They are not, indeed," says Mr. Crosby, after an ex-
haustive examination. " They are quite blue."

44 Oh, yes, that, of course," impatiently. 44 But, well —
really, how are they ? " She leans towards him, and gazes
at him out of the blue eyes with an extraordinary calm.
44 Would they know I had been crying ? "

44 They would not," says Crosby. 44 It is I alone who am
in that secret. And, by the way, Susan," stopping her as
they both rise ; 44 that is the second secret we have between
us; we are becoming quite fashionable — we are growing
into a society, you and I."

44 1 wish you would forget that first secret," says Susan,
blushing a little. " And anyhow I hope you won't tell the
others that you found me — you know — cfying."

44 Ah, that makes me remember our first secret," says
Crosby. 44 You know that on that never-to-be-forgotten
memorable occasion you said you trusted me I "

44 Did I ? " Susan is blushing furiously now. 44 How
can I recollect all the silly things I said then. I have for-
gotten them all — and I'm sure you have too I "

44 Not one of them," says Crosby. 44 They are now classed
with my most priceless memories. 4 Go and steal no more, 9
you said — and I haven't up to this."

Susan laughs in spite of herself. " Well, at all events I

can trust you then, not to betray me to them " She

points to the late temple of her tears.

44 You can trust me for that or anything else in the wide
world," says Crosby.

He takes up Bonnie again, and they go slowly back to
the others.

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160 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXIV.

" 80 bright a tear in Beauty's eye,
Love half regrets to kiss it dry."

As Susan appears the guilty ones upon the tennis ground
move simultaneously towards her, Betty with, a shy little
rush, and holding out to her her racquet.

" Come and have another game, Susan, and you, too, Mr.
Crosby."

" Yes, do," says Carew. " Tea will be here in a moment."
He evidently holds this out as an inducement to Crosby to
remain. Mr. Fitzgerald nobly backs him up.

41 Also Aunt Jemima I " he says, enthusiastically.

This joke, if it is meant for one, is a dead failure 1 No
one even smiles. Susan, who is feeling a little shy, and is
horribly conscious that in spite of Crosby's assurances her
eyes are of a very tell-tale color, is fighting with her brain
for some light, airy, amusing remark that may prove to all
present that she had only run away from them in mere
search of physical exercise — when suddenly the rather
forced smile dies upon her lips, and her eyes become fixed
on some object over there on her right.

" What is it, Susan ? A' ghost ? " asks Dom, who is equal
to most occasions.

" No," says Susan, in a low voice. " But — this is the
third time. And — look over there — at that 8}'camore tree
in the cottage garden. Do you see anything? "

"See what? 'Is there visions about?'" asks Dom.
41 Really, Susan, you ought to consider our nerves. Is it
the ' Bogie Man,' or "

" It is a girl," says Susan. <4 There, there again ! Her
face is between those two big branches. Mr. Crosby,"
eagerly, "don't you see her?"

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 161

" I do," cries Carew, suddenly. " Oh ! what a lovely
i!"

It may be remembered that the rectory and the Cottage
are only divided by a narrow road and two high walls. At
the farthest end of the Cottage grounds some tall trees are
standing — a beech, two elms, and a sycamore. All these
uprear themselves well above the walls, and cast their
shadows in summer and their leaves in winter down on the
road beneath. They can be distinctly seen from the rectory
tennis court, and indeed add a good deal of charm to it, the
road being so narrow, and the walls so much of a height,
that strangers often think the trees on the Cottage lawn
are actually belonging to the rectory.

44 Yes, I see too," says Crosby, leaning forward.

44 Yes, yes," cries Betty. 44 But is it a girl ? "

And now a little silence falls upon them.

Over there, peeping out between the leaves of the soft
sycamore tree, is a face. There is nothing to tell if it be a
boy's or a girl's face, as nothing can be seen by the shapely
head. And its soft abundant tresses of chestnut hair are
so closely drawn back into a knot behind that they are
hidden by the crowding branches. The eyes are gleaming,
the lips slightly parted. So might a Hamadryad look,
peering through swaying leaves.

" It's the prisoner," says Jacky, in an awe-struck tone.

44 The apparition, you mean," corrects Mr. Fitzgerald
severely. " Prisoners as a rule have bodies, spooks have
none ; Jacky, you lucky creature, you have seen a ghost."

41 Is it a boy or a girl ? " asks Betty, in an anxious tone.

44 A most pertinent question," says Fitzgerald, who is
taking the situation with anything but the seriousness that
is so evidently demanded of it. 44 But, as I have before re-
marked, there is no body to go by, and naturally no clothes.
It is therefore unanswerable."

Crosby has said nothing. He is indeed deeply occupied

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162 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

with the &ce. So this is Wyndham's tenant I A very
lovely one.

Again a slight doubt arises in his mind about his friend.
And yet Wyndham had seemed thoroughly honest in his
explanation.

14 1 know it's a girl," says Susan with decision. " Jacky
has seen her ; and what a pretty one. Oh ! there, she's
gone." And, indeed, the Hamadryad, as if becoming sud-
denly conscious of the fact that they are looking at her,
draws back her head and disappears. " I'm afraid she saw
us," says Susan, contritely. " She must have thought us
very rude. I'll ask father to let me call on her, I think.
She must be very lonely there. And even if she is only
Mrs. Moriarty's niece still she must have been educated to
make her look like that."

" Perhaps," says Crosby, speaking with apparent careless-
ness, and looking direct at Susan, " She might not like to
be called upon. I have been given to understand that she
is not a niece of Mrs. Moriarty's, and "

« No — but what then ? " asks Carew.

" A tenant of Mr. Wyndham's. He is a friend of mine,
you know. And he told me lately he had grown very tired
of the Cottage, and was willing to take a tenant for it.
This lady is, I presume, the tenant."

" The more reason why we should call upon her," says
Susan.

" But isn't she very young," says Betty, " to be a tenant
all by herself? ?

This startling question creates a slight pause.

" To be young is not to be beyond misfortune," says
Crosby, at last, in a grave and very general tone. " No
doubt this young lady has lost her father and mother, and
is obliged to — er — do without them."

This is distinctly lame.

" Poor thing," says Susun, sympathetically.

11 We might ask her over here sometimes," says Carew.

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 163 v

" But if she has lost her parents lately," puts in Crosby,
hastily, " she might — perhaps — one should not even with
the best intentions force oneself upon people in such deep
grief as hers "

" She wasn't in mourning, anyway," says Betty, who can
always tell you to a pin what anyone is wearing, " she had
a little blue bow near her neck."

Crosby recovers from this blow with difficulty.

" At all event*," says he, " I have heard through Wynd-
ham that she desires privacy at present. No doubt when
she feels equal to receiving visitors she will let us all
know ! "

" No doubt," says Dominick, who has been studying Mr.
Crosby closely, and with covert amusement.

" 111 ask Mr. Wyndham about her," says Susan. " I
think she would be happier if she could tell about her sor-
row. One should be roused from their griefs, father says.
And even if out of mourning — I didn't see any blue bow,
Betty — still, I am sure she must be sad at heart."

" Well, consult your father about it," says Crosby, as a
last resource. In spite of his affection for Wyndham he
had doubts about his tenant.

At this point Jane appears, bringing a tray, on which
are cups and saucers, teapot and cream ewer, some bread
and butter and sponge cake. Susan had spent the morn-
ing making the sponge cake on the chance of Mr. Crosby's
coming. They had decided in conclave that it would be
better to have tea out here on the pleasant grass (though
there is no table on which to put the tray), rather than the
small and rather stuffy drawing-room. They had had a
distinct fight over it with Miss Barry, but Dominick, who
can succeed in anything but his exams., overcomes her, and
carries the day.

" Put the tray down here," says Betty, with quite an air,
seeing that Susan has given way a little beneath the want
of the table. " Down here on the grass, near^^Q^'ll pour

164 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

out the tea," this with a withering glance at Susan, who is
slightly flushed, and apparently ashamed of herself. " We
haven't any rustic tahle yet, Mr. Crosby," says Betty, with
immense aplomb, " but we're going to have one shortly,"
this with all the admirable assurance of a fashionable dame,
who has just been ordering a garden tea table from one of
the best London houses. She nods and smiles at him.
" Dom is going to make it. Susan," with a freezing glance
at that damsel, " do you think you could manage to cut
the sponge cake ? "

" Cut it ! " says Jacky, who is sharp to see that the idol-
ized Susan is being sat upon, and who still feels that he
owes her reparation of some sort. " Why couldn't she cut
it ? She made it."

Susan bursts out laughing. It is too much, and they all
follow suit.

" What, you made it ? " cries Crosby, taking up a knife,
and beginning a vigorous attack upon it. " Why didn't
you make it bigger, when you were about it ? The feet
that it is your handiwork, has — judging by myself— made
us all frightfully hungry. Thank heaven, there is still
bread and butter, or I don't know what would become of
us."

They are all laughing still, indeed their merriment has
quite reached a height, when Susan, looking over her shoul-
der, nearly drops her cup and saucer, and sits up as if lis-
tening.

" Someone is coming," says she.

" Aunt Jemima I " declares Betty, indignantly, who is
sitting up too.

Tramp, tramp, tramp, comes a foot along the gravel path
that skirts the side of the house away from them. Tramp,
tramp, evidently one of the heaviest feet in Christendom is
approaching.

" You're right," whispers Dom. " 'Tis the fe' o' her feiry
feet! Aunt Jemima to a moral!"

THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT. 165

And Aunt Jemima it is, sweeping round the house with
her head well up, and the desire to impress that they all
know so fatally well, full upon her.

44 Don't stir, Mr. Crosby. I really beg you won't. This
is a rather al-fresco entertainment, but I know you will ex-
cuse these wild children." Here the wild children give way
silently, convulsively.

" It is the most charming entertainment I have been at
for years," says Crosby, pleasantly. " Where will you sit ?
Here ? " He is quite assiduous in his attentions, especialfy
about the rug on which she is to sit. Not his rug, at all
events ; Susan has half of that.

44 Thank you," says Miss Barry, " but I need not trouble
you. I do not intend to stay. I merely came out to see if
these remarkably ill-mannered young people were taking
care of you."

She speaks with a stiff and labored smile upon her lips,
but an evident determination to be amiable at all risks.

44 Won't you have a cup of tea, Aunt Jemima ? " asks
Susan, timidly.

44 No, thank you, my love. Pray don't trouble about me.
I," with a crushing glance at poor Susan, " have no desire
whatever to interfere with your amusement. I hope,"
turning to Crosby, " later on, I may be able to see more of
you, but to-day I am specially busy. I have many worries,
Mr. Crosby, that are not exactly on the surface."

44 Like us all ! " says Crosby, nodding his head gravely.
44 Life is full of thorns!"

44 Ah ! " says Miss Barry. She feels that she has now
44 impressed " him indeed, and is satisfied.

44 We travel a thorny road," says she.

Crosby sadly acquiesces.

44 True," says he.

44 Adieu ! " says she. She makes him an old-fashioned
obeisance, and once again rounds the corner and disappears.

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166 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" I don't think it was very nice of you to make fun of
her," says Susan, reproachfully, to Crosby.

" Fun of her. What % do you take me for f " says he.
" Make fun of your aunt ! Because I said life was full of
thorns ? Well," with argument looming in his eye, " isn't
it?"

" Thorns f " She pauses, as if wondering. " Oh, no,"
says she. It seems a pity to disturb so sweet a faith, and
Crosby, with a renunciatory wave of his hand gives up the
impending argument.

" Awful lucky she went away so soon," says Carew, as
the last bit of Aunt Jemima's tail disappears round the
corner. " She'd have led us a life had she stayed. She's
been on the prance all day, on account of those Brians."

" Yes— isn't it awful ! " says Betty.

" Who are the Brians ? " asks Crosby.

" Farmers up on the hill over there," pointing far away
to the south. " Very well-to-do people, you know, with
their sons going into the Church, and their daughters at a
first-class school in Birmingham. Aunt Jemima, thinking
to help them on their road to civilization, sent them a bath
— one of the round flat ones, you know — as a present, last
month, hearing that they were expecting the girl home for
her holidays. And "

Here Betty breaks off, and goes into what she calls
" kinks " of laughter.

" Well ? " says Crosby, naturally desirous of knowing
where the laugh comes in.

" Ah, that's it," says Dom. " Really, Betty, I think you
might hold on long enough to finish your own story. It
appears Aunt Jemima went up to the farm yesterday and
found that they had taken the batli as an ornament, and
had nailed it up against the sitting-room wall with four

long tenpenny nails, and " Here, in spite of his lecture

to Betty, Mr. Fitzgerald himself gives way, and Calling
back upon the grass shouts with laughter.

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iTHE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 167

44 They took it," gasps Carew, u as some curio from some
barbarous country. A sort of shield you know. A savage
weapon I They had never seen a bath before ! Oh ! my ! "
Be too has gone into an ecstasy of mirth. " I expect they *
thought it was straight from South Africa."

" Poor Aunt Jemima," says Betty, when she can speak.
44 It must have been a blow to her."

" Talking of blows," says Carew, turning to her sharply,
and somewhat indignantly. " I never knew anyone blow
their nose like you, Betty; you've been at it now since
early dawn."

44 Well, I can't help it," says Betty, very rightly aggrieved,
41 if I have got a cold in my head."

44 I've a cold too," says Jacky, dismally. Jacky is always
dismal. " But it isn't as bad as Betty's. My head is
aching — but Betty's nose is only running."

A frightful silence follows upon this terrific speech. Mr.
Fitzgerald, who can always be depended upon at a crisis,
breaks it.

44 Not far, I trust," says he, with exaggerated anxiety.
14 We could hardly spare it. Betty's nose is the one pre-
sentable member of that sort in the family."

Betty between the pauses of this speech can be heard
threatening Jacky. 44 No — no-^never. I won't give it
now. You're a little wretch ; even if I promised to give it
I don't care. I'll take it back. You shan't have it now."

But all this is so distinctly not meant to be heard that
no one takes any notice of it, and any serious consequences
are prevented by the fact that Dominick rising, throws him-
self between the puzzled Jacky and the irate Betty. In
the meantime Crosby draws himself along the rug until he
is even closer to Susan, who now again is looking serious.

44 What is troubling you, righteous soul? " asks he, lightly.

44 How do you know I am troubled ? I am not really."

44 Yet you are thinking, and very gravely too."

44 Ah, that is another thing. I was thinking," says Susan,

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168 THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT.

gently, " of the girl in there," nodding towards the Cottage.
" It must be a very sad thing to have no one belonging to
you."

" Sad indeed ! But you must not let your sympathy for
her run too Car afield. If not a father or mother she must
have — other ties."

" Brothers you mean, or sisters?"

" Yes, just so. Brothers or sisters. They'll turn up
presently, no doubt."

He looks at her as if waiting for an inspiration, and then
it comes to him.

" What a sympathetic mind you have," says he. " And
yet you don't give me a share of it. Tou have known me
quite a long time now, and I have no father or mother — yet
you have not wept with me."

" I didn't know 1 " says Susan. " And besides, there was
no long time surely. Father told us you had no father or
mother, but — have you" — with hesitation — 44 no people be-
longing to you, Mr. Crosby 1 "

44 One sister," says he.

44 One sister. And why doesn't she live with you f "

44 Ah I you must ask her that. Perhaps she wouldn't care
about it."

44 1 should think she would love to live with you," says
Susan. She utters this bold sentiment calmly, kindly —
without so much as a Blink of her long lashes.

Crosby looks at her. Is she real, this pretty child ? His
inclination to laugh dies within him, and so dies, too, the
inclination to utter the usual society speech, that with most
society girls would have been considered the thing on an
occasion like this. Both are done to death by Susan's eyes.
So calm, so sweet, so earnest ; and so entirely without a
second meaning of any sort.

44 Well, you see, she doesn't," says he.

44 But why?" asks Susan. She is feeling a little angry
with the unknown sister. To live with Carew if he were

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 169

well off enough to have her would, Susan thinks, be a most
delightful arrangement.

" It seems she prefers to live with another fellow/' says
he.
' Susan stares at him. He nods back at her.

u Fact ! " says he. " Horrid taste on her part, isn't it f "

" Oh I see," says Susan, slowly. " She's married."

" Very much," says Crosby. " At all events her husband
is. She doesn't give him much rope. However j'ou'll see
her soon, as she is coming to stay with me. She always
makes a point of coming to me for my birthday whenever I
chance to be in Ireland or England for it. I suppose I must
be going now. I say, you two fellows," turning to Carew
and Dom, " why are you so lazy — why don't you come up
and help me to shoot the rabbits f They are getting be-
yond the keepers' control."

Dom and Carew glance at each other.

" Can we ? " says Carew. They seem a little tongue-tied.

" As often as ever you like. Look here, be up at six to-
morrow morning, and we'll catch them feeding. And if you
will stay and breakfast with me it will be a kindness to a
solitary man."

" Oh, thank you," says Dominick, rapturously. Carew,
however, looks a little crestfallen, whereupon Dom begins
to whisper in his ear. The words "every second shot"
reaches Mr. Crosby.

" If either of you want a gun, I can find you one," says
he carelessly, after which joy unruffled reigns.

" I make only one stipulation," says Crosby. " That you
won't shoot me."

44 Oh, hang it, we are not such duffers as that ! " says
Carew.

They all laugh at this, and all, as usual, accompany him
to the gate to give him a kind send off.

As he disappears up the road past the little side gate of
the Cottage, Dom makes a rush back to the house. " I

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170 TEE PBOEESSO&S EXPERIMENT.

must go and polish up the old gun/' says he. Betty fol*
lows him, with Tom and Jacky.

" How kind he is," says Susan, turning to Garew. Her
tone is warm and grateful. There is no doubt that Carew's
answer would have been equally warm, but it never comes.

A little sound — the creaking of a rusty hinge at this mo-
ment attracts his attention, and Susan's also. They glance
quickly towards the little green gate of the Cottage.

It is slowly opening !

And now a face peeps out, very cautiously, very nervously.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 171

CHAPTER XXV.

44 Dear, if yon knew what tears they shed
Who live apart from home and friend,
To pass my house, by pity led,
Your steps would tend."

It is the face that had peeped out of the branches of the
sycamore tree a little while ago. A charming face ! The
eyes glance down the little lane, and then suddenly seeing
Susan, rest with a frightened expression, on her. As this
is the first time in all Susan's experience that anyone has
ever betrayed the smallest fear of her, she naturally gives
herself up to the contemplation of her newborn slave. Her
eyes and those of the mysterious stranger meet.

" Oh, how pretty ! " thinks Susan to herself, but she says
nothing, being lost in wonder and admiration — and the girl
peeping out of the doorway, as if disheartened, draws back
again, and would in another minute have disappeared alto-
gether but for Carew.

He makes a sharp gesture.

" Wait ! " cries he in a low tone, though hardly conscious
that he is speaking at all ; and again the pretty frightened
head comes into sight, between the leaves of the luxuriant
ivy that frames the gate.

44 Susan ! " says Carew in a voice of low and hurried en-
treaty, and Susan responding to it, speeds quickly up the
road and into the little gateway.

" Oh, come in, come in ! " breathes the stranger in a
whisper, putting out her hands and catching Susan's in a
soft grasp. " I have seen you so often — I," flushing and
smiling timidly, " have watched you from the sycamore
many a day. And it's very lonely here. You will come
in for a moment, won't you ? "

Susan smiles back at her and passes through the small

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172 THE PBOFESSO&S EXPERIMENT.

green gate. Ella, pleased and palpitating, glances back, to
see Carew looking after them, like a young culprit at the
door of a forbidden Paradise.

" Won't you come, too ? " cries she beneath her breath, in
that soft curiously frightened sort of a way that seems to
belong to her. " Hurry ! hurry ! " She looks anxious, and
it is only indeed when Carew has come inside the gate, and
she has with her own fingers fastened and secured it, that
the brightness returns to her face.

" It's very good of you," says she, smiling rather shyly
at Susan.

" Oh, no," cries Susan with a charming courtesy that be-
longs to her. " It is very good of you to let us come and
see you. You know," softly, " we had heard — understood
— that you did not wish to be intruded on. That is,"
stammering faintly, " that you didn't wish to see people,
and so "

" It is all quite true," says the girl distinctly. " I don't
want to see people. Not everyone you know. But some-
times when I hear your voices over there," pointing towards
the rectory garden, " laughing and talking, I have felt a
little lonely." She is looking at Susan, and Susan can see
that her eyes now are a little misty. " To-day," wistfully,
" you were laughing a great deal ! "

". Yes, yes, I wish we hadn't been," says Susan, who is
beginning to feel distinctly contrite, until she remembers
that after all some tears were mingled with her mirth.
" But now that we have met, you will come and join us
sometimes, wont you ? And indeed, to-day ! I wish you
had come to-day. We should all have been glad to see you.
Shouldn't we, Carew ? "

" I am sure you know that," says Carew to Ella. A
warm color is dyeing his handsome young face, and there is
the tenderest, most reverential expression in his voice.
Carew is of that age when " the light that lies in a lady's
eyes " can mean heaven to him.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 173

" I shall never leave this place," says Ella, quickly. "All
I want is to stay here, in this lovely garden, by myself."

" Yet you said you felt lonely," says Susan, anxiously.

" Yes — I know." She looks down as if puzzled, uncertain
how to go on. " Still I would rather be lonely than go out
into the world again."

" Poor thing," thinks Susan. " I was right ; no doubt
she has just lost everyone that was dear to her." She
glances at Ella, as if in search of crape, but Ella's navy
blue skirt and pretty pale blue linen blouse seem miles away
from woe : and, yes, Betty had seen that blue bow near her
neck.

" I know this garden so well," says Susan, with a view to
changing the sad subject. " We used to come here often
before you came. Mr. Wyndham sometimes stayed here
for weeks at a time, but now, of course, that is all changed.
Oh, I see you have planted out some asters in the round
bed. They will be lovely later on. I suppose," thought-
fully, " you like gardening."

" I love it," says Ella, with enthusiasm. " Only I don't
know anything about it. Mrs. Denis gives me hints."

" I love it too," says Susan, " but for all that," as if a lit-
tle ashamed of herself, " I like to see people sometimes. I
couldn't live on gardening alone. And you'll find you
can't either. In fact," gaily, " you have found it out al-
ready. That's why you called us in. Oh, you'll have to
come over to our place. Do you like tennis f "

" I have never played it."

"Golf, then?"

" No." Her tone is very sad, and Carew turns sharply
upon poof Susan, who had only meant to do her best.

" There are other things in the world besides golf and
tennis," says he.

" Oh, of course — of course," says Susan, hastily. " It is
only people who live in the country who ever really care
about things like that, and no doubt you " >

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174 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" I don't believe I know anything at all," says Ella, very
gently.

" Well, you know us now at all events," says Carew,
very happily, with the light and ready manner that belongs
to all large families. His tone is a little shy, perhaps, the
; tone of the boy to the lovely girl, when first love's young
' dream dawns upon him, but Susan and Ella take the joke
very kindly, and the laughter that follows on it, clears the
atmosphere.

"You are Mr. Wyndham's tenant, aren't you?" says
Susan.

" Yes," now in a glad and eager voice, " Though at first
I wasn't." She pauses here, drawing back as it were.
Has she said too much ? Susan, however, has evidently
Been nothing in the small admission.

" I like Mr. Wyndham," says she. " We all do, indeed.
What we are afraid of now is, that as you have the Cot-
tage, we shan't see so much of him. But perhaps," gaily,
" you will put him up sometimes, and then we can renew
our acquaintance with him."

Here Carew turns an awful crimson, and casts a glance,
meant to annihilate, upon the innocent Susan.

" I don't know : I'm not sure," says Ella, dejectedly —
evidently she has seen as little in Susan's suggestion as
Susan herself. " He has only been here once since I came,
and Mrs. Denis seems to think he won't come very often. I
wish he would come, and I'm glad you like him, because I
like him too."

Carew here begins to wonder if he ever had liked Wynd-
ham, and on the whole thinks not.

Ella has taken a step towards Susan.

" What is your name f " asks she, timidly, but very sweetly.

" Susan Barry."

" That sounds like the beginning of the catechism," says
Carew, who is, as we know, a clergyman's son, and there-
fore up to little points like this.

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 175

" I knew it," says Ella, still very shyly, to Susan, " I
knew it in a way. Mrs. Denis told me. But I wanted to
be quite sure. You are Miss Barry ? "

" Oh, no, only Susan," says the pretty proprietor of that
name. " My aunt is Miss Barry. But I hope you will call
me Susan. It is," mournfully, " a dreadfully ugly name,
isn't it?"

" No — no, indeed. I like it."

" I hope you will like mine," says Carew, breaking into
the conversation. " It is Carew ; Susan and the others call
it ' Grew,' but that's an abbreviation of me, to which I ob-
ject. But your name," says he. " We should like to know
that."

Has he thrown a bomb into the assembly ? Something
at all events has stricken the stranger dumb. She shrinks
backwards, playing with a branch of the Wigelia Rosea
near her, as if to hide her embarrassment. What is her
name f She tells herself that she does not know — that she
disbelieves in the name forced upon her by those dreadful
people she had lived with — after. After what f Even that
is vague to her. Was it after her mother's death? Hints
and innuendoes from the Moores had given her to believe
that Moore at all events was not her real name. But be-
yond that she knows nothing.

" My name is Ella," says she, in a miserable tone. " Call
me that if— you will."

" Such a pretty name," says Susan. " Why did you
think we shouldn't like it? So much nicer than Susan;
isn't mine horrid ? But what is your other name ? "

Here they all start. A loud ring at the big gate over
there has taken them from their own immediate concerns —
to another. Ella turns deadly white, and shows a distinct
desire to get behind Susan. Mrs. Denis is to be seen in the
distance, flying towards the entrance gates.

Presently it is opened by her, and Wyndham walks in.

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176 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXVI.

44 Mark ye, (he nogs) in modest maiden guise
The red rose peeping from her leafy nest.
Half opening, now half-elosed, the jewel Ilea
More bright her beauty seems, the more represt ! "

Wyndham pauses in the gateway, and then comes for-
ward. His astonishment at seeing the two Barrys here is
unbounded. So unbounded indeed, that Ella, who has been
the first to see him, and who therefore naturally has been
the first to notice it, is quite frightened. She goes quickly
to him.

" It was my fault. I asked them to come in. Do you
mind?"

" I mind? I quite understood that it was you who would
mind," says he. There is no time for any more. Susan has
come forward.

" How d'ye do, Mr. Wyndham ? " says she.

Wyndham gives her his hand mechanically, murmuring
the usual meaningless, but courteous, words of greeting
that are expected of one, no matter what worries lie on the
heart, troubling and mystifying it. And Wyndham, in
spite of his legal reputation of being one of the smartest
barristers in Dublin has, to tell the truth, been consider-
ably mystified of late.

The day after he left Ella, he had gone to that part of
Dublin described by her as the place where the man, Moore,
lived. A squalid place, though still with an air of broken
respectability about it, and with quite an extraordinary
number of ill-dressed urchins playing about the hall door-
steps. They were of that class, that though their garments
were almost in rags, they had still shoes and stockings, of

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 177

sorts, on their feet, and an attempt at a frayed collar round
their necks. It gave Wyndham a sense of disgust to think
that the girl who was now living in his dainty cottage had
once lived in such an atmosphere as this ; and when he had
gone down the hideous road twenty yards or so, the cer-
tainty that had begun at the first yard, that she could
never have lived there, had deepened. But this idea gave
him little comfort. If she had ever lived here, it was only
to say the least of it, deplorable. If she had not lived here
she had lied to him, and was an impostor. And if the
latter supposition was true he had rented his cottage to an
impostor, and a clever one, too. She had taken him in be-
yond all doubt, and he was looked upon as rather a bright
and shining light amongst his confreres at the Bar and at
the University Club, and in the other various resorts for
rising young men in Dublin.

When he knocked at the door of the house mentioned by
her, he told himself that of course he had come on a fool's
errand ; yet when the woman who answered the door, — a
highly respectable person, and frightfully dirty, in a re-
spectable way — told him, " That no Moores lived here,"
he felt as though someone had struck him. He must have
looked extremely taken back, because the respectably dirty
lady roused herself sufficiently from the dignity that
seemed to cling to her as closely as her grime, and con-
descended to say she had only been there a short time, " an'
p'raps Mrs. Morgan, nex' door, could give him the infor-
mation he was lookin' for."

Wyndham had taken the hint, he scarcely knew why,
and had gone " nex' door," to receive, as he honestly be-
lieved, the same answer. But, not Mrs. Morgan, in a
tight-fitting gown, draggled at the tail, and with her sparse
front locks in curl papers (she said " curling tongs an'
methylated spirit played the very juice wid your hair ")
gave him a very handsome amount of news about the miss-
ing Moore.

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178 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

She was a very genial person ,in spite of the carl papers
—or perhaps because of them — and she invited Wyndham
into her " best front n in the most cordial way — even
though she knew he was not going to take it.

" Tes 1 of course, she had known Mr. Moore. He used
to live next door, but some months ago his wife died, and
he had seemed a little unsettled like, since."

" There was a girl f "

" Oh, yes, Ella Moore."

" Their daughter ? "

" Law, no, sir. Her niece, poor Mrs. Moore would call
her at times, but I don't think she was even that. I don't
know the truth of it rightly, but that girl was * quite the
lady,' sir, round here, an' she found some people who took
her up, an' had her as governess for their children. Big
people out in some o' the squares. Mrs. Moore had her
with her when she took the house nex' door. Ella was a
little creature then, an' used to be cry in' always for some-
one. Her mother, I used to say, but Mrs. Moore was very
dark entirely, an' never let out. Is it about Ella you're
comin', sirf I'd be glad to hear good of her — but I sup-
pose you know she fled out of Moore's house one night,
an' was never seen again? Some said as how Moore
wanted to murder her, or did murder her, but he wasn't a
man for that, I say. Anyway, up he sticks, and dis-
appears after a bit. The police looked into it for a while,
but nothin' came of it. They do say," mysteriously, " that
Moore wanted to marry her, and that she'd have nothin' to
do with him. But law, some people would say anythin'.
An,' of course, he was old enough to be her father. You
wouldn't be likely to know anythin' of her, sir f " in the
wheedling tone of the confirmed gossip.

" No," says Wyndham, calmly. " What I want is the
man Moore. You can tell me nothing, then ? "

" No, sir. . . Get out I " to two or three little children
who have appeared on the threshold, anxious, no doubt, for

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 179

their dinner, and wondering what is keeping their mammy.
" But if you did hear of Miss Ella — we all used to call her
4 Miss Ella,' though she was, as it might be, one of our-
selves — I'd be glad to get a word from you. She was very
good to my little Katie, an* she would come in of an even-
in' an' give her a lesson, just as if I could pay for it.
There was very few like her, sir, an 1 that I tell you," says
Mrs. Morgan, whose eyes, in spite of her wonderful dirti-
ness, are handsome now because of the honest, kindly tears
that shine in them. " An' it's me own opinion," goes on
the grimy woman, " that she never belonged to them
Moores at all — that she was stolen like by Mr. Moore 1 "

" Or by his wife f " suggests Wyndham.

" Oh, no, poor soul," says Mrs. Morgan. " She," with
delicate phraseology, " hadn't a kick in her 1 But we often
said, my husband and I, that perhaps Mrs. Moore had been
a servant in some great family, an' had taken a — a child —
that beggin' yer pardon, sir, mightn't be altogether
wanted."

This view of Mrs. Morgan's takes root in Wyndham's
mind. An illegitimate child 1 An unacknowledged scion
of some good family ! Poor, poor child I Poor Ella I

" You may be right," he said. The interview was at an
end. Seeing two of Mrs. Morgan's children peeping in
again, hungry and disconsolate, he beckons them to him,
and after a while they slowly and with open distrust creep
towards him. Was that the Katie — that little dark-eyed
handsome child — that she used to teach ? Wyndham caught
her and drew her towards him, and pressed half-a-sovereign
into her hand, and then caught the little boy hanging on
her scanty skirts, and pressed another little yellow piece
into his soft but unwashed palm, after which he bid the
grateful Mrs. Morgan adieu, and walked out of their lives
for ever.

But what she had told him went with him. Who is this
girl Ella Moore ? This girl who is no^.^s^tjeiQ^^^

180 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

had insisted on her being bis tenant ; on ber paying him
rent. Tbat was as mucb to satisfy ber as to satisfy some
scruples of bis own. Sbe was really, of course, no more to

bim tban any otber tenant might be — and yet

For one tbing, wbo is sbe ? One does not, as a rule, rent
tbeir bouses to people not only unknown, and without a
reference, but actually without a name I

" I quite understood it was you wbo would mind."
There was rancor in the voice that had spoken those few
words, and the rancor had gone to Ella's heart. Was he
angry with her ? Displeased ? Should she not have asked
the Barrys to come in ? She loses her color, and shrinks
back a little, and Carew, glancing from her to Wyndham,
whilst the latter is murmuring his greetings to Susan, tells
himself that Wyndham is a brute, with a big, big B, and
tbat in some way this mysterious girl — this lovely girl —
has her life made miserable by him ! This is, as we all
know, manifestly unfair, as it is really Wyndham whose
life is being made distinctly uncomfortable by this " lovely,
mysterious girl." But Carew is too young to see a second
side to any question that has his sympathy.

u I think we must go now," says Susan, holding out her
hand to her new acquaintance. " It is very late — too
late," smiling, " for a formal visit." Wyndham winces.
Is his informal ? " But we shall pay that soon, now that
we know we may come. And of course you and your "

She pauses, the thought coming to her that she really
does not know if Mr. Wyndham is actually this pretty
girl's landlord. And, besides" your landlord," how badly
it sounds. " You and your landlord 1 " oh, impossible.
Sbe had been very near making a great mistake.

So she hesitates, and Wyndham misinterprets her pause.
He feels furious. What was the word she was going to
use f " Lover," no doubt, in the innocence of her young

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 181

and abominably stupid heart. He feels brutal even to-
wards the unconscious Susan just now. Yes, that is what
all the small world round here will think. His color rises,
and he feels all at once guilty as though the very worst
facts could be laid to his charge — whilst all the time he is
innocent. Innocent ! Oh, confound it I The situation is
absolutely maddening .... and if it comes to the old
man's ears I . . . . Lord Shangarry is not one to be easily
entreated, or to be convinced either. . . . An obstinate old
man, who if he once caught an idea into his old brain would
find it very hard to let it go again.

" And of course you and Mr. Wyndham," says Susan
now hastily, not understanding Wyndham's frown, " have
many matters to discuss. 1 '

The speech is wound up very satisfactorily after all.

" Certainly not. I beg you won't go on my account,"
says Wyndham, stiffly.

" Not for that," says Susan, gaily, " but because fether
will be wondering where we are." Wyndham, who has al-
ready heard a little of the gossip that is beginning to cir-
culate around the Cottage, almost groans aloud here. Father
would be wondering indeed if he only knew. " By-the-bye,
Mr. Wyndham, now that " — she looks at Ella and holds out
her hand to her — " she tells us she would like to see us
here sometimes, we can come, can't we f "

She smiles delightfully at Wyndham, and the wretched
man smiles back at her in a way that should have moved
her to tears had she seen him but, providentially, after a
mere passing glance at him, she has given her attention to
Ella, who pleases her imagination immensely.

" Certainly, if Miss Moore wishes it," says he. " You
know this place is no longer mine ; Miss Moore is my ten-
ant now. She is, therefore, at liberty to do what she likes
with it. You must not ask me what she can or cannot do.
I am that most disagreeable of all things, a landlord — noth-
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182 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

His tone is even colder than he means it to be. The Rec-
tor, what will he say when he hears of this visit of Susan's?
The Rector, who is so ultra particular — and this girl with-
out a name — so— almost certainly illegitimate I Fancy the
Rector's face when he hears of this thoughtless visit of
Susan's ! Mr. Barry is a good man, and charitable in his
own line, but to give his countenance to a friendship be-
tween his daughter and a girl nameless — unknown.

" We are telling her," goes on Susan, sweetly, " that she
must come and see us sometimes too — just across the road,
you know. But she says she will not. Can't you persuade
her, Mr. Wyndham ? Though you are only her landlord,
as you say." Is there meaning in her tone ? Does she
think f Wyndham glances at her suspiciously, and then
knows he ought to be ashamed of himself, " Still land-
lords have weight, and you know father would be so pleased
if she would come to us sometimes."

" I daresay," says Wyndham, who can almost see Mr.
Barry's face when the idea is suggested to him. The Rector,
with his aristocratic tendencies, that the very depths of
poverty have not been able to subdue, would think it
monstrous Susan's being here at all, with a girl so wrapped
in mystery — a girl so enveloped in the base gossip that
already is arising about her in the neighborhood, because
of her strange tenancy of the Cottage — a gossip that must
inevitably include him, Wyndham, too 1 How is her coming
here to be accounted for ? Who will hold him guiltless of
the knowledge of her coming.

" If you are going," says he, turning suddenly to Susan,
" I shall go with you ; I wish to speak to your father."
He has made up his mind on the moment to lay the whole
affair open to the Rector. It seems the only thing to be
done, if his tenant has decided on knowing the Barrys.
" You tell me Miss Moore is anxious "

u Your name is Moore then ? " says Susan, gently, going
a step towards her.

•

THE PROFESSO&S EXPERIMENT. 183

" It is not I " say 8 the girl, almost passionately.

There is a silence. Wyndham feeling the water closing
over him more and more, still, with the girl's troubled eyes
upon him, comes to the rescue.

" It is at all events the only name by which she is known
at present," says he to Susan. " I am looking into her
affairs, and hope in time to be able to unravel them. That
is the good of being a barrister, you see. And now— if you
are ready ? "

Susan bids good-bye again to Ella, who is looking a little
subdued and uncertain now ; Carew does the same, holding
her hand lingeringly as if wishing to say something sym-
pathetic to her, but finding words fail him. Wyndham,
following him, and Susan would have passed through the
gate into the road outside, but that Ella, with a quick,
softly spoken word, full of emotion, stops him.

" I have done something wrong," says she, in a breathless
whisper. " Wait — do wait — one moment, and tell me, tell
me " Tears are standing thick within her eyes.

u There is much to tell you," says he, impatiently. *,* But
no time in which to tell it."

" About f " Her face pales, and she looks eagerly at

him, laying even a restraining hand upon his arm, in her
growing fear.

" Yes— about that fellow."

"Mr. Moore?"

" Yes."

" Oh, you will stay — you will tell me ! " cries she, In low,
but panting tones. " Oh, don't leave me in suspense. Even
if you can't stay now you can come back again, if only for

five minutes! Oh, do! You will? He " She looks

as if she were going to faint.

" There is no need for fear of that sort," says he, quickly.
" He knows nothing of you, or where you are. Yes, if I
can," reluctantly, " I will come back."

He follows the others now, and as he reaches Susan and

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184 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Carew, they all three distinctly hear the click of the lock
of the garden gate behind them.

Susan looks at Wyndham in a startled way.

" I — I think some one must have been very unkind to
her," says she ; " don't you ? To lock herself up like that
—and never to want to see anybody — Mr. Wyndham, why
don't you try to find out her enemies ? "

" I am trying," says Wyndham, looking into the calm,
earnest intelligent eyes raised to his.

" Father would help you," says Susan. " Was it because
of that you wanted to see him to-day ? "

" Yes," says Wyndham. There is no time for more.

Mr. Barry is coming up the road. He had evidently
seen them all come out of the green gate of the Cottage.
His face is grave and stern.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 186

CHAPTER XXVII.

M Mystery magnifies danger, as a fog the son ! "

His greeting to Wyndham is of the coldest. He does
not speak to him, but turns at once to Susan.

44 Your aunt wants you," says he severely, and the girl, a
little chilled, a little apprehensive, disappears within the
rectory gate, carrying Carew, a most unwilling captive,
with her.

When she is gone the Rector feces Wyndham.

" How is this, Wyndham 1 " asks he, quietly, yet with
unmistakable indignation.

" How is what ? " asks the younger man a little haughtily.

" Was it you who took Susan into that cottage ? "

" No. But even if it had been — I see no cause for the
tone you have assumed towards me."

" That is what I suppose you call * carrying it off,' " says
the Rector, his pale face betraying a fine disgust.

" Mr. Barry 1 " says Wyndham, as if the other had struck
him.

He has flushed a dark red, and now turns as if to walk
straight away up the road and out of the Rector's ken for
ever. But suddenly he halts, and looks back, and Mr.
Barry, who has seen many phases of life, and is quick to
discern the truth, however deep in the well it lies, beckons
to him to return. If this young man cannot clear himself,
he may still plead circumstances.

44 If you could explain, Wyndham."

44 That '8 what offends me," says Wyndham, with some
passion. He has refused to return an inch, so the Rector
has had to go to him. It wouldn't do to shout his conver-
sation, considering all the young people who live on one

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186 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

side of the road behind the right hand wall, and the one
"young person" (the Rector has the gravest suspicions)
who lives on the other side of it. What if they should all
chance to hear ? Wyndham is still talking.

" Why should I have to explain ? You have known me
many years, Mr. Barry. Of what " — looking him Mr in
the face, " do you accuse me ? "

"That hardly requires an answer," says Mr. Barry,
calmly. And all at once Wyndham knows that the trouble
he had dreamed of is already on him. There is gossip rife
in the neighborhood about him, and this mysterious tenant
of his cottage. People are talking — soon it will come to
the old man's ears, and to his aunt's, and to Josephine's.
The last idea is the least troublesome. " You must surely
have heard some rumors yourself. I am willing — I am
most anxious," says the Rector, with growing earnestness,
" to hear the truth of a story that seems as it now stands
to be disastrous to two people. You, Wyndham, are one
of them. No, not a word. Hear me first. I want to say
just this, that if I was a little harsh to you a moment ago,
it was because of Susan. One's daughter has the first
claim. And she — that child — to be . . . You tell me
you did not take her to see "

"I told you that," says Wyndham, " and I told you too,"
very straightly, " that if I had done so I should see no rea-
son why I should be ashamed of it. However, I had
nothing to do with your daughter's visit to Miss Moore.
It appears Miss Moore asked her to come into my . . .
her • . . "

The Rector stops him with an impatient gesture.

" Whose is it — yours or hers ? " asks he.

" Mine, yet hers in a sense, too," begins and ends the
fluent lawyer, whose fluency has now at his need deserted
him.

u I do not understand your evasions."

" If you will let me "

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TBE PBOFESSO&S EXPERIMENT. 187

" I want no explanations," says the Rector, coldly. " I
want only one answer to one plain question — who is this
Miss Moore ? "

He looks straight at Wyndham. The extenuating cir-
cumstances he had believed in grow smaller and smaller.

Wyndham hesitates. Who is she, indeed I Who is this
tenant of his ?

44 You hesitate, I see," says Mr. Barry. " You have the
grace to do even so much. But at all events you cannot
deny that you permitted the presence of my young daugh-
ter in that place beyond."

U J »

44 A truce to subterfuges, sir I " cries the Rector. " A
plain answer I will and must get. Who is this girl who
lives in your house, and refuses to see or know anyone in
her neighborhood ? "

44 1 don't know," says Wyndham, sullenly, angered be-
yond control.

44 1 do," says the Rector, 44 and may God forgive you for
your sin. She is "

44 Be silent 1 " cries Wyndham, interrupting him so im-
periously that the older man stops short. " She is my ten-
ant. . . My tenant, I repeat — And," haughtily, " no
more."

Silence follows upon this. The Rector, lost in thought,
stands, with clasped hands behind his back, and his eyes
upon the ground. His silence incenses Wyndham.

44 You can believe me or not, as you like," says he, turn-
ing on his heel.

He moves away.

44 Stay — stay ! " cries Mr. Barry, suddenly. 44 We must
get to the end of this. If I have wronged you, Wyndham,
I regret it with all my heart, but there has been some talk
here, and Susan — she is very young — a mere child. I could
not stand that. You tell me there is nothing to be con-
demned in all this business — that she— this girl in there, is

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188 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

only your tenant. But landlords do not visit their tenants
except on compulsion, so far as I know, and you — what has
brought you here to-day ? "

" Just that," says Wyndham, who is still at white heat —
" compulsion. If you would condescend," angrily, " to lis-
ten to my explanation, I might perhaps make you under-
stand."

" I shall be only too glad to listen," says Mr. Barry, with
dignity.

"But here — how can I explain here ?" says Wyndham,
glancing round at the open road, and the walls. " Walls
have ears."

But Mr. Barry does not budge. And Wyndham gives
way to rather sardonic laughter.

" I suppose," says he, " you would not let me under your
roof until all this is perfectly clear."

The Rector still remains immovable.

" The roof of heaven is above us always," returns he,
whereupon Wyndham, who has sympathy with determina-
tion, laughs again, but more naturally this time, and forth-
with tells him the whole story of his acquaintance with
Ella from that first strange night until to-day.

" Bless me," says the Rector, when the recital is at an
end. He strokes his clean shaven chin thoughtfully.
" What an extraordinary tale I "

" Not too extraordinary to be believed, I hope," stiffly.

" No, no. I believe you, Wyndham. I believe you thor-
oughly," says the Rector gently. " I am indeed sorry for
my late distrust of you. But you will admit that there
was cause. That poor girl I You have utterly failed,
then, to discover those people with whom she had been liv-
ing before that — that dreadful night f "

" So far, yes. But the fact that they once did live there
goes far to establish the truth of her — " he stammers a
little, but Mr. Barry takes him up.

" Her story ? It entirely in my opinion establishes the

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THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT. 189

truth of her story." Wyndham's stammer has added to the
truth of his declaration so far as the Rector is concerned.

44 You have a more liberal mind than mine," says Wynd-
ham. " I have told you so much that I may as well make
you my Father Confessor in toto." The smile that accom-
panies this is rather strained. " As a fact there was a time
when I did not believe in her story myself; and now — when
I have to — well — it makes me feel rather poor, you know."

44 You have no occasion to feel anything," says the Rector,
44 except that you have been a kind friend to her. Do you
think you will be able to trace that fellow Moore ? "

44 1 hope so. I have engaged a detective, one of the
smartest fellows in Dublin, and I depend upon him to run
down that scoundrel in a month or so."

44 In the meantime I shall make it my business to explain
to everybody how matters really are," says the Rector.
44 To tell the people we know round here that "

44 1 beg you won't," says Wyndham, hurriedly. 44 Have
I not told you how she desires privacy above all things ;
how she dreads her discovery by that man. I know it all
sounds mysterious, Mr. Barry — that it is asking a great
deal of your credulity, to expect you to believe it all. But
I still hope you will believe me, and at all events I know
her secret is safe in your hands. I myself have thought of
suggesting to her to face matters bravely, and if Moore
should prove troublesome, why to fight it out with him. I
cannot believe he has any actual claim on her. But she has
such an almost obstinate determination not to risk the
chance of meeting him that I fear she will not be moved by
what I say. This shutting of herself up in that cottage
seems a mania with her ; such a mania that I cannot but
think her story true, and that she suffered considerably at
that fellow's hands."

44 It looks like it," says the Rector.

44 Perhaps you will be able to combat her fears," says
Wyndham, rather awkwardly. <4 Would be ve

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190 THE PBOFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

you could; as this mystery surrounding her is — er — de-
cidedly uncomfortable for me. Tou have seen that."

" I wonder you ever consented to the arrangement."

" I never meant to ; but she seemed so utterly friendless,
and she seemed to cling so to this place (a harbor of refuge
it was to her evidently), that I found it would be almost
brutal to refuse."

" It was a charitable deed," says the Rector.

" Not done in a spirit of charity, however. I assure you
I regret it more and more every day of my life," says
Wyndham, with a short laugh. " However, in for a penny
in for a pound, you know, and I had promised the Professor
to look after her. I have now engaged a companion for
her — I think you may remember Miss Manning t She was
a governess of the Blakes some years ago — you used to
know them."

" Manning 1 Oh, of course, of course," says the Rector.
" A most worthy creature. I never knew what became of
her after Mary Blake went to India."

" Got another situation, and a most miserable one. Left
it, and was found in direst poverty by the person I got to
hunt her up. Her delight at my proposal to her to live
with Miss Moore was unbounded. It will at all events be
a blessing to get her out of that stuffy room I found her in.
She looked so out of place in it. Tou know what a nice-
looking woman she was, and so well got up always. But
yesterday. ... I advanced her a little of her salary
at once — to — to get anything she might want, you know —
and I expect that next week she will come to the Cottage."

The Rector has heard this rather halting recital straight
through without comment. Now he lifts his eyes.

" You are a good fellow, Wyndham," says he, slowly.

" For heaven's sake, Mr. Barry — not that," says Wynd-
ham, impatiently. " I expect I'm about the most grudging
devil on earth. And if you think I enjoy helping this girl,
or Miss Manning, or anyone else, you make a

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 191

What I really want is to be left alone, to run my life on my
own rails without the worry of being crossed or stopped by
passengers, or goods, or extras."

"Ah 1 we can none of us hope for that," says the Rector.
" The most selfish of us have to live, not only for ourselves,
but for others. You spoke of yesterday, as having seen
Miss Manning. Have you — told the young lady in there
of her coming ? "

" Not yet. I had no time indeed. When I found your
daughter there I felt I ought to take her away as soon as
possible, simply because you did not know how matters
were, and I had a hint — as to gossip. I must go back now,
however, and tell her before my traiii leaves."

" You have little time," says the Rector, glancing at his
watch. " Go. Make haste."

"There is one thing more," says Wyndham, quickly.
11 And I think you should hear it. She — I don't know any-
thing for certain — but I feel almost sure that the poor girl
is illegitimate. And of course, you "

"If"

" You would not like an acquaintance between her and
your daughters?"

" You mistake me there," said the Rector. " A misfor-
tune is not a fault. And the fact that this poor girl has
been the victim of others' vices should not be allowed to
militate against her."

" Hardly a feet ! " says Wyndham, quickly. u I speak
only from very uncertain data, and yet "

" I know. It seems unhappily only too likely, however!
There, go— you have little time."

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192 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

"Weeping and wailing, care and other sorrow,
I have enough on even, and on morrow.' 9

Ella is inside waiting for him when he returns. She had
heard his step, and had opened the little gate to let him in.

" Oh ! you have come ! How long you have been. I
thought you would never come," cries she in her agitation.
Then, frightened at her own impatience, " I — I thought per-
haps you had gone away — and forgotten."

" There were certain things that had to be said to Mr.
Barry," says Wyndham. He slams the gate carelessly be-
hind him, but Ella passing rapidly by him, turns the key
in the lock.

" It is very stupid of me, I know," says she, reddening
at his glance of surprise. " But the other day I thought"
— paling — " that I saw him 1 "

"Moore?"

" Yes."

" Where could you see him as you never leave this J "
He is still feeling a little sore about her determination to
hold herself aloof from everyone.

" I," reddening, " was up in that tree over there," point-
ing to the sycamore.

" Up there ! What on earth for ? "

" I wanted " — here poor Ella hangs her head — " to see
into the rectory garden. They— they were all laughing
there, and I could hear them, and "

She stops short in her somewhat dismal confession.

"I see," says Wyndham, quickly, all his coldness sud-
denly dying away. Poor child I This little picture of her
—climbing with difficulty into that great tree to catch even

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 183

a glimpse of the gaiety of others, goes to his heart. "Was
it there that "

" Yes it was there I thought I saw him. I may, I must,"
anxiously, " have been mistaken — don't you think I must
have been mistaken ? — but I did see a man just like him
turning up the corner of the road that leads to the village
street."

" I am sure you were mistaken," says Wyndham. " As
a fact I know he has disappeared altogether. If he wanted
to spy upon you here — if he thought you were in the coun-
try anywhere, what would be more likely than that he
should live in his old house and make expeditions round
about Dublin with a view to coming upon you sooner or
later? But I have heard from the woman who lived next
door to him that "

" Mrs. Morgan," says Ella, eagerly.

11 Tes, Mrs. Morgan." He pauses, and is quite conscious
of a glow of satisfaction at her words. They are indeed
" confirmation strong" of the truth of her story all through.
She had known this Mrs. Morgan, and been known by her.
" And," cries Ella, eagerly, " she said? "

" That he had left his house immediately/ after your dis-
appearance. That looks as if your going had frightened
him — as if he thought he might be made answerable to the
law for your safety — as if he feared you had — that is,"
.... He stammers here a little.

" I know," says the girl, interrupting him gently. " As
if he feared — I had put an end to my life. And " — pain-
fully — " as you know — I was willing to risk the chance of
losing it, at all events."

" Oh, there was no risk," says Wyndham, hastily. " But
what I want to say is that I believe Moore fancied himself
liable to prosecution if he could not say what had become
of you. He had treated you abominably, and no doubt the

neighbors were talking, and " He himself is talking

quite at random now. He has not yet got over his late

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194 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" slip." " Anyway his not being seen since points to the
feet that he has gone abroad."

" No, no," says the girl, shaking her head with conviction.
She is very pale now. " To me it seems that he has left
home to look for me I I know — I know," affrightedly,
" that he is looking for me."

" Just because you saw a fancied resemblance to him in a
man going down the road ? "

" Not that altogether. Though that did give me a shock,
and I still fancy "

" Come, that is being absolutely morbid," says Wyndham,
with a touch of impatience. " The man is gone, believe me.
And even if not, what claim has he on you ? "

" That I don't know, but he said he had a ' hold on me 9
until I was twenty-one, and I am only eighteen," with a
sigh that is evidently full of a desire to wish away three
good years of her young life.

" I don't believe a word of it," says Wyndham, promptly.
" And in the meantime, now that in my opinion he is well
out of the way, why don't you try to enjoy your life — to
see people — to "

" I am enjoying life. Oh ! " with a sudden, quick, happy
smile, " if you only knew how much."

" Tet you confess to loneliness. To a desire to see those
around you."

" Yes." She colors and taps her foot on the ground, then
laughs. " And now I have seen them," says she, with a
swift upward glance at him that lasts only for a moment.

u The Barrys. Yes, but there are others. And now you
know the Barrys you can easily know everyone else down
here — you can make friends for yourself, and go out, and
pay visits, and "

" Oh, no," cries she, quickly, with a sudden terror indeed.
" No no," putting up her hands, " I can't — I won't — I'll
never go out J Mr. Wyndham, don't, don't ask me to do

%t,"

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 195

It is in Wyndham's mind to say to her that it would be
of considerable benefit to his social lookout if she would
only consent to know people, and make herself known, and
break through this deplorable attitude of secrecy that she
has taken up, but a glance at her young frightened face de-
ters him. He shrugs his shoulders over his own ill-luck,
and bears it.

" I — you are angry with me again, 9 ' says Ella, nervously.
" But I can't go out of this place. I can't indeed — unless
you could send me somewhere across the sea where he could
never find me — but to leave this." Her lips quiver, and
she turns aside.

" Nonsense ! Who wants you to leave this ? " says
Wyndham, roughly. " But I think you ought to have some
common sense about you. You have no one to give you ad-
vice of any sort, and you are about the most headstrong
girl I ever met."

" I have taken your advice," says she. " Always — al-
ways." Her face is still turned away, and her voice sounds
stifled.

"Always when it suited you. But not now, when it
might be of some use. Of course I can see quite plainly
that that old idiot Mrs. Moriarty is backing you up in all
your nonsensical fears, but there will soon be an end to
thtft. I have engaged a lady to come and live with you,
and give you lessons, and knock some sense into your head,
I hope."

" A lady to live with me. You have found her, then ?
You meant it ? "

" Naturally I meant it. And I only hope she will be
able to show you the folly of your ways — a matter in which
I most signally have foiled."

Wyndham has worked himself into quite a righteous
fever of wrath against her. Good heavens, what a row
there is bound to be on shortly with his aunt, about this
obstinate recluse. He has gone a little too far. The girl

196 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

turns upon him gently indeed, but with a certain dignity in
her air.

" As I have told you, I can always leave this," says she.
" But it will be to a place where I can live alone, and where
I shall never have to leave my home, even though it be a
garret. I — I have thought of a convent," her voice falter-
ing. " But I am a Protestant, and — " she sighs heavily.
" Mr. Wyndham," cries she suddenly ; " why do you want
me to go out — to know people t Why ? "

Wyndham, who could have given one very excellent rea-
son for his wish, remains determinedly silent.

" You see," cries she triumphantly. " You have no rea-
son at alL And I am ever so much happier by myself. I
don't say but that if I were somebody else, I should not
like to go into that garden there," pointing towards the rec-
tory. " But as it is, it would frighten me to step outside
the gate."

" And how long is this state of things to go on ? " asks
Wyndham. " Until you are ninety 1 "

41 Ahl he can't live till then," says she. " And besides,
long before that I shall be old and ugly, and he won't care.
You know," growing crimson, " what I told you ! "

" Yes." Wyndham frowns. " You told me enough to
know he was a most infernal scoundrel."

" I suppose he is that," says she thoughtfully. " Though
I don't think really he would ever murder anybody. You
see he didn't even murder me. He only wanted to marry
me ! That was what made me so angry. If he had made me
marry him," turning to Wyndham with a quick, sharp
movement. " You think that would mean that I should
have to live with him always t "

She pauses as if eager for an answer, and when he does
not speak, she says imperatively —

"Well?"

Wyndham nods his head.

" It wouldn't, however," says she with angry emphasub

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" I'd have run away after I was married, just the same.
Only I thought it better to do it before I "

There is so much force, so much girlish venom in her
tone, that Wyndham feels inclined to laugh, but the little
" air mutin " she has taken, sits so curiously, and with such
an unexpected charm upon her, that somehow his laughter
dies within him. Something about her now too, as she
stands there flushed and defiant, strikes him as familiar.
Who is she like ?

" For a young lady so very valiant, I wonder you are so
afraid to face the world," says he gravely.

" Ah, I am not afraid of the world, but of him I " says she.
" And — " she draws closer to him, and now all her bravery
has died away from her, and she looks as greatly in want of
courage as a mouse. " I'm afraid of this new lady too 1
Is she — kind — nice — will she — be angry with me some-
times ? "

" Very likely," says Wyndham. He softens this dis-
agreeable answer, however, by a smile. " No — you must
not be afraid of her. She is an old friend of mine, and very
charming. And she is quite prepared to love you."

" Ah 1 Then you have said "

" The very prettiest things of you, of course " — sardon-
ically — " So keep up your courage."

" She will come ? " nervously.

" On Thursday."

" And you ? "

" When you and she have reached the point of open war,
I daresay she will drop me a line, to come to her rescue."

41 It will be to mine," says she, smiling, but very faintly.
Tears are in her eyes. " You — you will come with her,
won't you ? Don't let me have to see her alone at first.
You know her, and I don't. And you — "

" Very well, I'll bring her," says Wyndham, with an in-
ward groan. What the deuce is going to be the end of it
allf

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198 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

He does not leave by the little green gate this time, but
going down at a swinging pace (that has a good deal of
temper in it) to the principal entrance, meets there with
Mrs. Moriarty, who has been on the lookout for him for
the past half hour.

" An' did ye hear what happened to Denis, yer honor ? "

" To Denis ? " abstractedly. Then recovering himself,
and with a good deal of his late temper still upon him.
" Of course, I've been wondering all day where he was.
Not a soul to attend to me. He was drunk, as usual, I sup*
pose."

" Fegs, you've guessed it," says Mrs. Moriarty, clapping
her hands with unbounded admiration. " Dhrunk, he was
— the ould retrobate."

" Well, I hope he'll turn up this evening at all events,"
says Wyndham. " It is extremely uncomfortable going on
like this. If he can't attend to me, I'll have to get another
man. I have borne a good deal already, and I hope you
will let him fully understand, that if he isn't at my rooms
at seven, I shall dismiss him."

- " An' who'd blame ye," says Mrs. Moriarty. " Faith,
I've often thought of dismissing him meself. But," slowly,
" he can't be at yer rooms at seven yer honor."

" And why not ? " angrily.

" He's bruk his arm, sir."

" Broke his arm ? "

" Just that, sir. Bad scran to him. An' the docther
says he never saw a worse compound fraction in his life.
'Twas all through Timsey Mooney. Timsey and him's at
war for a long time, an' yestherday Timsey said he'd break
his head, an' with that Denis said he'd have the life ov him ;
and 'twas the divil's own row they had afther that ; only,"
with a regretful air, " it was Denis' arm that got bruk, an 1
not Timsey 's head."

" So Denis got his arm broken ? "

" Yes, sir. An' that Timsey Mooney as sound as iver.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 199

Not a scratch on him. I've alwas tould ye that there's
nayther luck nor grace wid Denis. But what am I wastin'
words on him at all for ? 'Tis about the young lady I'm
curious. She's to stay, sir ? " »

"Yes — yes. I told you that before. And I have ar-
ranged with a friend of mine, a very accomplished lady, to
come down here and live with her as a companion."

" A companion is it ? " Mrs. Moriarty strokes her beard.
" She's been very continted wid me." says she.

" I daresay. But this lady, Miss Manning, is to be a gov-
erness to her, to teach her — to see to her manners, and — "

" To tache her her manners is it ? She's got the purtiest
manners I ever yet see," says Moriarty, with a smothered
indignation. " Tache her, indeed ! "

It is plain that Mrs. Moriarty is already consumed with
the pangs of jealousy.

" She is coming, at all events," says Wyndham, shortly.
" And I request you will treat her with every respect, as
one of my oldest friends."

44 She's ould thin," anxiously.

" She is not young."

Mrs. Moriarty shakes her head with the air of one who
would say, " We all know what that means."

" Is she kind-hearted, sir ? Miss Ella is terrible timid-
like."

" Certainly she is kind. But, of course, she will expect
' Miss Ella,' as you call her to follow her lead in most ways.
I " — with meaning — " shall take care she is not interfered
with in any way. I hope you quite understand all this."

" I understhand, yer honor. She's ould an' cross, an'
Miss Ella is to follow her, about everywhere. But " — with
a last lingering remnant of hope — " she won't be comin' for
a while, sir, will she ? "

" She is coming on Thursday."

" Oh, murther I " says Mrs. Moriarty sotto voce, as he
shuts the gate behind hint.

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900 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

; CHAPTER XXIX.

"Ther ia fal many a man that crieth * Werre, werre ' that wat fol
litel what werre amonnteth. Werre at his begynnyng hath so greet
an entre and bo large, that every wight may entre when him liketh
and lightly find werre; but oertes what ende schal falle thereof, it is
not lightly to knowe t "

" Nothing will do for these beastly hens it seems bat the
garden," says Betty, indignantly. " Susan, stand there,
you No, there I " gasping.

" Oh, they've scratched up ail the mignonette," cries
Susan, rushing to the point indicated, an escaliona bush, in
which three culprit hens are lurking. " Were there ever
such wretches ; and plenty of food in the yard, too? It
isn't as if they were starved. CushI Cush! Bother
them! They won't come out. Have you got a stick,
Betty?"

" Here's one. I declare I'm out of breath from hunting
them. And the cock is the worst of all. I hope I'll live
to see the broth he is made of Not that I'd touch it 1 Hi !
Hi I " with a frantic dab at the hens with her stick be-
neath the too friendly escaliona. " Would be too full of all
malice and bitterness. There is one of them, Susan ; run I
run ! to the gate 1 She's going that way. Ah ! You've
got that anyway."

" That," I regret to say, is a stone directed with unerr-
ing aim by Betty, and received by the hen on her shoulder,
with a shock that makes her bound not only into the air,
but " Over the garden wall," and into the yard beyond with
a haste, that perhaps she calls undue. And now Susan has
routed out the other two, and with a cackling that would
rouse the dead, they rush after their companion towards
that spot in the wall that is easiest for the purposes of in-
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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 201

gress and egress from the yard to the garden. Susan
races alter them, u shooing " with all her might, generously
supported by Betty and her shower of small stones. So
ardent, so blood-thirsty is the chase, it is matter for wonder
' that the hens, having once gone through such an encounter
could ever brave it again. But hens are amongst the
bravest things living. Amazons in their own line-— it is
indeed popularly supposed in our neighborhood that the
souls of those defunct termagants have entered into them,
and at all events there does not rest a doubt now in the
minds of Susan and Betty, that in half an hour's time those
hens will have returned to the charge, as fresh as ever.

" We must get a wire-netting put up along there," says
Betty, angrily. " What's the good of our planting seeds
and roots and things for the amusement of those abomina-
ble hens? And why should they think there are more
grubs under a picotee than under a common daisy ? "

" I wish there was a netting put up," says Susan, who is
distinctly flushed, "but who's going to do it? Father
won't. Wiring costs something, and there would be a good
bit of it to be put up there," pointing to the long wall.

" Maybe Dom would, when he gets his next half year's
allowance."

" I don't think you ought to ask him," says Susan.
" He is not our brother, you know."

" He's nearly as good," says Betty.

" Still he isn't, and I, for one, wouldn't ask him."

" I would. The only thing is that perhaps father wouldn't
like it."

" I know he wouldn't."

" What's to be done, then ? Are we to spend oui time
hunting these blessed hens until the day we die ? If so,"
tragically, " I hope that day will come full soon. Oh, I
declare, there's the cock I Run Susan, run. Oh, the vil-
lain; the ringleader. Catch him, Susan. Oh, there, he's
gone under the laurels. Oh, the artftil thing."

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203 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" No he isn't," cries Susan. " He's over there, near you.
I see his leg. This side — this side, Betty. Ah, now you
have him. Hold him ; hold him tight." Betty has caught
hold of the king of the yard, and is dragging him ruthlessly
from his hiding place. There are yells from the cock and
muttered execrations from Betty. But finally the cock has
the best of it. With a whirr and a whoop he makes a last
grand sprint, and once again knows the splendors of free-
dom.

Away he goes down the garden path, and away go the
girls after him.

" Squawk, squawk, squawk," cries the cock, and " Oh if
I catch you 1 " cries Betty, under her breath. Her breath
is indeed running very short. Susan's has given way en-
tirely.

" Oh, he is going to the tennis ground," shrieks Betty,
distractedly ; and indeed the cock, with a view of circum-
venting the enemy, is making for that broad course.

At the rustic gateway, however, that leads to it from the
garden, a third enemy appears upon the scene. An enemy
that takes off his hat and makes such a magnificent attack
with it that the cock, disheartened, gives way in turn, re-
treats, chassis a little, and finally with a wild skirl swoops
over the garden wall after his wives, and is gone.

" It was a famous victory I " cries Mr. Crosby, when the
defeat of the cock is beyond doubt.

He is looking at Susan. Such a lovely, flushed, and
laughter-filled Susan 1 A Susan with soft locks flying into
her beauteous eyes. A Susan with soft parted lips, and
breath coming in little merry gasps.

" You were just in time 1 " cries she, running up to him,
with happy camarderie in her smile. " But for you we
should have been hunting him all over the place. What
lucky fortune brought you at this moment?" smiling
blandly into his eyes, and giving him her hand. " Just hap-
pening to be passing by ? "

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 203

4< No, I was coming to see you all," says Crosby. He
had nearly stopped at the " you," but she looks so young,
so without a thought behind her, that he felt it would be
useless. She would not understand, and even if she did it
would only annoy her. A girl of the world — that would
be different. She would laugh at this suggestion of a flirta-
tion. But Susan

" Well, come and see us all," says Betty, gaily. " We're
all round the corner, I fancy."

And indeed most of them are. The children in the far
distance chasing butterflies with a net just constructed by
Dom, whilst he and Carew are listening with apparently en-
grossed interest to their aunt, who, with curls shaking, and
an air of general excitement about her, is holding forth.

" Is that you at last, Susan," says she, shaking her curls
more vigorously than ever. " Where have you been t How
d'ye do, Mr. Crosby 1 I must say, Susan, you are never to
be found when wanted."

" The hens got into the garden," begins Susan, coloring a
little beneath this rebuke uttered before Crosby.

" Oh, hens I What are hens," cries Miss Barry, tragic-
ally, " when human beings are dying ? "

"Dying?"

" Yes. I've just been to see poor dear Miss Blake, and I
really believe she is at death's door."

" Oh, I am sorry," says Susan.

" She's been at that uncomfortable portal for the past
year," says Betty, with distinct scorn. " In my opinion it
would take a lot of pushing to make her pass it."

" Elizabeth 1 This frivolity is absolutely disgraceful,"
says Miss Barry , directing a withering glance at Betty, who,
it must be said, bears up beneath it with the utmost forti-
tude. " Dr. Mulcahy was with her — I've always thought
him a distinctly vulgar person, but really after what he
said of poor Miss Blake to day, I feel justified in my
opinion."

204 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" What did he say, auntie ? "

" I hardly like to repeat it. An insult to a poor dying
creature seems impossible, doesn't it, Mr. Crosby ? 3ut I
heard him myself. After all, why should not I speak ?
One ought to expose monsters ! My dear," to Susan,
" Lady Millbank had called to ask how Miss Blake was — at
least I suppose it was for that purpose — but she mumbles
so, on account of those false teeth of hers, no doubt, that I
scarcely heard what she was saying. But I did hear what
Dr. Mulcahy said to her a moment afterwards. He was
speaking of poor dear Kate Blake, and I distinctly heard
him say she was ' low ! ' " Miss Barry pauses dramatic-
ally, but beyond a smothered sound from Dom, nothing is
heard.

" Aren't you shocked, Susan ? Or must I believe that
the young people of this generation are devoid of feeling.
A Mulcahy to call a Blake 'low.' It struck me as so
abominable a piece of impertinence that I went away on
the instant. I don't know of course how Lady Millbank
took it, but I hope she put down that insolent man, with-
out hesitation. Fancy a Blake being called l low ' — why,
poor dear Kate ! she is as well-born as ourselves."

" But, auntie ! "

" Nonsense, my dear. Don't talk to me. Tou children
would find an excuse for anyone."

" It was only that I think he meant that she was not so
very well "

" Born ? Not so well-born as the rest of us ? Tou must
be mad Susan. A creature like Dr. Mulcahy to talk of
birth at all is absurd. Why his father was a draper in
Dublin. But that he should cavil at Kate Blake's birth is
outrageous. Why the Blakes — " She stops as if over-
come by wrath, find Dom takes up the parable.

" I thought you knew, Susan," says he, reproachfully,
but in a cautious tone, heard only by the youngsters of the
party; "that it was poor Miss Blake's forefather who

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 205

planted that tree of good and evil, over which Adam came
sucb a cropper."

Af^er this it is a relief to everybody when Miss Barry,
with a singularly brief ferewell to Crosby, betakes herself
to the house. It is quite as well she has gone so soon, as
Carew and Dominick were in the last stages of convulsive
laughter, and could not certainly have held out much
longer.

44 1 say, isn't Aunt Jemima a regular corker ?" says Dom,
presently — addressing everybody in general.

44 She didn't understand," says Susan, who feels a little
sorry that her aunt should appear in so poor a light before
a man like Crosby — who is, of course, accustomed to a
fashionable world and its ways.

44 1 think she has a very kind heart," says he, promptly,
seeing her distress and smothering the laughter that is con-
suming him. a Of course she had no idea that the doctor
was alluding to Miss Blake's state of health."

44 You knew," says Susan, with a touch of indignation,
turning to Carew. 4< Why didn't you make it clear to her? "

44 Why, indeed ? " retorts he. 44 You tried to do it, and
how did you come off? Catch me explaining her mistakes
to Aunt Jemima. More kicks than ha'pence for my pains."

Bonnie has come over to Susan, and casting his crutches
aside, has slipped into her arms, his head upon her knee.
A head that she strokes softly, softly, until, until at last the
little lad fells fast asleep.

44 He had such a bad night," says Susan, as Crosby now
comes up, and seats himself beside her. I

44 1 expect that means that you had a bad night too."

44 Oh, no," reddening. 44 1— I'm all right. But he "

44 It seems absurd," says Crosby, suddenly, 44 that a child
like that should be a prey to rheumatism. Are you sure
the doctors have told you all the truth ? "

44 1 think so."

44 But are they reliable authorities ? "

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206 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" I'm afraid bo," says Susan, sighing. " But," gently,
" don't let me trouble you with our sorrows. Tell me of
yourself. Your sister is coming, yon say."

" For my birthday. Yes, next month."

"Your birthday?"

" I told you, didn't If It will be in a few days now."
1 " A few days," Susan's voice is low as usual, but primed
with a curiosity that she has much difficulty in suppressing.

" The third of August. It always makes me feel like Ah
Sin, Bret Harte's Chinee — soft, you know. Eatherine is
coming for the great occasion. That's my sister's name,
Katherine. You will like her, I think."

" Is she like you f " asks Susan.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 207

CHAPTER XXX.

11 Ask not her name :
The light winds whisper it on every hand."

a Not a bit," says he, shaking his head. " Just the re-
verse. She is young and skittish, whilst I am old and dull."

" Not dull," says Susan.

44 Lazy then. That comes of age, too, you know."

44 You weren't too lazy to hunt the hens just now," says
Susan, as if combating some disagreeable remembrances.
44 And you weren't too lazy to mount a ladder a month or
so ago."

44 Ah I Susan. That's unkind. You shouldn't hold up
my past misdeeds to me. If you do, I'll hold up your in-
discretions to you. Your lengthened conversation with a
thief, for example. You know you did think me a thief
then."

Susan makes a gesture.

44 Oh, yes you did. There is no getting out of that. You
even made me promise never to steal again. And I haven't.
Not so much as the proverbial pin I That's good of me,
isn't it? Shows signs of grace, eh? Really, Susan, I
think you might say something. Give me one word of en-
couragement I But perhaps you don't believe in my refor-
mation ? I know ever since that day when I was stealing
the cherries you have had the lowest opinion of me."

44 1 wish you wouldn't talk like that," says Susan, her
charming brows drawing together, 44 it is very stupid of
you, and you know you don't mean a word of it. Stealing I
How could you steal your own cherries. What nonsense it
all is. If you have nothing better to say than that, you,"

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208 THE EROFESSO&S EXPERIMENT.

with a sudden and most unusual discourtesy, " had better
go away."

" Never 1 Wild horses wouldn't draw me from this," says
Crosby. "I'll say something * better 'at once. I'm sure
you have the highest opinion of me. Will that do? And
may I stay now ? "

Susan gives him a glance from under her long lashes, that
is still a little resentful — a very little — but she says nothing.

" Must I go then ? " says Crosby. " I wouldn't have be-
lieved it of you Susan, to send a poor lonely creature adrift
like this."

" You are not so very lonely," says she. She gives him
another lovely, half-angry glance.

" I am indeed. There is not a soul to speak to me when
I go back to my silent home. And hours must elapse be-
fore I can with any decency go to bed. Susan, be merci-
ful I Let me stay here, and talk to you of—" He stops.

"Of what!" says Susan, still eminently distrustful.
" What are you going to talk about ? That last thing "

" I'll never mention cherries again."

" You must keep to that. And now," lifting her face and
smiling at him in a little fugitive way, " Go on about your
sister. You haven't told me anything about her except her
name. Katherine, is it not ? "

" Katherine Forster."

"Mrs. Forster?"

" No. La4y Forster. She married one of the Forsters of
Berkshire. The eldest one, George Forster, is a very good
chap — you'll like him too."

Susan had grown thoughtful. Dim recollections of the
Forsters as being extraordinarily wealthy people, have come
home to her.

" I think I told you that Katherine is coming here to cele-
brate my birthday," says Crosby.

"Yes; but your birthday, when is it?" asks Susan,
anxious to know when these alarming visitors are to arrive.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 209

" The third of August. Didn't I tell you ? Katherine
likes to think she is coming here to do me honor on that
day — that's how she puts it in words. To turn my house
upside down, however, is what she really means. But I
submit. The old house will stand it. She isn't half bad,
really, and certainly not more than half mad. I think 1
told you, you would like her."

" Yes," says Susan, who has begun to quake at the
brother's description of his sister. "And she will be
here ? "

" In about ten days' time. George, that's her husband,
is a first-class shot, and this place has been pretty well pre-
served in spite of its absentee landlord ; I hope he will en-
joy himself. Katherine is bringing a lot of her friends
with her."

" Hers ? " Susan's tone is a little feint. If only this big
society dame's friends — what is going to happen? Mr.
Crosby is so kind that he will be sure to make his sister
ask her up to the hall. And how could she — Susan — hold
her own with these clever people of the world — people
who —

Crosby breaks into her silent fears.

" Hers principally. But some of them are mine too — in
a way I I really am so little at home that I haven't time
to cultivate lifelong friendships. But Lady Muriel Ken-
nedy I have known all my life — and liked. I hope " — sud-
denly — " when Katherine comes, you will spare her a little
of your time."

" You are very kind. If she would care to have me,"
falters Susan, disjointedly. Her eyes are on the ground.
To spare Lady Forster a little of her time ! As if Lady
Forster would even care to know her 1 How could she —
Susan — make herself at home with people like that —
people who had lived in fashionable circles all their days.
Frivolous people like Lady Forster, and lovely people like
Lady Muriel Kennedy — had he called Lady Muriel lovely f
14

dy Muriel lovely I

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210 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

"That is begging the question," says he, laughing.
" Who wouldn't care to have you ? How silent you are,
Susan. Not a word out of you ; I'll begin to think you
are in love presently. People in love are always silent —
dwelling on the beloved absent, no doubt."

41 1 am not in love," says Susan, with singular distinct-
ness.

" Not even with * James ? ' I forget his other name. He
would be a beloved absent — wouldn't he t "

" Absent or present he would not be beloved by me,"
says Susan, calmly. She pauses. Her head is slightly
turned from Crosby, so that only the perfect profile can be
seen. The fingers of her right hand are lying tenderly on
Bonnie's sleeping head. The fingers of the left are pluck*
ing idly at the grass by her side. All at once she turns
her glance straight on Crosby.

" Were you ever in love f " asks she.

" Susan," says Crosby seriously, " I don't think you
ought to spring things upon one like that. My heart may
be weak for all you know. And really I begin to think of
late that it is." He pauses ; Susan remaining sternly un-
sympathetic, however, over this leading speech, he goes on.
" What was your question ? " asks he.

This sounds like basest subterfuge, and Susan casts a
glance of scorn at him.

" I asked you if you had ever been in love. Please don't
answer if you don't want to. After all, I am sure I should
not have asked you."

" You can ask me anything you like," says Crosby with
resignation. " Yours is to command, mine to obey. Yes "
— comfortably if surreptitiously disposing himself on the
tail of Susan's gown — " I acknowledge it. I have had my
little disappointment. It was a frightful affair I I don't
believe anyone was ever so much in love as I was — then I
I was just twenty-one, and she was just — something or
other. It's bad to remember a lady's age.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 211

know I loved her — I loved her," says Crosby, rising now to
tragedy, " like anything ! I can't even at this hour speak
of it without tears 1 "

" Oh, nonsense, you're laughing," says Susan, with fine
disgust.

44 1 am not indeed. It is hysterics. If only you had gone
through half what I have, I might expect a little sympathy
from you. However, to continue : she was lovely, Susan ;
and she was tall. Taller than you. She had coal black
eyes, and a nose that I have always considered Roman. I
adored her. I used to walk about o' nights looking at the
moon (when there was one) and telling myself it was the
image of her."

44 The image of her. I must say I think you were hardly
complimentary," says Susan, who seems to be on the look-
out for slips. " There is nothing in the moon but a man,
and a hideous one too. Just like the clown at the circus."

44 True," reflectively. " Then it couldn't have been the
moon I compared her to. Perhaps," thoughtfully, " it was
a star. Ah I " joyfully, " that's it. My own particular
star. See?"

44 No," says Susan contemptuously, and then, " I don't
believe you ever compared her to anything."

44 1 did. I did, indeed. Even quite lately," says Crosby.
But this ambiguous speech receiving no recognition, he goes
on : " If, as your contemptuous silence evidently means,
Susan, you think me incapable of love, you are greatly in
the wrong. I assure you I did compare her to that star.
There was one special one ; but, somehow, I can't find it
lately. It must have been removed I think — and besides
the star I remember quite well being under an hallucina-
tion that led me to believe that the wettest day under
heaven was full of sunshine when she was present, and that
when she wasn't present, no matter how brilliant the sky
might be, that the sun never shone. Come, now, Susan !
Be just I That was real love, wasn't it 1 "

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212 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 I really don't know," says Susan. There is a slight
pause. Then " go on."

44 Go on ? "

"Did she die?"

"Die? Not much," says Crosby, cheerfully. "Though of
course," relapsing into very suspicious gloom, " she was dead
to me. She," with deep melancholy, " thought I couldn't
furnish a house up to her form, so she threw me over."

" What an odious girl," says Susan. For the first time
a spark of sorrow for him lights her eyes. She flushes
softly with most genuine indignation. Crosby looks at her.

44 She was a very pretty girl," says he.

44 For all that," quickly, ** you must hate her."

44 On the contrary, I think I love her."

"Still?"

Susan's face grows disdainful.

44 Even more than ever I did."

44 You are very constant."

44 That's the first compliment you ever paid me. But to
end my tale— I saw her in town last March."

44 Tes ? " Susan has lifted her flower-like face, and is
gazing at him.

44 You met her ? And she — she . • ."

44 Was a widow "

44 A widow — and so you and she ... It is quite a
romance I " says Susan, in her soft voice ; speaking hur-
riedly, almost stammering indeed in what is perhaps her
joyful excitement over this beautiful ending to a sad love
story. " And she was as beautiful as ever."

44 Well hardly," said Crosby, slowly, as if recalling a late
picture to mind. " She is now, I am sorry to say, all
angles. She was once plump. Her nose struck me as any-
thing but Roman now, and her eyes were blacker than ever
— I wonder who blacks them 1 "

44 Yet when you saw her — you must have thought of the
past. You must hav e ■"

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 213

" You are quite right, I thought strongly of the past. I
thought of nothing else. I said to myself, ' At this mo-
ment this woman might have been your wife, but for — ' — I
forget the rest — I — believe I fainted. When I recovered I
knew I loved her, as I had never loved her before. She
had refused me I "

" I suppose that's what people call cynicism," says Su-
san, regarding him with open distrust.

44 I don't know what any other fellow would call it," says
Crosby, mildly. " I only know that I call it a blessed re-
lief. I felt quite kindly towards her, and went forthwith
and bought her tickets for something or other, and sent
them to her with a line saying I was going to Africa for
ten years. But there's no more animosity. I look upon
her now as a woman who has done me a really good turn."

" I don't think," says Susan, with sweet seriousness,
" that you ought to speak of her like that. I dare say she
was really very fond of you, but if you were both very poor
how could you be married ? "

44 Is that the view you take of it f " says Crosby. 4< What
a mercenary one. And from a child like you. Susan I I'm
ashamed of you I"

44 Oh, no, you know what I m^an," says Susan, blushing
divinely whilst making her defence. " There might be un-
kind people behind her, you know, forbidding her to marry
you."

Crosby stops, and his thoughts run swift to the mysteri-
ous u James." Were there unkind people behind her, when
that gallant youth declared his passion t

44 Might there t And if there were, should she listen do
you think t "

44 Ah ! some would ! " says Susan, speaking out of the
great wealth of worldly lore that can be gathered from
eighteen years of life. " But others," thoughtfully,
44 wouldn't."

44 To which section do you belong 1 "

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214 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" Oh, me ; I don't know," says Susan, growing suddenly
very shy. " I shouldn't do anything — I — I should wait."

" Would you ? " says Crosby. There is something in the
girl's soft young face, now lowered and turned from him, so
full of gentle strength that he wonders at it. Yes, she
would wait for her lad : " Though father, an' mither, an' a'
should go mad." Is she waiting for James ?

" I'm afraid after all I must destroy your illusion," says
he, presently. " I don't think she could have been in love
with me. Not overpoweringly, I mean. She had a little
money of her own, and I had a little of mine, so that we
should not have been altogether paupers. But she was
dreadfully addicted to diamonds and man milliners, and
bibelots of all kinds. I have other reasons, too, Susan, for
thinking she did not really love me. She never gave me a
keepsake 1 Now you — you have had a keepsake."

" Mr. Crosby ! " Susan's face is crimson. " I wish "

" I know. I beg your pardon. Of course I should not
have mentioned it. But you and I are old friends now, Su-
san, and somehow it is permissible for me to confide to you
the hollow fact that no one ever gave me a silver brooch,
with "

Susan lifts Bonnie's head gently, and shows a dignified,
but most determined, desire to rise.

" Don't," says Crosby, quickly. " You'll wake him."
He points to Bonnie's lovely little head, and Susan pauses
in her flight. " Besides I shan't say another word — not
one I I swear it. What I really wanted was your compas-
sion. I have never had a keepsake given me in all my life,
save one."

" Surely one is enough," says Susan, slowly. Curiosity
after a moment overcomes her dignity, and she says unwill-
ingly, " Is it a nice one f "

" I desire no nicer," says he. He pulls his watch from
his pocket, and on the chain close to it — on a tiny silver
ring of its own — hangs a silver sixpence.

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THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 215

" That I Only a sixpence ! " Susan's voice is rather un-
certain. What a sixpence is that ? She — she didn't — " Of
coarse," says she, " I know a broken sixpence is a very
usual thing between lovers. But this — It is not broken,
and — and not old either. I must say when she gave you a
keepsake she—"

" She hardly gave it," says Crosby. " She only laid it
on the last rung of a ladder that led up to some "

That sentence is never finished ! Bonnie's head is now
lying on Susan's rug. But Susan herself is already far
over there, her head very high indeed and her rage and her
indignation even higher.

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316 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXXI.

41 My love is like the sky :
As distant and as high.
Perchance she's fair and kind and bright,
Perchance she's stormy, tearful quite—
Alas ! I scarce know why."

Is this Susan t

Crosby, standing at the little gate leading into the rec-
tory garden, feels a spasm of doubt. He has come down
this morning to make it up with her, as the children say,
after that slight quarrel of y ester eve, a quarrel that was all
on her side. Her remorseless refusal to bid him good-bye
had left him a little desolate.

Is that really the sedate Susan — that slender nymph fly-
ing over there in the distance, racing rather — with Tommy,
as a willing prey, running before her.

Crosby has through time grown accustomed to think of
Susan as a demure maiden, slightly puritan in type,
though no doubt with a latent wilfulness lying beneath the
calm exterior. But now that the latent wilfulness has
broken loose he finds himself unprepared for it. Susan
running there in the sunshine, with her hair apparently just
out of the tub, and hardly yet dry, floating behind her, is
another creature altogether. And such hair, too. Such
; glorious waves on waves glinting golden in the sun's bright
rays, with Susan's face peeping out of it now and then.
How wild, how mad, how soft the bright hair looks, and
how sweet are the ringing cries that come from Susan's
parted lips.

" The bear has you, Tommy 1 He's coming. He " —
making a dab at the excited Tommy — " will have you soon.
In another moment he'll be on you. Tearing you "

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 217

Quite a sprint here on the part of Tommy, and increased
speed accordingly on Susan's part. "And his claws are
sharp. Sharp 1 "

Tommy in his flight turns terrified eyes on Susan over
his shoulder.

" Oh, Susan don't, don't I " shrieks he, filled with joy and
terror. The terror constitutes three-fourths of the joy.
And now he flies again for his life, the deadly hear, the
ruthless pursuer, dashing after him, with relentless energy.

Crosby watching, tells himself with a somewhat grim
smile that it is Tommy alone who would flee from such a
delightful enemy. Perhaps his thoughts are touched with
a tinge of disappointment at finding Susan in this mad
mood. Yesterday she had seemed to him angered and dis-
turbed when she left him so abruptly, and he had gone
home with a growing sense of contrition strong upon him.
It had been strong enough to bring him down this morning
with half a dozen apologies — to find that she has forgotten
all about this offence and — him !

Here lies the real thing. The Susan he had imagined as
being a little out of joint with her world— just a very little
daintily offended with him — is not the Susan who is here
now, and who is running round the garden in merry pursuit
of her little brother, with her eyes gleaming like diamonds,
and evidently as gay as a lark I

She is close on Tommy now. She has put out a hand to
grasp him, but Tommy is full of enterprise, doubles like a
hare, and is now rushing frantically towards the gate on
which Crosby is leaning.

This brings Susan, who is still in hot pursuit of him with
her face towards Crosby. Now more distinctly he can see
her. What a lovely — perfect — child — she is. With her
loose hair floating behind her, like that of the Immortal
" Damosel," and the little soft gasping laughs coming from
her open lips. " Joie de vivre " is written in every line of
her fece — and every curve of her lissome body. ^

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218 THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT.

All at once, even as he watches her, this joy dies out of
her face. " She has seen me," says Crosby to himself and
forthwith he opens the gate and advances towards her.
Tommy in his race has reached him, and now breathless
flings himself into his arms turning to look with affected
fright at the coming of Susan.

It is a very slow coming, and has evidently something to
do with her hair — as can be seen through the branches of a
big escaliona, on Crosby's left. He determined to give her
time to struggle with that beautiful hair. " Tommy, you
ought to fall on the gravel and embrace your preserver's
knees," says he, " I have evidently saved you from an un-
timely death, if all I heard was true. I think, however,
that you might have warned me that bears were about."

He is quite conscious whilst speaking, that Susan is still
making frantic, but ineffectual efforts to do up her hair, so
he goes on, " Where's your particular bear ? " asks he.

44 Here I " says Susan, as she steps in the most unexpected
fashion from behind the tree; he can see that she is greatly
disconcerted, and that she would never have come from be-
hind it, if remaining there was any longer possible. But
she had seen and heard him, as he had seen and heard her !

She advances now, her expression cold and unkindly, and
her hands still struggling with her hair, in her desire to
reduce it to some sort of reason.

44 Why trouble yourself about it," says Crosby, " It is
the prettiest thing I ever saw, as it is."

44 It is not pretty to me," says Susan, crushingly. Her
arms are still above her head, and as she speaks to him she
weaves into a superb coil the loose strands of her soft hair.
In spite of this, however, the little locks around her brows,
loosened and softened by the late washing, are straying
wildly, flying here and there of their own sweet will, and
making an aureole round Susan's head, out of which her
eyes gleam at Crosby with anything but friendship in them.

44 How d'ye do f " says he, blandly.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 319

"How d'ye do?" says Susan in return. She lets her
hand rest in his for the barest moment, then withdraws it.

Crosby regards her reproachfully. " You are angry with
me still," says he. " And after a whole night of reflec-
tion."

" I am not angry at all," says Susan. " Why should you
think so?"

" Yes, you are," says Crosby. " I can see it in your
eyes. Your very hair is bristly. And all because — " He
stopped as if afraid to go on.

" Because what ? " asks Susan, with a touch of severity.

" Because I once got sixpence out of you ! " He is not
able to resist it.

" Tommy," says Susan. " Your collar is dirty, and you
must come back to the house with me to get another." As
she speaks she catches Tommy, who has not yet got to the
years of civilization, and who hates clean collars, and pre-
pares to march him off.

" Tommy," says Mr. Crosby ; " wait a minute ; your
sister won't — but perhaps you will. There is a photog-
rapher in town to-day — he has come down from Dublin.
And your aunt says she would like to have some of you
photographed." Here there is a distinct slowing in Susan's
march past, though she disdains to turn her head, or show
further mark of interest. " Don't you want to be photo-
graphed, Tommy f I do badly."

" What is it f " asks Tommy, whose views of amusement
as a rule mean lollipops and those only, and who has no
knowledge of cameras or kodaks.

" It's painful as a rule," says Crosby. " But children
seldon) suffer. It's only people of my age, who come out
with their noses twisted. Did you ever have your nose
twisted, Tommy f It hurts awfully, I can tell you. But,"
with a glance at Susan, " other things hurt worse. You
ought to speak to Susan, Tommy. To tell her that pro-
longed cruelty sometimes ends in the death of the victim."

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220 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

At this Susan feces round. " What I think is," says
she, " that you ought to give me back that horrid six-
pence."

" It isn't horrid."

^ You should give it back at all events."

" Oh, Susan — anything but that. My life even."

" What," with mounting indignation, " can you want it
for ? Except to annoy me."

" Is thy servant a slave ? I want it as a memento of the
only occasion on record on which I was called a * kind —
kind man, 1 and a ' good ' and an * honest ' one besides.
You did call me all that, Susan. And yet now "

Heaven alone knows what would have been the end of all
this, but for the providential appearance of Miss Barry and
Betty upon the scene.

"My dear Susan, have you heard? But, of course, Mr.
Crosby has told you. Good gracious, what is the matter
with your head child ? "

And, indeed, Susan's hair had again found freedom, and
is flowing down her back in happy shining waves.

" I have just washed it," says Susan, shamefacedly.

" An admirable deed," says Miss Barry, who is in too
great a state of delight to lecture with her usual fluency,
and who indeed feels inclined to be lenient. "But you
should not come into publicity, my dear child, until it is dry
and carefully dressed again. However," beaming upon
Crosby, who begins to quite like her, " youth will be youth,
you know ! And what do you think, Susan ; there is a
man down from the best photographer in Dublin. From
Chancellor, I believe. And I am thinking of having our
pictures taken, if only to send some copies to your uncle in
Australia — my only brother, you know, my dear. He will
be so pleased to get them, and, really, it is a grand oppor-
tunity. Of course you, Mr. Crosby, have had yours taken
in every quarter of the globe, but we country mice seldom
get the chance of seeing ourselves as others see us."

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THE PEOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT 221

14 1 haven't been photographed for quite ten years," says
Crosby, " and I feel now as if it were my duty to sit again.
Miss Barry, if you are going to be photographed to-day
will you take me under your wing ?"

" I shall be pleased indeed," says Miss Barry, with much
dignity.

44 Won't it be fun," cries Betty, clapping her hands.

44 And the hour ? " asks Crosby.

44 About two. What do you think, Susan ? Two would
be a good hour, eh ? "

44 Yes, a good hour," says Susan, without interest.
Then, suddenly, " Is — are you going to have Bonnie
taken?"

44 My dear Susan ! " Miss Barry flushes the dull pink of
the old when shamed. " Why should we send all our
pictures to your uncle at once ? It — it would probably
confuse him. Another time we may think of that," says
Miss Barry, who has counted up all her available shillings
this morning to see if it would be possible to send all the
children, but had found they fell decidedly short. She
would have died, however, rather than confess this to a
stranger. 44 Just mine and yours, and — but I am afraid
your father will never consent to be taken — and Betty's and
Carew's — just the eldest ones. You can see, Mr. Crosby,
that just the eldest ones will be those most acceptable to
their uncle."

44 Yes, I see," says Crosby. He had seen it all, indeed.
As if in a dream Miss Barry's purse has been laid open to
him and the contents made bare. The two shillings for
herself, and the two for Susan, and for Betty and for
Carew, eight shillings in all, and, after that, nothing ! He
has seen too the pride of the poor lady, who would not ac-
knowledge the want of means wherewith to provide photos
of the younger children for their uncle abroad, but put her
objection to their being taken on the grounds of their youth.
He bad seen, too, Susan's face as she heard that Bonnie was

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222 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

not to be taken. Oh, the quick, pained, disappointment of
it!

" At two then," says he, " we shall meet at the photog-
rapher's."

" Yes. Two sharp," says Miss Barry, who seems quite
excited. " Susan, I think I shall wear my new lace cap."

" I think you ought to wear your hair just as it is now,"
says Crosby to Susan in a low tone, as he bids her good-
bye. It is impossible for her to reftise him her hand with
her aunt looking on, and though Crosby is aware of this it
is, to his shame I confess, that he takes it and holds it in a
warm clasp before he lets it go.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 223

CHAPTER XXXII.

* But I know best where wringeth me my shoe."

" Betty, was I looking frightful ? " asks Susan, drawing
her sister away as soon as Crosby is out of sight. " Tell
me quite the truth. Don't gloss things over just to please
me."

"I won't," say 8 Betty, giggling. "I'll be as honest as
the sun. Tou looked," pausing wickedly, " something be-
tween Meg Merrilees and a wild Indian, with a bias towards
the latter. But that needn't put you out. He's accus-
tomed to wild Indians. And when one has lived with
people fifty years or so, one gets to admire them. I
shouldn't wonder if he admired you. Tou must have taken
him back to the good old days. Why didn't you sing,
4 Way down upon the Swannee Riber ' for him ? That
would have finished the conquest."

" You don't seem to know what wild Indians are," Susan
remonstrates, calmly. " They live in North America, and
couldn't sing a nigger song to save their lives. Tou don't
seem to know either that it was in Africa that Mr. Crosby
spent* most of his time, and that the blacks there aren't nig-
gers at all."

" Oh, it's all the same," says Betty, airily. " A black's a
black for a' that. And if they don't sing one thing they
sing another. And anyway, I could see by the gleam in
Mr. Crosby's eye as he looked at you, and your flowing
locks, that he loves wildness in every form."

Susan is silent for a time then.

" Betty," in a low tone, " how old do you think he is ? "

" I don't think he has beaten Metbusaleh yet, if you mean
that"

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224 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 No, but really I mean how old, eh ? "

44 Well," carefully, " allowing him the fifty years he spent
with his blacks, and the fact that he told us that he started
at twenty-three on an adventurous career, he must be now
well into the seventies."

Susan's laugh — so evidently expected here — sounds to
herself a little forced, though why she could not have ex-
plained.

44 Oh ! not so old as that."

" Well, perhaps not, by a year or so," says Betty, as if
determined on being absolutely fair and accurate to a frac-
tion.

" Do you know," says Susan, a little reluctantly, but as
though she must say it, " 1 — of course I know he is ever so
much older than any of us, but for all that, somehow, he
doesn't seem to me to be — well — old you know ? "

Betty nods, and Susan encouraged by this treacherous
sign, rashly takes a further step.

44 It has even sometimes seemed to me," says she, nerv-
ously, " that he is quite young."

44 That reminds me of something I read this morning,"
says Betty, who is beginning to enjoy herself. 4< It ran like
this. 4 On the whole I consider him one of the youngest
men of my acquaintance.' "

44 Where did you read that ? " asks Susan, with open sus-
picion.

44 In a book," smartly.

44 Well, I suppose so. And what book, and who said it ? "

44 A frisky duchess."

44 She was young, of course ? "

44 Not very I " Betty grins. 44 Eighty-two or there-
abouts."

44 Oh, well, then, no doubt she was alluding to a mere boy
of her acquaintance."

" Not at all ! To another frisky person of the opposite
sex. A young thing of one hundred and five, or so."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 226

" What do you mean, Betty ? You don't suppose that
Mr. Crosby is a hundred and five or so ? "

" I don't indeed. I put him in the seventies, if you re-
member. That would make him quite a babe to the duchess
I speak of. She said her centenarian had the brightest,
the most engaging manners, and of course that reminded
me of Mr. Cros . Where are you going now, Susan ? "

" I want to put fresh cuffs on Bonnie's shirts, 1 ' says Su-
san. Her tone is a little reserved, and there is a deepening
of dignity in the delicate lightness of her steps as she turns
away that tells Betty she is in some way offended.

Betty stricken, but with a conscience clear, runs after her
and tucks her arm into hers.

" Have I vexed you ? " asks she.

" Vexed me 1 " Susan's tone is rather exaggerated.
" No. How could you have vexed me ? "

" That's true," says Betty, comfortably, who never gets
deeper than the actual moment. "Then I'll come with
you."

" But why should I bring you in 1 " asks Susan, who has
a new queer fancy to be alone.

11 To do your hair for one thing," says the tease of the
family, with delightful " bonhomie." " Really, Susan, you
can't appear in public like this twice. And you know we
are going to be photographed in — what is the hour now ?
Good gracious, it's growing very late. We must run. Bon-
nie's shirts can't be done to-day. But I'll help you with
them to-morrow. Oh I there's, auntie— "

" Susan, you must make haste," cries Miss Barry, hurry-
ing round the corner. " There is no time to be lost. And,
my dear, your hair ! How fortunate you washed it to-day I
— when neatly done up it will look beautiful! Betty, I
have been thinking of having you taken with your hat on.
Your best hat "

" Oh, auntie," says poor Betty.

" No — well — perhaps not. What do you think, Susan J "

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226 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" I think she would look nicer without it," says Susan, in
answer to an agonized glance from Betty. " And you,
auntie? 1 think we ought to put a fresh bow in your cap.
That side one is always falling down. You have a little bit
of ribbon, haven't you ? "

" Yes, I think so — in the top drawer," says Miss Barry.
" Susan," suddenly, " how could you ask such an uncom-
fortable question before Mr. Crosby I "

" What question ? " asks Susan, turning very red.

" Why — as to whether I was going to have Bonnie pho-
tographed. I was quite taken aback," says Miss Barry,
shaking her curls, " And, indeed, it was only the natural
4 savoir faire ' that belongs to me " — to give Miss Barry's
Parisian accent would pass the wit of man — " that enabled
me to conquer the situation. You might be quite sure Su-
san that if I had the money, Bonnie, and Tommy too,
should have been sent to their dear uncle."

" I see, Auntie. I am sorry," says Susan, with honest
deep regret.

" I suppose," say 8 Miss Barry, with the air of one ad-
dressing a forlorn hope, " that you and Betty have noth-
ing?"

It is plain that the poor lady had set her heart originally
on having a u full set " to send to the uncle abroad, but
that reasons, financial, had crushed her hopes.

" I have only sixpence," says Susan, sadly. " You,
Betty?"

" I spent the twopence I had, yesterday," says Betty,
" on hairpins."

" Hairpins I " cries Miss Barry, indignantly, " And your
hair not up yet I "

" They were for Susan," explains Betty, angrily, who had
indeed bought them for Susan, but who, nevertheless, had
spent an enjoyable hour with them, doing up her own hair,
and seeing how she would look next year, when " grown
up,"

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 227

" Well, that's the end of it," says Miss Barry, with the
courage of despair. " I certainly won't ask your father for
a penny, as I know he hasn't one to spare this month ; and,
indeed," sighing, " I only hope that those reports about
that bank in Scotland are untrue. It is in that he has in-
vested the five hundred pounds he has laid aside for Carew
— for his crammer, you know, and his outfit, and all the
rest of it. I daresay the scare will come to nothing, but at
all events he is a little pressed just now, so that for a mere
luxury like this, I think we had better not ask him for any-
thing."

" Of course not," says Susan. " But Auntie," slowly,
and a little nervously, " would you mind very much if— if
Bonnie had his picture taken, instead of me. I have al-
ways so longed for one of his. He is so delicate, and "

She stops suddenly, a terrible feeling in her throat forbid-
ding another word.

" My dear Susan I And you the eldest I Why, it would
be quite an insult to your dear uncle. No, no," says Miss
Barry, " we must depend upon another time to get Bonnie
and Tom taken."

Susan turns away. Will there ever be " another time "
for Bonnie ? So frail in the warm summer-time — how will
it be with him when the snows and the frosts set in ?

" At all events I think I will take him down with me to
see the rest of us taken," she says presently, in a depressed
voice. " It will amuse and interest him. You know how
clever he is."

" Yes, by all means, and I'll take Tommy," says Betty.
" Though goodness knows if after that we shall any of us
come out alive."

Susan has started very early (it is only ten minutes after
one), so as to give Bonnie plenty of time to get down to the
village without fatigue. Miss Ricketty will give him a seat
in her place— a penny out of the last sixpence will buy him

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228 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

a cake or some sweets, and then with a little rest he can
easily go on to the room rented to the photographer by Mr.
Salter, the hardware Methodist

She has now reached Miss Ricketty's, and has been wel-
comed by that excellent if slightly eccentric spinster with
open arms. Bonnie is literally in her arms — and now is
esconced in the cosiest corner of this cosy little shop, be-
hind the tiny gateway. Indeed, Miss Ricketty is prepar-
ing in a surreptitious manner to bring down a jar of un-
speakably beautiful bull's-eyes for Bonnie's delectation,
when Susan intervenes.

" No. No, indeed, dear Miss Ricketty. He has a penny
of his own to-day. And he loves buying. Don't you, Bon-
nie. Another day — perhaps. And I think a cake would
be better for him, don't you? You would rather have a
Queen cake, Bonnie, darling, wouldn't you ? " appealingly.

" Yes," says Bonnie, out of the sweetness of his nature,
seeing she desires it, though his soft eyes are dwelling on
the lollipops. But that he can't have both is a foregone
conclusion, as Susan tells herself with a sigh. The remain-
ing flvepence will have to do many things until next week,
when father will give her. her tiny weekly allowance again.
Besides, a cake is ever so much better for him than bull's-
eyes. Thus Susan consoles herself.

"Are you goin' to be took, Miss Susan?" asks Miss
Ricketty, settling herself, as she calls it, for a good chat.

Susan laughs.

" Not by the sergeant, anyway," says she.

" Ah ! ye will have yer joke now. An' sure I'm a silly
old fool. But ye're goin' to have yer picture done, aren't
ye. Fegs, 'twould be a shame if ye didn't. 'Tis a mighty
purty picture would be lost to the world if you held back.
Why all the world is crowdin' to that man's door. I saw
Lady Millbank go in just now v An' at her time o' life !
Law, the vanity o' some folk 1 D'ye know what me brother
said to me to-day ? "

• ■ *

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 229

" What ? " asks Susan, who is growing interested.

" Whether I wouldn't like to see me own face on a card.
An' I tould him as I had seen it for sixty years in alookin'
glass, an' that was good enough for me."

" But, Miss Ricketty," says Susan, seeing with her deli-
cate sense of sympathy beneath the veil that conceals Miss
Ricketty's real desire to be " seen on a card," a why not be
taken ? It would not give you pleasure perhaps, but see
what pleasure it would give to others. And as for me, I
should love a photograph of you."

" Oh now, Miss Susan I Sure ye know, ye wouldn't care
for a picture of the likes of me."

" I should like it more than I can say," says Susan.
" Miss Ricketty," with pretty entreaty, " you really must
make up your mind to it."

"Well, 111 be thinkin', I'll be thinkin'," says Miss
Ricketty, who is all agog with excitement and flattery.

44 1 suppose Miss Susan, dear, that shawl they sent me,
from America would be too bright ? "

44 The very thing," says Susan. "It would be lovely.
And your people in America will certainly recognize it, and
it will give them great pleasure to know that you treasured
it so highly."

41 There's a lot in that," says Miss Ricketty, musing —
she muses considerably. " Well perhaps," here she pauses
again. " It may be," says she at last. She might, per-
haps, have condescended to explain this last oracular speech
but that her bright eye catches sight of three young ladies
going past her window.

44 There they go 1 There they gol Look at them, Miss
Susan, my dear ! Did ye ever see such quare crathures ?
May the Vargin give them sense ! Look at their hats ; an'
the strut o' them ! They've a power o' money, I'm tould.
4 Articles of Virtue ' Mr. Connor called them the last day
he was in here ; but faith, where the virtue comes in — they
do say — But that's not talk for the likes c^ypu^or me dear.

230 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

But tell me, now, Miss Susan, what of Mr. Crosby. I've
heard that he — oh, murdher I talk of the divil — "

Miss Ricketty retires behind a huge jar of sweets as
Crosby comes into the shop.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 331

CHAPTER XXXIIL

"Bead in Seneo, and read eke in Boeoe,
There shall ye see express, that it no drede is.
That he is gentle that doth gentle deedes."

Cbosbt looks a little surprised at finding Susan here.

tt How d'ye do," again says he.

Susan without enthusiasm gives him her band. She is
busy wondering what could have brought him in here of all
places. Fond of chocolates, perhaps.

44 Why, there you are, Bonnie," says Mr. Crosby gaily.
" No wonder I didn't see you in that nice big chair. How
d'ye do, 'Miss Ricketty. I hope you have been behaving
yourself properly since last I saw you."

" Oh ! Mr. Crosby." The old maid shakes her head at
him with delight.

" No fresh flirtations, I trust."

" Oh ! hear to him ! " — Miss Ricketty is laughing like a
girl.

14 And how is the giant ? "

44 Me brother is very well, thank you, sir. An' he wants
to see ye badly about that cricket match in the Park.
They say that Tim Murphy is goin' to be very throuble-
some over it."

44 Not a bit of it. Tell your brother that I've squared
the militant Tim, and that he will turn up all right.
What charming sweets, Bonnie 1 I love sweets. Don't
you ? "

He has made a sign to Miss Ricketty, who is now making
up a splendid parcel.

44 Bonnie has had a cake," says Susan. She would have

said a great deal more if Tommy had been in question. In-
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232 TBE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

deed, then she would have refused distinctly, but Bonnie's
little lovely smiling face, and the joy she knows it will give
the gentle child to share Mr. Crosby's gift with his little
brother, stops her. She says nothing more, though it is
actual pain to her to have to accept these sweets for her
brother from Crosby. It is a debt she owes to Bonnie to
suffer thus. But then, what does she not owe Bonnie ?

" 4 L'appetit vient. en mangeant,' " says Crosby, " Miss
Ricketty, don't be in such a hurry to tie up that parcel.
Bonnie and I want something out of it first." He puts a
delightful box of chocolate creams on Bonnie's knee as he
speaks, then turns to Susan.

" I suppose I daren't offer you anything," says he, in a
low tone. Miss Ricketty becomes at once absorbed in a
bottle of bull's-eyes."

" No," says Susan, gently, " thank you."

" Not even an apology ? "

Susan glances quickly at him, and then hesitates. Per-
haps she would have said something, but at this moment
Miss Barry, with Betty and Dom and Carew enter the shop.

" We saw you through the window," cries Betty, and
suddenly Susan's thoughts run riot. Had he seen her
through the window ? " And so we came in. We must
hurry, Susan, all the world is going to have its picture
taken. Even Lady Millbank ; though goodness alone knows
why. And such a guy as she looks in that velvet mantle,
that heavy thing "

" A regular over-mantle," says Dom.

" Bless me," says Miss Barry, suddenly, breaking off her
conversation with Miss Ricketty over the proper treatment
of young fowl when they come to be three months old.
" Susan, you and Betty are wearing the same frocks."

" Yes, it was I who arranged that," says Betty, calmly.
" In some way, Susan and I have never worn these frocks
together before, and 1 have heard that those old Murphy
iris—"

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 233

"Not the Murphys, Betty. The Stauntons," says
Susan.

44 It doesn't matter, they are all old. maids alike," says
Betty, lightly. ** Anyway, I have heard that some of the
weird women of Curraghcloyne have said that we were short
of clothes, because Susan and I had only one dress between
us. This," smoothing down her pretty serge frock, " is the
one in question. So I'm going to be photographed with
Susan in it, if only to upset their theories, and give them
some bad half hours with their cronies — cronies never spare
one."

a You and Susan are going to be photographed together,"
says Miss Barry, who is getting a stormy look in her eyes,
" You will not then be taken separately ? "

" Oh, yes," says Betty, airily. " Separately too. I hate
double pictures as a rule, but when duty calls — "

Miss Barry is now making wild, pantomimic signs to
Susan. " Stop her I " her lips are saying. " Stop her at all
risks, or we shall be eternally disgraced."

And indeed, the poor lady had not another penny to
spend beyond what she had already arranged for. If this
double picture that the rash and reckless Betty speaks of
becomes an accomplished fact, who is to pay tot it ? Not
Miss Barry certainly, because she has nothing 7/ith which
to pay. And naturally the photographer will demand his
just fees, and then all will come out, and —

She is on the point of appealing to Miss IUcketty when
Pom nudges her.

44 It's all right," whispers he. " I have enough for that.
I've settled it with Betty."

Miss Barry gives him a grateful look, greatly inter-
spersed with rebuke. Such a throwing away of good
money. As if that conceited child could not be satisfied
with one representation of her face. She must really speak
to Dom about his folly, later — a little later on.

It doesn't seem folly at all to Dominick, who

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234 TBE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

generous youth, if extravagant — and who would give a
great deal more to this photographic business if it was in
his power. But a great deal has been spent of late on
cartridges for the murdering of Mr. Crosby's rabbits, so
much indeed that cigarettes have grown scarce, and pipes a
luxury, spite of even the small sums that Carew has thrown
into the common fund. Carew has generally a shilling or
two in his pockets, the Rector deeming it advisable to give
to his eldest son, out of his terribly inadequate income, a
certain amount of pocket money, to prepare him for the
time when he will be thrown on his own resources ; to teach
him to economize now, so that when he is gazetted and has
to rely on his own slender allowance, he will be able to un-
derstand how to make money go as far as it can.

All through the boy's educational course, he had felt it a
sort of madness to put him into the army at all. A boy
who must necessarily live entirely on his pay — a forlorn
arrangement in these fast days, and one out of which only
ten per cent, rise successfully. But the last wish of his
dying wife had been that Carew should enter the army.
She had come of a good fighting stock herself, poor soul, to
which she remained faithful, having fought her own fight
with poverty most bravely until she died ; and the Rector,
who had cared less and less for earthly things since she
had gone to Heaven, had not the heart or the strength to
refuse that dying wish.

" You're sure you have it J " whispers back Miss Barry
to Dom.

"Certain!"

" Then I " sharply, " it would have been much more to
your credit if you had kept it I "

" To my credit, yes ! " says Dom.

" A more disgraceful display of extravagance Miss

Barry, either from the forced whispering, or indignation,
here grows hoarse, and coughs a little, whereupon Miss
Ricketty, who is now intensely interested, and is listening

THE PEOFESSO&S EXPERIMENT. 235

with all her might, holds out to her a jar of jujubes. But
Miss Barry waves them off.

" I suppose it is the last penny ? " asks she, still address-
ing Dom in a whisper, but with a magisterial air.

" Yes — nearly," says he.

The "nearly" is a concession to the truth. He has in-
deed three, shillings left out of his monthly allowance, but
these are already accounted for. They are to buy three
copies of Betty for his own special apartment. One to be
hung up over his gun, one over his bookcase, and one over
his study table.

" Thatfs the one youTl never see," Betty had said to him,
tauntingly, and most ungratefully, when he told her of the
decision he had come to about his last three shillings.

Miss Barry, now turning away from him with a heart
decidedly heavy, directs her conversational powers on
Crosby.

" I congratulate you on being in good time," says she.
" When Betty and I started we had great trouble in getting
Carew and Dominick to come with us. They were dread-
fully late, and we said then, Betty and I, that you would
surely be late. But you," smiling and wagging her curls,
" have behaved splendidly. I do appreciate a young man
who can be punctual."

Susan glances quickly at her. "Young man ! " Is she
in earnest, and after all that Betty had said?

"Young man." Is he a young man? Well, she has
often thought so— she had even told Betty so — here she
glances at Betty, but Betty is now enjoying a word to word
dispute with Dominick.

Anyway she had told her. But Betty — what does she
know? She has declared a man once over thirty, old.
But Aunt Jemima thinks otherwise. And really when one
comes to think of it, Aunt Jemima — at times — is very
clever I Almost deep, indeed ! And certainly very clever
in her conclusions.

£36 THE PMOFESSO&'S EXPERIMENT.

44 Look, there are the Blakes coming out," cries Betty
suddenly, who is standing on tiptoe at the window, which
commands a fine view of the entrance to the photographer's.
" Auntie — Susan — let us go, before any other people come."

With this they all in' a body cross the road, Carew having
caught up Bonnie, who is all eagerness to see this wonder-
ful thing that will put Susan's face on paper.

Upstairs they marched in a body, to find themselves
presently in a most evil smelling corridor, out of which the
studio opens. Here they wait perforce, until at last the
studio door opens and some people of the farming class,
and very flurried and flushed, walk nervously down the
little lane between them.

44 Now is your time I " says Betty, who is really quite
irrepressible to-day. She takes the lead, and they all
swarm after her into the studio to find there an emaciated
man in highly respectable clothes regarding them with a
melancholy eye. Collodion seems to have saturated him.

" Aunt Jemima, you first," says Susan.

" Yes, certainly," says Dom. " First come first served.
And you know in spite of Betty's well-meant endeavors,
you entered the room first."

" Besides which it is the part of the young to give way
to their elders," says Miss Barry, striving to keep up her
dignity whilst dying with terror. The photographer and
the great big thing over there with dingy velvet cloth over
it has subdued her almost out of recognition.

44 Now auntie, come on. He's looking at you." " He "
is the photographer, who has now indeed turned a lack*
lustre eye on Miss Barry.

44 We are rather pressed for time," says he in a lugubri-
ous tone. " Which lady wishes to be taken first J "

44 Answer him, auntie," says Susan.

44 What impertinence I Hurrying us like this," says Miss
Barry. She has recovered something of her old courage
now, though still being frightened, and turns a freezing eye

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 237

upon the photographer, who is so accustomed to all sorts
of eyes, that it fails to affect him in any way.

" Really, auntie, you ought to have yours taken first,"
says Dominick, seriously ; " and as soon as possible.
There's murder in that man's eye. Don't incense him far-
ther."

The photographer is now standing in an adamantine at-
titude, but his eye entreating cries, " Come on, come on."

But no one stirs.

" A most insolent creature," says Miss Barry, who has
unfortunately taken a dislike to him. " Look at him, one
Would think we had to have our pictures taken by law
rather than by choice. Susan, did you ever see so villain-
ous a countenance. No, my dear, I — I really feel — I
couldn't have my picture sent to your uncle if taken by an
assassin like that." She holds back.

" Nonsense, Miss Barry," says Crosby, gaily. " You
have too much spirit to be daunted by a mere cast of coun-
tenance. And we — we have no spirit at all — so we depend
upon you to give us a lead."

u I assure you, Mr. Crosby, if it had been any other man
but this . . However I submit."

Whereupon with much outward dignity and many inward
quakings she approaches the chair before the camera and
seats herself upon it.

" A little more this way, please ma'am," says the photog-
rapher.

" Which way f " asks Miss Barry, in a distinctly aggres-
sive voice.

" If you would pose yourself a little more like this," and
the photographer throws himself into a sentimental atti-
tude.

" Mercy ! What ails the man ? " says Miss Barry, turn-
ing to Crosby. " Do you, my dear Mr. Crosby, do you
think the wretched being has been imbiding too freely ? "

" No, no, not at all," says Crosby, reassuringly. " You

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238 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

must sit like this" — coming to the photographer's help
with a will — " just a little bit round here, d'ye see, so as to
make a good picture. That will give a better effect after-
wards, and of course he is anxious to make as good a photo-
graph of you as he can."

At this Miss Barry condescends to move a little in the
way directed. She clutches hold of Susan, however, dur-
ing the placing of her, and whispers thrillingly,

" I don't believe in him, Susan ! Look at his eye. It
squints I Could a squinter give one a good photograph f "

" Now, madam I " says the camera man, in a dying tone.
He had heard nothing, but is annoyed in a dejected fashion
by the delay. " If you are quite ready."

" Are you f " retorts Miss Barry.

" Yes, ma'am." He comes forward to rearrange her
draperies, and herself, her short colloquy with Susan hav-
ing been sufficiently lively to disturb the recent pose. He
pulls out her gown, then steps back to further study her,
and finally takes her head between his hands with a view to
putting that into the right position also.

If the poor man had only known the consequences of
this rash act he would perhaps rather have given up his
profession than committed it.

" How dare you, sir ! " cries Miss Barry, pushing him
back, and making frightful passes in the air, as a defence
against another attack of his upon her maiden cheek.

" Carew, where are you ? Dominick ! Susan, Susan, do
you see how I have been outraged ? "

" Dear auntie," says Susan, in a low tone, Carew and
Dominick being incapacitated for service, "you mistake
him. He only wants to arrange you for your picture ! It
is always done. Don't you see ? "

" I don't," says Miss Barry, stoutly. " I see only that
you are all a silly set of children, who do not understand
the iniquity of man ! This creature " — she points to the
photographer, who has gone back in a melancholy way to

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 239

his slides, and is pulling them in and out, by way of exer-
cise perhaps. " However, Susan, I'll go through with it.
Insolent and depraved as this creature evidently is, coming
from a huge metropolis like Dublin he scarcely knows how
to behave himself with decent people. I must request you
to tell him, however, that I refuse — absolutely reftise — to
let him caress my face again ! "

Thus peace is restored with honor, for the time being.
And the unlucky man who has been selected by an unkind
Providence to transmit Miss Barry's face to futurity once
again approaches her.

" Now, ma'am, if you will kindly sit just so, and if you
will look at this — a little more pleasantly, please " — hold-
ing up a photograph of Lord Rosebery that he has been
carrying about to delight the Irish people. " Ah ! that's
better — that earnest expression will "

" Who's that J " cries Miss Barry, springing to her feet.
44 Is that the Radical miscreant who has taken old Glad-
stone's place J God bless me, man, do you think I'm going
to be pleasant when I look at him ? "

The wretched photographer, now utterly dumbfounded,
casts a despairing glance at Crosby, who is certainly the
oldest, and therefore probably the most sensible, of the
party. The noise of feet in the passage outside of growing
impatient customers is rendering the poor man miserable.
Yet it is impossible to turn this terrible old woman out,
when there are so many with her waiting to be taken, and
to pay their money.

44 1 assure you, sir, I thought that picture would please

the lady. I'm only lately from England, and they told me

n

44 A lot of lies. Ah, yes, that's of course," says Crosby,
interrupting him sympathetically. u But what they didn't
teach you was that there are two opinions, you know. You
can show Lord Rosebery to the people who have not a
shilling in the world and not a grandfather amongst thejp ;

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240 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

but I think you had better show Miss Barry a photograph
of Lord Salisbury, and if you haven't that one of the
Queen. She's quite devoted to the Queen."

" I wish I'd been told, sir," says the photographer, so
wearily, that Crosby decides on giving him a substantial
tip for himself when the sittings are over.

" Now, ma'am," says the photographer, returning to the
charge with splendid courage, seeing Miss Barry has re-
peated herself in the chair, after prolonged persuasion from
Carew and Susan. Betty and Dominick, it must be confessed,
have behaved disgracefully. Retiring behind a huge screen,
und there stifling their mirth in an extremely insufficient
manner, gurgles and indeed gasps have come from between
its joints to the terrified Susan.

" And now, ma'am, will you kindly turn a little more
this way." The poor man's voice has grown quite apolo-
getic. " Ah, that's better 1 Thank you, ma'am. And if I
might pull out your dress? Yes, that's all right. And
your elbow, ma'am, please."

" Good gracious, why can't he stop," thinks poor Susan,
who sees wrath growing again within Miss Barry's eye.
u It is just a little, a very little, too pointed. Ah, yes.
There 1 And your foot, ma'am — under your dress, if you
please."

Here Miss Barry snorts audibly, and the photographer
Btarts back ; but hearing is not seeing, and he rashly re-
gains his courage and rushes to his destruction.

" That's well, very well," says he, not being sufficiently
acquainted with Miss Barry to note the signs of coming
war upon her face, " and if you will now please shut your
mouth "

Miss Barry rises once more like a whirlwind.

" Shut your own, sir I " cries she, shaking her fist at him.

There is one awful moment, a moment charged with elec-
tricity ; then it is all over. The worst has come, there can
be nothing more. Miss Barry is again pressed into her

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 241

chair. The photographer having come to the comforting
conclusion that she is a confirmed lunatic spares no more
paind over her, refuses to adjust her robe, to put her face
into position, or revise her expression, and simply takes her
as she is. The result is that he turns out the very best
photograph he has taken for many a year.

After this things go smooth enough, until at last even
Betty — who has proved a troublesome customer, if a very
charming one— declares herself satisfied.

" No more, sir ? w says the photographer to Crosby, whom
he has elected to address as being the principal member of
the party. To speak to Miss Barry would have been be-
yond the poor man.

" Oh yes, one more," says Crosby.

16

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242 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

" If sorrow stole

A charm awhile from Beauty, Beauty's self
Might envy well the charm that sorrow lent
To every perfect feature."

Hi draws Bonnie forward, Bonnie who has been sitting
bo quietly in his corner for the past thirty minutes en-
chanted with the strange scene. He had cared nothing for
his aunt's eccentricities ; he had thought only of the won-
derful things that were done behind that dingy black velvet
curtain. Oh, if he could only get behind it too, and find
out. The sickly child's frame was weak, but his mind was
fresh and strong and ran freely into regions far beyond his
ken.

With the boy's hand in his Crosby turns courteously to
Miss Barry.

" I hope you will let me have this charming face taken,
if only for my own gratification," says he. " I have long
wished it. And as he is here — if you will allow me. It is
quite an ideal type, you know — I may have him photo-
graphed 1 "

" Yes.— yes," says Miss Barry, with slow acquiescences,
uttered between her pauses. And then all at once, as if she
has come to the end of her hesitation, " Yes, certainly."
She looks at Susan as if for approval, but Susan does not
return her glance. She has cast down her eyes, and is dis-
tinctly pale.

Poor Susan I So delighted at the thought of having a
picture of her Bonnie given her ; yet so sorry for the occa-
sion of it. She has lowered her eyes so that no one may see
what she is thinking about, or what she is suffering — the

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 243

quick beating of her heart is also a secret known only to
herself.

The throbs run like this : Oh, how good of him! Oh,
no matter what he is — or whom he loves — he will surely
give her one of Bonnie's pictures I — a picture of her lovely,
pretty Bonnie !

Meantime Bonnie is being taken by the photographer.
And so still, so calm a little subject he is, that his picture
is perhaps the best of all after Miss Barry's — which is
unique. Just Bonnie's head ! Only that ! But so sweet,
so perfect, and the earnest eyes

The photographer tells them that they shall have them
all in a week or so. The photographer's " week or so" is so
well understood by the people that the Barrys tell them-
selves in whispers in the little studio, that if they get them
in a fortnight they may thank their lucky stars.

" A fortnight with that man," says Miss Barry, with ill-
subdued wrath. "A month you mean. I tell you, he's got
the evil eye I "

Having thus relieved herself, and the photographer hav-
ing vanished into a room beyond, she rises into happier
ways.

" Anyway — in spite of him," says she, pointing towards
the dark doorway into which he has vanished, " this must
be called a most happy occasion. An auspicious one even
indeed." Miss Barry is always on immense terms with her
dictionary. " I really think," with sudden sprightliness ;
" we should all exchange photos. I hope, Mr. Crosby,"
turning pleasantly to him, u that you will give us qpe of
yours."

" I shall give you one with pleasure, Miss Barry," says
Crosby, " and feel very proud about your wanting to have
it. I shall, however, demand one of yours in return. As
to your suggestion about a general exchange — I think it
delightfhl." He turns suddenly to Susan. " I hope you
will give me one of yours," says he.

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244 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Susan hesitates. To give her picture to him, when he
thinks Lady Muriel Kennedy so lovely — why, if he thinks
a girl is so very lovely — she has described Lady Muriel to
herself as a mere girl — why should he want a photograph
of hers ?

Miss Barry has noticed Susan's hanging back, and won-
dering that she should refuse her photograph to so good a
friend, comes quickly forward.

" Susan ! I really think you might give Mr. Crosby your
picture. You know, Mr. Crosby, I have always kept the
girls a little strict. And perhaps Susan thinks "

" I don't," says Susan, with sudden vehemence. She has
shrunk back a little. Her lovely eyes have suddenly grown
shamed. " It — isn't that, auntie."

" Oh, my dear, if it isn't that," said Miss Barry, and
being now called by Dominick she turns away.

" Auntie takes such queer views of things," says Susan,
pale and unhappy. " It seems, however, that she would
like me to give you my photograph. Well " — grudgingly
— " you can have it I "

" I didn't want it on those terms," says Crosby. " And
yet," quickly, " I do on any terms."

" Oh no," says Susan, " Auntie is right. Why should I
refuse it to you ? "

" Susan," says he, " is the feud so strong as all that ?
Will you refuse me your picture ? "

" No. I shall give it," says she, faintly smiling. " But
I shall make a bargain with you. If you will give me one
of Bonnie's, you shall have one of mine."

" I gain, but you do not," says he. " For you should
have had one of Bonnie all the same. But what has come
between us, Susan f I thought I was quite a friend of
yours. Why am I to be dismissed like this without even a
character? Tou must remember one great occasion, when
you said that anyone who was allowed to go through my

grounds would be sure to treat me with respect — or some-
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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 245

thing like that. Now you have often gone through my
grounds, Susan, and is this respect that you are offering
me?"

" I thought," says Susan gravely, " that you promised
never to speak of that again."

"Of what? Respect?"

44 No — of that," reluctantly, 44 that day in the garden."
The dawn of a blush appears upon her face, and her eyes
rest on him reproachfully. " You are not to be depended
on," says she.

44 Oh ! Susan ! "

His air is so abject that in spite of herself Susan laughs,
and presently she holds out her hand to him with the
sweetest air. " Anyway I have to thank you a thousand
times for having had my Bonnie's picture taken," says she.
44 And I knew you knew — that I wished for it." She gives
him her hand. Tears rise to her eyes. 44 Tou could never
know how I wished for it " says she.

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S46 THE PROEESSO&S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXXV.

"Words would bat wrong the gratitude I owe 700
Should I begin to apeak, my soul's so fall,
Then I should talk of nothing else all day."

" Now, Miss Manning," says Wyndham in his quick, alert,
business-like way. He steps back, and motions her to go
through the gateway that Mrs. Denis had opened about
three inches a minute ago.

Miss Manning, a tall, thin, rather nervous looking lady
of very decided age, steps inside the gate and glances from
Wyndham to Mrs. Denis and back again, interrogatively.

"This is Miss Moore's housekeeper, cook, and general
factotum," says Wyndham, making a hasty introduction,
and with a warning glance towards Mrs. Denis, who has
dropped a rather stiff courtesy. " Tours too ! She will
remove all troubles from your shoulders, and will take ex
cellent care of you, I don't doubt. He pauses to give Mrs.
Denis — who is looking glum, to say the least of it — room
for one of her always only too ready speeches — but nothing
comes. " Eh 1 " says he, in a sharp metallic voice that
brings Mrs. Denis to her senses with a jump.

" Yes, sir," says she — and no more. No promises of obe-
dience.

Wyndham hurries Miss Manning past her.

44 The other maid you can manage," says he, in a low tone,
44 and no doubt Mrs. Denis after a while. She is a highly
respectable woman if a little unreasonable, and a little too
devoted to your pupil. About the latter," hastily, 44 you
know everything — her whole history — that is, so far as I
know it — even to her peculiarities. You quite understand
that she refuses to leave these grounds, and you r

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 247

her reasons for refusing. Reasons not to be combated.
They seem absurd to me, as I don't believe that fellow has
the slightest claim upon her, but she thinks otherwise.
And — well — They are her reasons," he pauses, " and there-
fore to be respected."

" Certainly," says Miss Manning, in a low, very gentle
voice ; " and I shall respect them." Her voice is charming.
Wyndham tells himself that he could hardly have made a
better choice of a companion for this strange girl who has
been so inconveniently flung into his life. Miss Manning's
face, too, is one to inspire instant confidence. Her eyes are
earnest and thoughtful ; her mouth kind, if sad. That she
had endured much sorrow is written on every feature ; but
troubles have failed to embitter a spirit made up of nature's
sweetest graces. And now, indeed, joy is lighting up her
gentle eyes, and happy expectancy is making warm her
heart. A month ago she had been in almost abject poverty
— scarce knowing where to find the next day's bread — when
a most merciful God had sent her Paul Wyndham, to lift
her from her slough of Despond to such a state of prosperity
as she had never dared to dream of, since as a child she ran
gaily into her father's meadows.

" I am sure of that," says Wyndham, heartily. " I am
certain I can give her into your hands in all safety. I
know very little of her, but she seems a good girl — not alto-
gether tractable, perhaps — but I hope you will be able to
get on with her. If, however, the dulness, the enforced soli-
tude, becomes too much for you, you must let me know."

" I shall never have to let you know that," said Miss
Manning, in a low, tremulous tone. " A home in the country,
a young companion, a garden to tend. For long and very
sad years I have dreamt of such things, but never with a
hope of seeing them. And now — if I have seemed poor in
xny thanks, Paul "

She breaks off, turning her head aside.

« Yes — yes, I understand," says Wyndham, hurriedly,

348 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

dreading, yet feeling very tenderly towards her emotion.
Once again he congratulates himself on having thought of
this sweet woman in his difficulty.

" And for myself," says she, calmly, now again, " I should
never like to stir from this lovely garden." They are walk-
ing by one of the paths bordered with flowers. " I have
been so long accustomed to solitude, that like my pupil, I
shrink from breaking it. To see no one but her and," deli-
cately, " you, occasionally, I hope, is all I ask."

" You may perhaps have to see the Barry s now and then,
the Rector's people. They live over the way," says Wynd-
ham, pointing towards where the rectory trees can be seen.
" I found the last time I was here that Susan, the eldest
girl, had come in, or been brought in here, by Miss Moore,
so that there is already a slight acquaintance, and with
girls," says the barrister, sotnewhat contemptuously, " that
means an immediate, if not altogether undying friendship."

" Yes," says Miss Manning. She feels a faint surprise.
" It is not so much then that she does not desire to know
people, as she refuses to stir out of this place ? "

" That is how I take it. I wanted her very much to move
about — to let herself be known. Honestly," coloring slightly,
" it is rather awkward for me, to have a tenant so very
mysterious, as she seems bent on being. I urged her to de-
clare herself at once, as my tenant, and wait events, but she
seemed so terrified at the idea of leaving these four walls
, that I gave up the argument. Perhaps you may bring her
to reason. Or perhaps the Rector and his youngsters may
have the desired effect of putting an end to this morbidity.
By-the-bye, I am going over to the rectory, after I have
introduced you to "

" Ella " was on the tip of his tongue, but he substitutes
" Miss Moore " in time.

The very near slip renders him thoughtful for a moment
or two. Why should he have called her Ella 1 Had he
ever thought of her as Ella 1 Most positively never. r

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 249

He is so absorbed in his introspection that he fails to see
a slight timid figure coming down the steps of the Cottage.
Miss Manning touches his arm.

" Is this Miss Moore ? " cries she in an excited whisper.
" Oh, what a charming face I "

And, indeed, Ella is charming as she now advances — very
pale, as if frightened, and with her dark eyes glancing anx-
iously from Wyndham to the stranger, and back again.
She has no hat on her head, and a sunbeam has caught her
chestnut hair and turned it to glistening gold.

" I hope you received my letter last night," says Wynd-
ham, calling out to her and hastening his footsteps. " You

see," awkwardly, " I have brought — brought you " He

stops, waiting for Miss Manning to come up, and growing
hopelessly embarrassed.

" Tour friend, my dear, I trust," says Miss Manning,
gently, taking the girl's hand in both her own, and regard-
ing her with anxious eyes.

Ella flushes crimson. She has so dreaded, so feared this
moment, and now — this gentle, sad-eyed woman, with her
soft voice and pretty impulsive speech ! Tears rise to the
girl's eyes. Nervously, yet eagerly, she leans forward and
presses her lips to Miss Manning's fair, if withered, cheek.

Wyndham, congratulating himself on the success of his
latest enterprise, takes himself off presently to inspect a
farm five miles farther out in the country, that had been
left; to him by his mother, with the Cottage. He has de-
termined on taking the rectory on his way back to meet
the evening train — to enlist further Mr. Barry's sympathy
for his tenant. He tells himself, with a glow of self-satis-
faction, that he is uncommonly good to his tenant ; but so,
of course, he ought to be — that dying promise to the Pro-
fessor being sacred, and if it were not for the affection he
had always felt for that great, dead man, he would beyond
doubt never have thought of her again. . « There is
much moral support in this conclusion.

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260 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Yes, he will spend half an hour at the rectory. He can
get back from the farm in plenty of time for that, and Miss
Manning being an old friend of the Rector's, the latter will
be even more inclined to take up her pupil, which will be a
good thing for the poor girl. He repeats the words " poor
girl," and finds satisfaction in them. They seem to show
how entirely indifferent he is to her and her fortunes. That
mental slip of his a while ago had alarmed him slightly.
But " poor girl," to call her that precludes the idea of an} r -
thing like — Pshaw I

He dismisses the " poor girl " from his mind forthwith
and succeeds admirably in getting rid of her, whilst blow-
ing up his other tenants on the form. But on his way back
again to Curraghcloyne her memory once more becomes
troublesome.

To-day, so far, things have gone well. She had seemed
satisfied with Miss Manning, Miss Manning with her. And
as for the fear of an immediate scandal that seems quite at
rest. But in time the old worry is sure to mount to the
surface again. For example, when Mrs. Prior hears of her
— Ella — he wishes now, trudging grimly over the uneven
road, that he had not led that astute woman to believe his
tenant was a man — as she inevitably must — there will be a
row on somewhere that will make the welkin ring, and after
that, good-bye to his chances with Lord Shangarry, who
has very special views about the right and the wrong.

If only this silly girl could be persuaded to come out of
her shell and mingle with her kind, all might be got over
after a faint wrestle or two, but no I Angrily he tells him-
self that there is no chance of that. Soft as she looks, and

gentle, and lov (h'm he kicks a stone out of his way)

and pleasant looking and all that, he feels absolutely sure
that nobody will be able to drag her out of her self-imposed
imprisonment.

After this diatribe it is only natural that he should, on

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 251

entering the rectory garden, feel himself a prey to aston-
ishment on seeing amongst a turbulent group upon the
edges of the tennis court the " poor girl " laughing with all
her heart.

He stands still within the shelter of the laurels to ask
himself if his eyesight has failed him thus early < in life.
But his eyesight still continues excellent, and when he sees
the " poor girl " pick up Tommy, and plant him on her
knee, he knows that all is well with his visual organs.

The feet is that almost as he left the Cottage, by the
front gate, Susan had run across the road and hammered
loudly at the little green one. This primitive knocking has
become a signal now with the Barrys and Ella, and soon
the latter had rushed to open the door. There had been
entreaties from Susan that she would come over now — now,
at once, and have a game of tennis with them. She did not
know tennis. All the more reason why she should begin to
learn, and Aunt Jemima was quite pining to know her !

" Yes, do come I "

" No — no, I can't. I have said I would never leave this
place."

44 Oh ! that— of course— but— Oh !— "

Here Susan breaks off abruptly. Who is that pretty,
tall lady coming down the path ? It is Miss Manning, and
Ella very shyly introduces Susan to her.

44 Miss Manning, tell her to come and play tennis with us
this afternoon," says Susan. * 4 Not a soul but ourselves,
and she's very lonely hepe. Father says she ought to see
people."

44 1 think as your father does," says Miss Manning, gently.

"And will you come too?" asks Susan. "Aunt Je-
mima," with born courtesy, " will come and see you to-
morrow, but in the meantime "

44 1 am afraid I have some unpacking to do," says Miss
Manning smiling, having fallen in love with Susan's soft,
flushed face and childish air. " But if you can persuade

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252 TBE PkOFESSO&S EXPERIMENT.

Ella — I know, my dear," to Ella, who has turned a sad face
to hers — a face that has yet the longing for larger life upon
it, " that you wish never to leave this place. But to go
just across the road. . . And there is no one there, Miss
Barry tells you ; and it is only a step or two, and," smiling
again, " if you wish it, I'll go over in an hour and bring you
back again."

« No— don't do that," says Ella. " You are tired." She
hesitates. Then looks out of the gateway, and up and down
the lane. It is quite empty.

" Well, I'll come," says she, giving her hand to Susan.
It is evidently a desperate resolve. Even as she says it
she makes a last drawback, but Susan clings to her hand,
and pulls her forward, and together the girls run down the
lane to the rectory gate and into it, Ella all the time hold-
ing Susan tightly, as if for protection.

This was how it happened that Ella first left the shelter
of the Cottage. She was most kindly received by the
Rector, who spared a moment from .his precious books to
welcome her — and even agreeably by Aunt Jemima. Ella
had gone through the ordeal of these two introductions
shyly but quietly. She had, however, been a little startled
at finding that added to the Barrys congregated on the
lawn (a goodly number in themselves) there was a strange
gentleman. Crosby struck her at first sight as being
formidable ! — an idea that, if the young Barrys had known
it, would have sent them into hysterics of mirth.
> Crosby had strolled down early in the afternoon, and
now Wyndham, standing gazing amongst the shrubberies,
can see him turn from Susan to say something or other to
Ella.

Wyndham in his voluntary confinement feels a sharp
pang clutch at his breast. He stands still, as if unable to
go on — watching the little pantomime.

Tommy is speaking now. The child's voice rings clear

How.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 863

" 111 tell you a story." He has pat up a little fat hand
and is pinching Ella's cheek. Ella has caught the little
hand and is kissing it. How pretty

" Silence 1 " cries Crosby gaily. " Tommy is going to
tell Miss Moore a story."

There seems something significant to Wyndham in his
tone. Why should he demand silence in that imperative
manner, just because Miss Moore wishes a story to be told
to her ? He hesitates no longer ; he comes quickly forward
and up to the group.

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264 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

" To feel every prompting of pleasure,
To know every pulsing of pain-
To dream of Life's happiest measure,
And find all her promises vain."

Susan sees him first, and pushing Bonnie gently from her,
rises to meet him.

44 How do you do? " says she.

44 That you, Wyndham ? " cries Crosby. " You are just
in time to hear Tommy's story. Miss Moore has promised
to lend him her support during the recital." For all
Crosby's lightness of tone there is a strange scrutinizing
expression in his clever eyes as he looks at Wyndham. He
knows that Ella Moore's presence here must prove a sur-
prise to him, and how will he take it ? The girl seems well

enough, but . And if Wyndham has been capable of

placing so close to this family of young, young people some-
one who

He is studying Wyndham very acutely. But all that he
can make out of Wyndham's face is surprise and something
that might be termed relief: nothing more. As for the
girl I She is the one that looks confused. She rises, hold-
ing Tommy by her side, and looks appealingly at Wynd-
ham. She would have spoken perhaps, but that the Rector,
who has not yet gone back to his study, takes up the
parable.

44 We are very glad to have persuaded Miss Moore to
come here to-day," says he, in a tone to be heard by every-
one. " She has told me that you came down this morning,
bringing Miss Manning with you. That will be a source of
pleasure to us all I am quite sure." He bows his courteous

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPEBI3IENT. 255

old head as amiably as though Miss Manning over the road
could hear him. It is a tribute to her perfections. After
this he buttonholes Wyndham, and draws him apart a bit.

" She's a nice girl, Wyndham. A nice girl, I really
think. A most guileless countenance 1 But not educated
you know. Betty and Susan — mere children as they are —
could almost teach her. 9 '

The Rector sighs. He always regards his girls as having
stood still since his wife's death. Children they were then,
children they are now. He had not seemed to live himself
since her death. After that, indeed, all things stood still
for him.

" Yes. But she seems intelligent — clever," says Wynd-
ham, a little coldly.

" I daresay. And now you have secured Miss Manning
for herl That was a wise step," said the Rector, thought-
frilly. " She owes you much, Wyndham : I was glad when
Susan persuaded her to come over here to-day. But I
doubt if she will consent to go further. She seems terrified
at the thought of being far from your — her home. Have you
not yet discovered any trace of that scoundrel, Moore f The
bond between them might surely be broken."

" There is no bond between them. Of that I am con-
vinced," says Wyndham.

" I trust not. I trust not," says the Rector. He makes
a little gesture of farewell and goes back to his beloved
study, his head bent, his hands clasped behind his back as
usual.

" We're waiting for you, Mr. Wyndham," calls out Betty,
arching her slender neck to look over Dominick's shoulder.
The wind has caught her fair fluffy hair and is ruffling it.

" Yes. Come along, Wyndham," says Crosby, " Tom-
my's story is yet to tell."

" Better have one from you instead Mr. Crosby," says
Susan hastily. She knows Tommy ! " You can tell us all
Qbout lions and niggers and things. You'd like to bear pf

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256 THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT.

lions and niggers, Tommy," in a wheedling tone, " wouldn't
you?"

Wyndham by this time has joined the group, and scarcely
knowing how, finds himself sitting on half of a rug, the
other half of which belongs to his tenant.

" I want to tell my own story," says Tommy ; with de-
termination. He is evidently a boy possessed of much
firmness, and one not to be done by anyone, if he can help it.

" But Tommy," persists Susan, who has dismal reasons
for dreading his literary efforts, " I think you had better
not tell one just now. We — that is "

41 Oh I do let him tell it," says Ella softly.

" My dear Susan," says Crosby, u would you deprive us
of an entertainment, so unique 1 One we may never enjoy
again ? "

" Well, go on, Tommy," says Susan, resigning herself to
the worst

" There once was a man," begins Tommy, and pauses.
Silence reigns around. " An' he fell into a big bit of
water I " The silence grows profounder.

" 'Twas as big as this," making a movement of his short
arms a foot or so from the ground.

At this there are distinct groans of fear.

u An' he was drownded — a little fish ate him."

" Oh, Tommy 1 " says Susan, in- woeful tones, who can
now pretend to be really frightened with a free heart.
Evidently Tommy's story this time is going to be of the
mildest order. " He didn't really eat him ? "

" He did. He did ! " says Tommy, delighted at Susan's
fright. " He ate him all up. Every bit of him I "

Here Susan lets her face fall into her hands, and Tommy
relents.

" But he wasn't killed," says he. He looks anxiously at
Susan's bowed head. " No, he wasn't ! " Susan lifts her
head, and shakes it at him reproachfully. "Well, he
wasn't, really," says Tommy again. This repetition is not

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 267

only meant as a help to Susan to mitigate her extreme
grief, but to give him pause whilst he makes up another
chapter.

" Oh, are you sure ? " asks Susan, tragically.

" 1 am. The fish swallowed him, but he came up again."

" Who gave the emetic ? " asks Dominick, but very prop-
erly no one attends to him.

" Yes, well, what's after that ? " asks Betty.

" Well," Tommy stares at the earth and then, with happy
inspiration, " the nasty witch got him."

" Poor old soul," says Carew.

" The witch, Tommy ? But "

" Yes. The witch," angrily. "An' then the goat said "

" Goat I What goat ? " asks Ella, very naturally, con-
sidering all things.

" That goat," says Tommy, who really is wonderful. He
points his lovely fat thumb down to where, in the distant
field, a goat is browsing. His wandering eye had caught it
as he vaguely talked, and he had at once embezzled it and
twisted it into his imagination.

" Yes? " says Susan, seeing the child pause, and trying
to help him. " The goat ? "

" The goat — an' the witch." Long pause here, and plain
incapacity to proceed. Tommy has evidently come face to
fitce with a cul de sac.

" Hole in the Ballad," says Dominick to Betty , in a low tone.

"Go on, Tommy," says Susan, encouragingly. Really
Tommy's story is so presentable this time that she quite
likes to give him a lift, as it were.

" Well, the witch fell down," says Tommy, goaded to en-
deavor, " an' the goat sat on her."

"Not on her," says Susan, with dainty protest. "You
know you frightened me once, Tommy, but now "

" Yes, they did, Susan. They did." In his excitement

he has duplicated the enemy. " They all sat down on her I

Everyone of them. Twenty of them 1 "

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268 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" But, Tommy, you said there was only one goat."

This is rash of Susan.

"I don't care I" cries Tommy, who is of a liberal dis-
position. " There was twenty of them. An' they all sat
down on her. First on her stomach, an'," solemnly turn-
ing himself, and clasping both his fat hands over the seat of
his small breeches, " an' then on her here 1 " He lifts his
hands and smacks them down again. He indeed most
graphically illustrates his " here ! "

/There is an awful silence. Susan, stricken dumb, sits
silent. She knew how it would be if she let that wretched
child speak.

Shamed and horrified, she draws back, almost praying
that the earth may open and swallow her up quick. She
casts a despairing glance at Crosby to see how he has taken
this horrible fiasco, before following Dathan and Abiram,
but what she sees in his face stops her prayers, and, in
&ct, reverses them !

Crosby is shaking with laughter, and now, as she looks,
catches Tommy in his arms and hugs him.

Another moment, and Betty breaks into a wild burst of
laughter, after which everyone else follows suit.

41 I'm going to publish your story, Tommy, at any price,"
says Mr. Crosby, putting Tommy back from him, upon his
knee, and gazing with interest at that tiny astonished child.
44 There will be trouble with the publishers. But I'll get it
done at all risks to life and limb. I don't suppose I shall
be spoken to afterwards by any respectable person, but
that is of little moment when a literary gem is in question."

Tommy not understanding, but scenting fun — laughs
gaily.

" I don't think you ought to encourage him like that,"
says Susan, whose pretty mouth, however, is sweet with
smiles.

41 One should always encourage a genius," says Crosby,
undismayed.

THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT. 258

There is a little stir here. Tommy has wriggled out of
Crosby's lap, and has gone back to Ella ; who receives him
with — literally — open arms. Wyndham is watching her
curiously. Her manner all through Tommy's absorbingly
interesting tale has been a revelation to him. He had
found out for one thing that he had never heard her laugh
before — at all events not like that. No, he had never heard
her really laugh before, and indeed, perhaps poor Ella in all
her sad young life had never laughed like that until now.
It had been to the shrewd young barrister as though he
had looked upon her for the first time to-day, after quite
two months of acquaintance. He who prided himself, and
had often been complimented on his knowledge of character
— his grasp of a client's real mind from his first half-hour
with him or her.

Her mirth had astonished him. She — the pale frightened
girl — to laugh like that. There had been no loudness in
her mirth either, it had been soft and refined, if very gay
and happy. She had laughed as a girl might, who had
been born to happiness in every way — to silken robes and
delicate surroundings, and all the paraphernalia that go to
make up the life of those born into families that can count
their many grandfathers.

Once or twice he had told himself half impatiently —
angry with the charge laid upon his unwitting shoulders —
that the girl was good looking. Now he told himself some-
thing more. That she was lovely, with that smile upon her
face, as she sits — all unconscious of his criticism — with
Tommy in her arms, and

"Eyes
Up-glancing brightly mischievous, a spring
Of brimming laughter welling on the brink
Of lips like flowers, small caressing hands
Tight locked "

around the lucky Tommy's waist.
But now she puts Tommy (who has evidently fallen a

260 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

slave to her charms, and repudiates loudly her right to give
him away like this) down on his sturdy feet, and comes a
little forward to where Susan is standiug.

" I'm afraid I must go now," says she.

" Oh, not yet," says Susan, " There is plenty of time. It
isn't as if you had to drive five miles to get to your home.'

" Still — I think " She looks so anxious, that Susan,

who is always charming, understands her.

44 If you must go," whispers she sweetly " if you would
rather — well then, do go. But to-morrow, and every other
day, you must come back to us. Carew "

44 I'm here," says Carew, coming up, and blushing as well
as the best of girls as he takes Ella's hand. " I'll see you
home," says he.

" I don't think it will be necessary," says Wyndham
shortly. Then stops confounded at his own imprudence,
considering all the circumstances. Yet the words had
fallen from him without volition of his own. " The fact is,"
says he, quickly, " I too am going now, and will be able to
see Miss Moore safely within her gate."

Carew frowns, and Susan comes to the rescue.

" We'll all go," cries she gaily.

44 The very thing," says Crosby. " That will give me a
little more of your society, as I also must drag myself
away."

The " your " is so very general that nobody takes any
notice of it, and they all go up the small avenue together.

" You were surprised to see me here ? " says Ella, in a
nervous whisper to Wyndham, who has doggedly taken
possession of her, in spite of the knowledge that such a
proceeding will in the end tell against him.

44 1 confess I was," stiffly.

44 You are displeased ? "

44 On the contrary. You know I always advised you to
show yourself; to defy your enemies. You can defy them,
you know^"

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 261

" Yes — but — I mean that after all I said to you about my
dislike, my fear of leaving the Cottage, you must think it
queer of me to be here to-day."

u I do not, indeed. I think it only natural that you
should break through such a melancholy determination.
Besides, no doubt," with increasing coldness, " you had an
inducement."

" Yes. Yes, I had," says she, quickly.

" Ah I " A pause. a Someone you have seen lately ? "

" Quite lately."

Second pause, and prolonged.

" I suppose you will soon see a way out of all your dif-
ficulties ? "

No doubt she had fallen in love with Crosby, and he
with her, and

" No, I don't think there is any chance of that," says she,
mournfully. " But when Su — Miss Barry, asked me to
come here I couldn't resist it. You can see for yourself
what an inducement she is."

Susan ! Is it only Susan ? He pulls himself up sharply.
Well, and if so, where is the matter for rejoicing ? Of
course, being left in a sense her guardian by the Professor,
he is bound to feel an interest in her — but a vague interest
such as that should not be accompanied by this quick relief,
this sudden sensation of — of what ?

Dominick, just behind him, is singing at the top of his
lungs — sound ones,

" As I walked oat wid Dinah

De other afternoon,
De day could not be finer,

Ho! de ring-tailed coon ! "

He is evidently pointing this nigger melody at Betty,
who has been rash enough to go walking out with him.
She has gone even farther. She has condescended to sing
a second to his exceedingly loud first, a stroke of genius on

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262 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

her part, as it has taken the wind out of his sails so far as
his belief in his powers of teasing her (on this occasion, at
all events,) are concerned.

Mr. Wyndham takes the opportunity pf the second verse
coming to a thrilling conclusion, to break off his conversa-
tion with Ella. And now, indeed, they are all at the little
green gate, and are saying their adieux to her. And pres-
ently they have all gone away again, and Ella, standing in-
side, feels as if life and joy and all things have been shut
off from her with the locking of that small green gate.
******

" Isn't she pretty f " cries Susan, enthusiastically, when
they have bidden good-bye to Crosby and Wyndham too,
and are back again on their own small lawn.

" She's a regular bud," says Dom, striking a tragic atti-
tude. He doesn't mean anything really, but Carew, with
darkling brow, goes up to him.

" I think you ought to speak more respectfully of her,"
says he. " It isn't because she is alone in the world that
one should throw stones at her."

" Betty, I appeal to you," says Dominick. " Did I throw
a stone ? Come, speak up. I take this as a distinct insult.

The man who would throw a stone at a woman . He's

gone t " says Mr. Fitzgerald, staring at Carew's disappear-
ing form. " Well, I do call that mean. And I had ar-
ranged a peroration that would have astonished the natives.
Anyway, Susan," turning, " what did I say to offend him ?
Called her a bud. Isn't a bud a nice thing ? I declare he's
as touchy about her as though she were his best girl."

" What's a best girl ? " asks Betty.

" The one you like best."

" Well, perhaps she's his," growing interested. " Susan,
I do believe he is in love with her."

" Do you," says Susan, thoughtfully. And then, " Oh,
no. Boys never fell in love."

" Dom thinks they do," says Betty, turning a saucy

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TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 263

glance on Fitzgerald. She flings a rose at him. " Who's
your best girl ? " asks she.

" Need you ask," returns that youth with his most senti-
mental air. (

" I don't think I quite approve of her," says Miss Barry,
joining in the conversation at this moment, and shaking
her curls severely, " I thought her a little free this after-
noon."

" Oh, Auntie ! "

" Certainly, Susan ! Most distinctly free."

" I thought her one of the gentlest and quietest girls I
ever met," says Carew, who has strolled back to them, after
his short ebullition of temper — unable indeed to keep away.

" What do you know of girls ? " says Miss Barry, scorn-
fully.

" I'm sure she's gentle," says Dominick, who is so devoted
to Carew that he would risk a great deal — even his. friend-
ship — to keep him out of trouble, " and very, very good ;
because she is beyond all doubt most femininely dulL"

" Pig," says Betty, in a whisper. She makes a little
movement towards him — and a second later gets a pinch
and a wild yell out of him.

" What I say I maintain," says Miss Barry, magisterially.
" She may be a nice girl. A gentle girl. The grandest
girl that was ever known ! I'm the last in the world to
deprecate anyone. But who is she ? That's what I want to
know. And no one knows who she is. Perhaps of the
lower classes for all we know. And, indeed, I noticed a
few queer terms of speech. And when I said she was free,
Susan — I meant it. I heard her distinctly call that child "
— pointing to him — u Tommy. Now if she is as I firmly
believe — (your father is a person of no discrimination, you
know), a person of a lower grade than ourselves, didn't it
show great freedom to do that ? Yes. She distinctly said
* Tommy.' "

" Well, she didn't say * Hell and Tommy,' anyway," says

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264 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Dominick, who sometimes runs over to London to see the
theatres.

" If she had," says Miss Barry, with dignity, who has
never seen the outside of a theatre, " I should have had no
hesitation whatsoever in sending for the sergeant, and giving
her in charge."

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THE PSOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 265

CHAPTER XXXVII.

1 She outwardly

All that bewitches sense, all that entices,
Nor is it in oar virtue to uncharm it."

It is a week later and the village is now stirred to its
depth ! Such gaieties ! Such gaddings to and fro ! Such
wonderful tales of what Lady Forster wore and Sir William
said, and how Miss Prior looked. Gossip is flowing, freely,
delightfully, and Miss Ricketty, whose shop is a general
meeting place, is doing a roaring business in buns and bis-
cuits.

The Park in fact is full of guests. " Every corner," says
Miss Blake to Mrs. Hennessy, in a mysterious whisper, " is
full to overflowing. I hear that some of the servants have
to be accommodated outside the house, and that Mr. Crosby
has painted and papered and done up the loft over the
stables in the latest Parisian style for the maids and
valets."

u My dear 1 " says Mrs. Hennessy, in an awfiil tone — .
very justly shocked, then " You forget yourself, Maria I "

" Faith I did," says Miss Blake, bursting into an irre-
pressible giggle. " Law, how ftinny y'are. But they're
safely divided, I'm told, one at one side o' the yard, the
other at this, as it were. Like the high churches we hear
of in England. The goats and the sheep, ha — ha."

" But where are the maids ? "

" Over the stables at the western side, some of them."

" You don't say so," says Mrs. Hennessy. " filess me,
but maids like that. They wouldn't like — you know, the —
er — the atmosphere I "

" Oh, there's ways of doing away with that too," says

266 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Miss Blake, with a knowing air. " But you'll come in,
won't you, for a cup of tea. Jane's dyin' to have a chat
with you."

Miss Blake is hardly to be trusted in matters such as
these, her imagination being extraordinarily strong. And
indeed, the idea of those stables rose alone from her great
mind I But although there are still corners in the splendid
old Hall to let, it must be confessed that it is pretty full at
present.

Guests at the Park I Such a thing had not been heard
of for many years. Not for the last eight years at all
events.

Then Crosby, who was about twenty-five, came home
from Tibet, and his sister Katherine, who was quite a girl
—being six years his junior — had been brought over from
England by her aunt to freshen up her old love for him,
and to stay with him, for his birthday. Not longer I The
birthday came off within the week of their arriving. Lady
Melland was a woman of Society, who hated earwigs, and
early birds, and baa-lambs, and insisted on bringing quite a
big company " on tour " with her on this re-introduction of
the brother to the sister, and had organized a distinct rout
at the Hall during her memorable stay. It had created a
tearful, if pleasurable impression at the time, and people
are beginning now to wonder in this little village if Lady
Forster will be a worthy representative of her aunt. Or if
perchance the aunt will again take up the deal. For Lady
Melland has, they say, come here with her.

However for once " they say " is wrong.

Katherine Crosby had married Sir William Forster two
years after the termination of that remarkable visit, and
nothing had been seen of her since that, until now. She
had, however, in between shaken off Lady Melland.

She had brought an innumerable company in her train,
thus justifying the idea of the Curraghcloynes that she
would probably follow in her aunt's footsteps, and as I

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 267

have said, the village has waked to find itself no longer de-
serted, but the centre of a very brilliant crowd.

Yesterday was the first of August, Saturday. And a
most unendurable one on the small platform of the railway
station. Possibly during its brief existence so many basket
trunks have never been laid upon its modest flags before.
To-day is Sunday, and possibly also the parish church has
never had so large a congregation within its white-washed
walls. Even the Methodists, quite a large portion of the
Curraghcloyne people, deserted their chapel for the Ortho-
dox Church. Even Miss Ricketty had been heard to say
with distinct regret, " That she wished she was a Protestant
for once."

The Hall pews, which number four, and for which Mr.
Crosby, during all his wanderings, had paid carefully, are
all filled, and the three seats behind them again, that have
vacant sittings in them, are all filled also, with the servants
of the people in the four front seats. Never was there such
a display in the small church of Curraghcloyne ! And it
was acknowledged afterwards by everyone in the town that
though the Rector did not " stir a hair," the curate was
decidedly " onaisy." The curate was unnerved beyond a
doubt. He grew fetter and stouter as the service went on,
and he never knows to this day how he got through his
sermon. He says now, that people oughtn't to spring peo-
ple on one, without a word of preparation !

Susan tried to keep her eyes off the Hall pews, but in
spite of herself her eyes wandered. Betty did not try to
keep her eyes off at all, so they wandered freely. She was
able, half-an-hour later, to tell Susan not only the number
of guests Mr. Crosby had, but the exact color of each gown
the women wore, and she told Susan privately that she
thought, if ever she were a rich woman, she would never
let her servants wear red ribbons in their bonnets in church.

Mr. Haldane is rushing through his sermon at the rate
of an American liner ! And presently the service is over,

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268 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

and all move with the cultivated leisurely steps, that are
meant to hide the desire to run, towards the open door.

Some of the other rectory people have gone through the
side door, and, with Bonnie's hand fast clasped in hers, Su-
san is following after them, when a well-known voice calls
to her —

" Susan, my sister wants very much to know you. Will
you let me introduce you to her ? "

Susan turns her face, now delicately pink, and she sees a
small, dainty, pretty creature holding out her hand to her
with the prettiest smile in the world.

Is this Mr. Crosby's sister ?

" How d'ye do," says Lady Forster, in a very clear if low
voice, " George has been chaunting your praises all last
night : so naturally I have been longing to see you.
George's friends as a rule are a fraud — but "

She pauses. Evidently amused at the girl's open sur-
prise, not so much at her words as at her appearance.

" I'm not a bit like George. Am I ? " says she.

No, she is not. Crosby is a big man if anything, and she
is the tiniest creature. Her features are tiny too, but ex-
quisitely moulded. The coquettish mouth, the nose " tip-
tilted like a flower," the well-poised dainty head, the hands,
the feet — all are small, and her figure slender as a fairy's.
She is wonderfully pretty in a brilliant fashion, and her
bright eyes are alight with intelligence. She is altogether
the last person in the world Susan would have imagined as
Crosby's sister. And yet there is certainly a likeness be-
tween them — a strange likeness — but, of course, his sister
should have been large and massive, not a little thing like
this. Susan had always told herself that she should be
dreadfully afraid of his sister — but to be afraid of this sis-
ter 1

Lady Forster, indeed, is one of those women who look as
if they ought to be called " Baby " or " Birdie," but in real-
ity she was named Katherine at her birth, with a big and a

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THE PBOFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 269

stern K, not a C — which we all know is much milder — and
never did Susan hear her called anything less majestic by
anyone. Not even by her brother or her husband. And
this was probably that, beneath her charming butterfly air,
there lay a good deal of character and a strength of will,
hardly to be suspected in so light a creature.

" No," says Susan, shyly. She smiles, and involuntarily
tightens her fingers on those she is holding — Lady Forster's
fingers. " But — " Still a greater shyness overcomes her
here, and she grows quite silent. The " but," however, had
been eloquent.

u You see, George. She thinks I am infinitely superior
to you. How lovely of her." She laughs at Susan, and
pats her hand. " Tou will come up and lunch with us to-
morrow, won't you ? It is George's birthday. And con-
sidering the slap you have given him just now you can
hardly refuse. It will be a little sop to his pride, and that's
frightful ! He thinks himself a perfect joy ! I'm told that
in Darkest Africa, the belles there "

Here Crosby gives her a surreptitious but vigorous
nudge, and she breaks off her highly-spiced and distinctly
interesting, if slightly unveracious account of his doings in
Uganda.

" What's the matter with you ? " asks she, whispering to
her brother ; who whispers back to her many admonitory
things ; she turns again to Susan. " We shall expect you
to-morrow then. It will be a charity to enliven us, as we
hardly know what to do with ourselves, being strangers in
a strange land."

u Thank you," says Susan, faintly. How on earth can
she ever summon up courage enough to go and lunch up
there with all these fashionable people. It is she who will
be the stranger in a strange land.

" That is settled then," says Crosby, quickly. Had he
feared she would go on to saj f something more, to say that
she had an engagement ? "I will call for you at twelve."

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270 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" Oh, no," says Susan. " I," confusedly, " I can walk up.
It — it is too much trouble."

" George doesn't think so," says Lady Forster, with a
faint grimace. " Is this your brother ? "

She bends in her quick way, and turns up Bonnie's beau-
tiful little face and looks at it earnestly.

" What a face ! " cries she. " Is every one beautiful
down here f I shall come and live here, George. No use
in your putting me off. I'm determined. It is a promise
then ? " to Susan, smiling vivaciously. " That you will
come to-morrow, and another day. We must arrange an-
other day — you will bring me up this small Adonis," pat-
ting Bonnie's cheek, who smiles at her (children love all
things pretty), " to see me."

" I shall be very glad," says Susan, tremulously. Then
Lady Forster trips away to rejoin her friends, who are
standing beside the different carriages, and quarrelling
gaily as to who shall go home with who — and for a second
Crosby is alone with Susan.

" You said it was a promise."

" Yes," says Susan, " but — I have not known any very —
very "

" Smart folk," says Crosby, laughing. " Well, you'll
know them to-morrow, and I expect you'll be surprised
how very little smart they are."

« But "

" There shan't be a * but ' in the world."

" It is only this," miserably, " that I shall be shy, and •

" Not a bit of it. And even if you are," he looks at her,
" you may depend on me. I'll pull you through. But
don't be too shy, Susan. Extremes are attractive things.
Fatally attractive sometimes." He pauses. " Well, so
much for the shyness, but what did your * and ' mean ? "

" It meant," says Susan, with deep depression, " that
they will all hate me."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 271

" I almost wish I could believe that/' He laughs again,
as he says this, and gives Bonnie's ear a pinch, and follows
his sister. Two minutes later, as Susan rejoins her own
people at the little gate that leads by a short cut to the rec-
tory, she sees him again, talking gaily, and handing into
one of the carriages a tall, and very handsome girl, dressed
as Susan had never seen anyone dressed in all her life. It
seems the very perfection of dressing. She lingers a mo-
ment — a bare moment — but it is long enough to see that he
has seated himself beside the handsome girl, and that he is
still laughing — but this time with her — over some reminis-
cence, as the carriage drives away.

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272 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

" Anxiety is the poison of human life."

******

" I suppose I'll have to go," says Susan, who is evidently
terrified at the idea, crumpling up a small note between her
fingers. A most courteous little note sent by Lady Forster
this morning, Monday, the 3d of August, to ask Miss
Barry's permission for Susan to lunch at the Park. She
— Lady Forster — had met her charming niece yesterday,
and had induced her to promise to come to them on this,
her brother's birthday. And she hoped Miss Barry had
not quite forgotten her, but would remember that she was
quite an old friend, and let her come and see her soon.

It was a pretty little note, and delighted Miss Barry, yet
Susan found no pleasure in it, and now sits glum and
miserable.

44 Go ! " cries Betty. " I should think so. Oh, you
lucky girl."

41 Would you like to go, Betty, if it were your case f "
this wistfully. Oh, that it were Betty's case I

44 Is there anything on earth that would keep me away,"
cries Betty, enthusiastically. " What fun you will have
there. I know by Lady Forster's eyes that you are safe to
have a good time. I think," gloomily, " she might have
asked me too."

44 1 wish she had," says Susan, fervently. 44 If— I had
one of you with me I should not feel half so nervous."

44 What makes you nervous f " asks Carew.

44 Well, they are all strangers for one thing — and besides,"
rather shamefacedly, t4 they will be very big people, of
course, and at luncheon there will be entrees, and dishes,

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 273

and things I have never even heard of, and," almost tear-
fully now, " I shan't know what to do."

" There are only two things to be remembered really,"
says Mr. Fitzgerald, slowly, but forcibly. " One is not to
pick your teeth with your fork, and the other is even more
important. For goodness sake, Susan, whatever you do,
don't eat your peas with your knife. All that sort of
thing has gone out. Has been unfashionable for quite a
year or more."

" Oh, it's all very well for you to make fun of it," says
Susan, resentfully. " You haven't to go there."

" And is that what you call * well for me ? ' I wish I
was going there, if only to look after your manners, which,
evidently by your own account of them, leave a great deal
to be desired. By-the-bye, there is one thing more I should
like to impress upon you before you start. Never, Susan —
no matter how sorely tempted — put your feet on the table
cloth. It is quite a solecism nowadays, and "

" If you won't go away, I shall," says Susan, rising with
extreme dignity. But he leans forward, and catching the
tail of her gown just as she is gaining her feet, brings her
with a jerk to her sitting position again. After which they
all laugh irrepressibly, and the emeute is at an end.

" What a lot of servants they had in church," says
Betty, alluding to the all-absorbing guests at the Pad*.
" I suppose that tall woman was Lady Forster's maid ? "

" Yes, and the little woman was Mrs. Prior's. By-the-
way, that squares matters. Mrs. Prior has grown several
yards since last year."

" It seemed to me that each maid sat behind her own
mistress."

" So as to keep her eye on her. And very necessary too,
no doubt."

"Did you see that pale young man, ever so thin and
wretched-looking, but so conceited ? His hair was nearly
down to his waist, and he hadn't any chin to speak o&"

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274 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

"Oh that," cries Betty, eagerly. "That's the poet.
Yes, he is, Susan. He's a real poet. Miss Ricketty told
me about him yesterday. He has written sonnets and
whole volumes of things, and is quite a poet. Miss Rick-
etty says that's why his hair grows like that."

" Samson must have been the laureate of his time," says
Dominick, thoughtfully.

" So that was the poet," says Susan, who had heard of
his coming from Crosby. " Well, he certainly looked
queer enough for anything. I wonder," nervously," who
was the tall girl sitting next to Mr. Crosby."

This was the tall girl whom Crosby had driven away.

" I don't know," says Betty. " Wasn't she pretty f
And wasn't she beautifully dressed? Oh, Susan, didn't
you want to see yourself in a gown like that ? "

" No," says Susan, shortly.

" Well, I did. I wanted to know how I'd look."

" As if you didn't know," says Dominick, encouragingly.
44 Like Yenus herself 1 "

"I never heard she had her frocks from Paris," says
Betty, crunching up an unkind little shoulder against him*

44 You've heard so little, you see," says Dom, with gentle
protest. " Now, as a feet, Venus had her frocks made
by »

" Well f " with a threatening air.

44 Miss Fogerty," naming Betty's own dressmaker.

44 Pshaw ! " says that slim damsel, contemptuously.
44 However, Susan, that girl was pretty anyway. I wonder
who she was ? Had she a maid, I wonder ? There was a
dark-looking woman amongst the servants farther on. Just
behind the poet. Perhaps it was hers."

" Oh, no," says Dom, gravely. 44 That was his."

44 His ?"

44 The poet's. Yes."

44 Nonsense 1 " says Betty. " What would he want »
maid for?"

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THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 275

u To comb his locks and copy his sonnets, 1 ' says Dom,
without blinking.

" Nonsense ! Men don't have maids," says Betty, who
seems to know all about it.

" Oh, here is someone from the Park," cries Jacky,
suddenly.

" Is it Mr. Crosby or Lady Forster? " asks Susan, anx-
iously.

" Both of 'em," says Jacky, in his own* sweet laconic style.

The smart little cart, with its wonderful pair of ponies,
rattles up to the door, and Miss Barry, who had known that
someone would come to fetch Susan, and had therefore put
on her best bib and tucker, emerges from the flower-crowned
porch of the rectory to receive Lady Forster, her old face
wreathed in smiles. It is sweet to her to see Susan ac-
cepted, admired by the Park people. " Our own sort of
people," thought the poor old maid proudly, who had strug-
gled with much poverty all her life.

And Lady Forster was quite charming to her. Insisted
on going to see the old garden again, " which she quite re-
membered." Lady Forster had never stuck at a tarradid-
dle or two, and was, after seeing it, genuinely enthusiastic
over its old-fashioned charms. Might she bring her friends
to see it? They had never, never seen anything so lovely I
It would be a charity to show them something human, these
benighted town people. To hear her, one would imagine
she despised the town herself, whereas, as a feet, she could
never live for six months out of it.

Miss Barry was elated — so elated indeed that she took a
dreadful step. She invited Lady Forster, and all her
friends, to tea next Friday, without a thought as to the
consequences — until afterwards! Lady Forster accepted
the invitation with effusion. There was no getting out of
it Miss Barry felt during that dreadful " afterwards."

Meantime Susan had found herself, comparatively speak-
ing, alone with Crosby, when she came downstairs, after

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276 THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT.

putting on her best gown and hat. She had brought some-
thing with her besides the best gown and hat ; a little silken
bag, made out of a bit of lovely old brocade she had begged
from Miss Barry a month ago. She had cut it out, and
stitched it, and filled it with lavender seeds, and worked on
it at odd moments when no one but Betty could see her (she
was afraid of the boys' jokes) the words " Mr. Crosby, from
Susan."

At first she had thought of buying something for him —
something at Miss Ricketty's, who really had, at times,
quite wonderful things down from Dublin, but her soul re-
volted from that. What could she buy him that he would
care for ? And besides, to buy a thing for a person one
likes, and one who had been so good to Bonnie I No. She
could not. It seemed cold, unkind. So she decided on the
little bag that was to lie in his drawer and perfume his
handkerchiefs, and tell him sometimes of her — yes — her
love for him! Because she did love him, if only for his
goodness to the children, and to her Bonnie first of all.

She had been afraid to run the gauntlet of the boys' criti-
cisms, but Betty she clung to. A confidante one must have
sometimes, or die I

" You know he told me, Betty, when his birthday would
be."

" Yes. So clever of him," said Betty, who, if she were
at the point of death, could not have refrained from a joke.

" Well, he has been good to the chicks, hasn't he ? To
darling Bonnie especially."

" Oh, he has — he has indeed," Betty declared, remorse-
fully, melting at the thought of the little crippled brother
who is so inexpressibly dear to them all.

Betty had hurried up with Susan to get her into her best
things, and then had given her sound advice.
" Give it to him now, Susan. Lady Forster," glancing

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 277

out of the window, " is talking to Aunt Jemima. Hurry
down and give it to him at once. It is the sweetest bag.
No one," giggling, " can say less than that for it. It's quite
crammed with lavender."

" Yes, I will," says Susan, valiantly.

She doesn't, however. She hesitates, and is, as usual,
lost. She tries and tries to take that little bag out of her
pocket, and give it to him, but courage fails her. And
presently Lady Forster carries her off, and now the Park is
reached, and she finds herself in the lovely, sunny drawing-
room, and, after a while, in the dining-room, and still that
little fragrant bag lies perdu.

Susan glances shyly round her. Sir William Forster, a
tall young man, with a kindly eye, takes her fancy at once,
and there is a big girl over there and a big woman here,
(they must be mother and daughter), who make her wonder
a great deal about their strange garments. Mrs. Prior is
here too, and Miss Prior — Mr. Wyndham's people. And at
the opposite side of the table Mr. Wyndham himself! Be-
side him sits the poet, a lachrymose young man with long
hair, and a crooked eye, and the name of Jones. No won-
der he looks depressed.

He has got his best eye fixed immovably on Susan, who
seems to appeal even to his high ideal of beauty — and in-
deed throughout the day, she suffers a good deal, off and
on, from his unspoken but quite open adoration of her.
Poets never admire. They adore. And for a simple coun-
try maiden this style is somewhat embarrassing. On Mr.
Crosby's right hand is sitting the tall and beautiful girl,
with the pale roses near her throat, with whom he had
driven home from church on Sunday. It seems all quite
clear to Susan. Yes, this is the. girl he is going to marry.
But a girl so beautiful as that could make anyone happy.
She had heard someone call her Lady MurieL Rank and
beauty and sweetness — all are for him. And surely he de-
serves them all ; and that is why she is at his right hand.

278 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

" Thou didst delight mine ear,
Ah ! little praise thy voice,
Makes other hearts rejoice,
Makes all ears glad that hear,
And shoot my joy. Bat yet,
O song, do not forget."

Susan is seated beside a very fashionably dressed girl,
with an extremely good-humored face, and Captain Lennox
— a man of about thirty or thereabouts — who seems to find
pleasure in an every two-minutes contemplation of her
young and charming face. In this, the good-humored look-
ing girl — Miss Forbes is not a whit behind Captain Lennox,
she too seeming to be delighted with Susan. And indeed
everyone seems to have fallen in love with pretty Susan,
because presently the stately young beauty sitting next to
Crosby, and who had come in a little late for luncheon,
whispers something to him, and then looks smilingly at
Susan. Crosby, in answer to her words, says quietly —

" Susan — Lady Muriel Kennedy is very anxious to know
you. Miss Barry, Lady Muriel."

" I went past your charming old home yesterday," says
Lady Muriel, in tones barely above a whisper, but which
seems to carry a long distance. " I quite wanted to go in,
but I was afraid."

" Well, you'll be able to satiate your curiosity on Friday,"
says Lady Forster, " as we have been asked to tea on that
day at the rectory."

" How delightful," says Lady Muriel.

" Your house is quite close to the Cottage, is it not, Miss

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 279

Barry ? " asks Mrs. Prior. " My nephew's place, you know,''
nodding at Wyndham, who changes color perceptibly.
Good heavens. What is going to happen next.

u Yes," says Susan ; " only the road divides us."

" Then you can tell us about Mr. Wyndham 's new tenant.
You," smiling archly, " are quite an old friend of m} r
nephew's, eh ? " It is quite safe to make a jest of the friend-
ship with this insignificant little country girl, as, of course,
Paul, or any other man of consequence, would not waste a
thought over her.

" Almost, indeed," says Susan. " But as to the tenant — "

Crosby drops a spoon, and Susan a little startled turns her
head. It it not on him, however, her eyes rest, but on
Wyndham, who is looking at her with a strange expression.
Is it imploring ? despairing ? or what 1 It checks her at all
events.

" I know very little," she murmurs, faintly.

"Been flirting with him," thinks Mrs. Prior promptly.
" All country girls are so vulgar. Any new man. . •
And I daresay this tenant of Paul's is by no means a nice
man either."

There might have been a slight awkwardness here, but
providentially Lady Forster, who is never silent for two
minutes together, breaks into the gap.

" What's this, George ? " asks she, peering into a dish be-
fore her. " Are you prepared to guarantee it. It's j'our
cook, you know, not mine. Looks dangerous, and there-
fore tempting; and anyway, one can only die once. N Ohl
is that you ? " to a late man who has strolled in. " Been
losing yourself as usual. Come over here, and sit beside
me, you innocent lamb," patting the empty chair near her,
" and I'll look after you. I'll give you one of these," point-
ing to the dish ; " I hate to die alone. What on earth are
they ? " glancing at the little brown curled-up things, that
seem filled with burnt crumbs. " Will they go off George ?
Bombs, eh ? "

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280 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Here the butler murmurs something to her in a discreet
tone.

" Oh ! Mushrooms ! Good gracious, then why don't they
try to look like them."

" Have you any brothers ? " asks Miss Forbes, turning to
Susan.

" Don't answer," says Captain Lennox. " She's always ask-
ing after one's brothers. Tell me, instead, how many sisters
you have. Much more interesting. I love people's sisters."

" I'm George's sister," says Lady Forster, glancing at
him thoughtfully.

" And my wife 1 " says Sir William, with such an over
assumption of martial authority that they all laugh, and his
wife throws a pellet of bread at him.

Susan grows thoughtful — filled with a slight amazement.
She had been nervous, almost distressed at the idea of hav-
ing to lunch at the Park. Its habitues, she told herself,
would be very grand folk, and clever, and learned, and
would talk very far above her little countrified head. And
now, how is it ? Why, after all, they are more like Dom in •
his queerest moods than anything else.'

41 What shall we do after luncheon ? " says Lady Forster.
" I am willing to chaperone anybody." She glances at
Lady Muriel, and Susan intercepts the glance.

Is it Lady Muriel and Mr. Crosby, she is thinking of
chaperoning ?

% " Oh, I like your idea of supervision," says the Guards-
man who had come in late, and who was called Lord Jack
by everybody, only because, as Susan discovered afterwards,
his name was Jack Lord. This naturally was inevitable.
" You once undertook to chaperone me, and let me in for
about the most risqu6 situation of my like. I came out of
it barely alive, and very nearly maimed."

" Yes — I don't think Katherine would make a very ex-
cellent chaperone," says Mrs. Prior, who likes Crosby, but
cordially detests his sister.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 281

" What a slander," cries Lady Forster ; " easy to see you
don't understand me ! I'm a splendid cbaperone. A born
one. Always half a mile ahead — or else in the rear. One
should always be ahead if possible, as it gives the poor crea-
tures a chance of getting up to you in an honorable way, if
the enemy should come in sight. Whereas the turning and
running back business always looks so bad. No, better be
in front of them. I'm going to write a little treatise on the
art of chaperoning for all right-minded married women —
and I hope you will accept a copy, dear Mrs. Prior ? "

" I don't expect I shall get one," says Mrs. Prior, with a
distinct sneer.

" Oh, you shall indeed. Honest Injun," says Lady
Forster. " You'll be delighted with it."

" I feel sure of that," says Captain Lennox in an aside to
Miss Forbes. t

" But really what shall we do this afternoon, George f "
asks his sister, " ride — drive ? " She has left her seat and
has perched herself on the arm of the handsome old chair
in which her husband is sitting at the foot of the table.

" What about the Abbey, Bill ? " asks Crosby, addressing
his brother-in-law.

" No use in asking ' Billee Barlow ' anything," says that
young man's wife. " He hasn't an idea on earth. Have
you Billee J And the Abbey is miles off, and — Do you ride,
Susan? I am going to call you Susan if I may."

She pauses just long enough to give Susan time to smile
a pleased if shy assent.

" Susan is so pretty," says Captain Lennox, absently.

" Eh ? " says Crosby, quickly, and with a suspicion of a
frown.

" Very, very pretty," repeats Lennox, fervently.

Crosby glances at Susan. This absurd joke, this jest on
her name — with anyone else here it would be a jest only, but
Susan — would she. . . Her color is faintly, very faintly
accelerated, and she is looking straight at LennoxQ

283 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" My name ? " says she, taking up the meaning he had
not meant, " Do you really think it pretty. The boys and
Betty despise it."

Her gentle dignity goes home to all. Crosby is indignant
with Lennox, and, indeed, so is Sir William. Sir William's
wife, however, I regret to say is convulsed with laughter.

" It is certainly not a name to be despised," says Len-
nox, courteously, who is now a little ashamed of himself.

" I like to be called by my Christian name," says a
singularly young looking married woman. " Puts people out
so. They never know whether you are married or not for
the first half hour, at all events." They are now in a body
strolling into the drawing-rooms, and Miss Forbes has gone
back to her cross-examination of Susan.

" Four brothers ? So many ? And all grown up f "

" Oh, no 1 Carew is the eldest, and he is only seventeen.
But we have a cousin living with us, and he is twenty."

" What lovely ages," cries Lady Foster. " George why
didn't you tell me about Susan's boys ? Tou know I adore
boys. Susan, you must bring them up to-morrow. Do you
hearf"

" They will be so glad," says Susan ; " do you know,"
blushing shyly and divinely, " they were quite envious of
me because I was coming here to-day."

" Oh ! why didn't you bring them with you. Seventeen
and twenty ! The nicest ages in the world."

" Certainly not the nicest," says Lennox, who is a born
tease. " You, Miss Barry," looking at Susan, " are thir-
teen, aren't you ? "

"Oh, no. Much, much more than that/' says Susan,
laughing. Strangely enough she had begun to feel quite a
liking for her tormentor — divining with the wisdom of youth
that his saucy sallies are filled with mischief only — and no
venom. " I was eighteen last May."

" How very candid," says Miss Prior, whose own age is
growing uncertain, and who is feeling a little bitter over the

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 283

attention paid to Susan. If Paul should prove unconstant,
there is always the master of the Park to fall back upon, or
so she has fondly hoped till now. But there is no denying
the fact that Crosby has been very anxious all this after-
noon about Susan's happiness.

"Nonsense!" says Lennox. "Tell that to well, to

somebody else."

" But that's what I am really," says Susan, who is
secretly disgusted at being thought thirteen. " I was born
in—"

" Don't tell that," says Lady Forster, putting up her
finger. " It will be fatal twenty years hence."

" Still* I'm not thirteen," says Susan, with gentle protest.
" And I think anyone could see that I'm not."

"I could, certainly," says Crosby, coming to the rescue.
" In my opinion anyone that looked at you would know at
once that you were forty."

At this they laugh, and Susan casts her so very unusual
ire behind her.

" You will bring up the boys to-morrow, then 1 " says
Lady Forster, who is always chattering. " And we'll go
for a long drive ; and have a gipsy tea. That will be better
than nothing. And as we go, Susan shall show us the bits.
No use in depending on George for that. He knows noth-
ing of the scenery round here, or any other scenery for the
matter of that, except African interiors, kraals, and nasty
naked nigger women, and that. So immodest of him. Hell
come to grief some day. We can go somewhere for a gipsy
tea to-morrow, can't we George. I'm dying to light a fire."

" What, another I " says Lord Jack, regarding her with a
would-be, woe begone air. He lays his hand lightly on his
heart.

" It's going to rain I think," says Sir William presently,
who is standing in one of the windows.

" * Ruin seize thee, ruthless king,' " exclaims Miss Forbes.
"WhatathiBgtosay."

284 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" It always rains in Ireland, doesn't it ? " says Lady
Muriel, in her soft low voice.

" Oh, no. No, indeed 1 " cries Susan eagerly. " Does it
Mr. Crosby f "

" Certainly not. Lady Muriel must prolong her stay
here," smiling at the beautiful girl leaning in a picturesque
attitude against' the window shutter, " and take back with
her a more kindly view of our climate."

Tes. It is quite settled, thinks Susan. He loves her,
and she — of course she loves him. And he wants her to
prolong her stay, most naturally. And most naturally, too,
he would like her to take back to England, a kindly impres-
sion of her future home, of her future climate. Oh ! how
pretty ; how lovely she is !

Heavily, heavily beat the raindrops on the window
pane.

" Never mind," says Lady Forster, who nothing daunts.
" We'll have a dance. You love dancing Susan, don't you ?
Come along then. Take your partners all, and let's waltz
into the music-room."

In a second Susan finds Captain Lennox's arm round
her waist, and through the halls and the library, they dance
right into the music-room beyond. After her, Crosby, with
Lady Muriel come, and after them Lady Forster with — no,
not Lord Jack after all — but Sir William.

And now the big woman whom Susan had noticed at
luncheon has seated herself at the piano, and the poet has
caught up a fiddle, and if the big woman can do nothing
else on earth she can at least play dance music to perfec-
tion, and the poet " poor little fellow," as Susan calls him
to herself: (if he could only have heard her !) does not
make too many false notes on the fiddle, so that she dances
very gaily, feeling as if her feet are treading on air, and
answering Captain Lennox's whispered, honeyed words with
soft smiles, and hurried breathing. Oh, how lovely it all
is ! And, oh ! how happy Lady Muriel is going to 1

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THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 285

The waltz has come to an end, and now Crosby is stand-
ing before her. And now his arm is round her waist, and
he — oh, yes, there is no doubt of it — he dances even better
than Captain Lennox, and it is good of him, too, to spare
so much time from the lovely Lady Muriel.

" Susan," says Crosby as they pause at the end of the
room, " I consider your conduct distinctly immoral I The
way you have been going on "

"Who. I?"

" Yes, you ! Don't attempt to deny it. Your open flirta-
tion with Lennox "

" What ? " Susan lifts her dewy eyes to his. Suddenly
she breaks into the merriest laughter. " You're too funny
for anything," says she.

" Not for another dance, I hope." He laughs too, and so
gaily. • And again his arm is round her, and away they go
once more, dancing to the big lady's happiest strains.
There is a conservatory off the music-room, and into this he
leads her presently.

" You have no flowers," says he. " I must give you
some. These roses will suit you."

" They suit Lady Muriel too," says Susan, remembering.

"Yes? Oh! yes. I gave them to her this morning.
Well, it shan't be roses then. These pink begonias f "

" I should like those better," says Susan ; she takes them
tranquilly. It was, of course, quite right that he should
wish to give her flowers, different from those he had just
given his fiancee. She had reminded him just in time.

Crosby had been thankful for her suggestion, but for
very different reasons. He had forgotten about Lady
Muriel's roses, and to give her the same

14 The rain is clearing away," says he, looking out of the
window. " Still," as if to himself) " I think we had better
take an umbrella.' 9

44 An umbrella?"

44 On our way home."

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296 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" Mr. Crosby," eagerly, " you need not take me home.
You must not. There is really no necessity. Oh I "
anxiously, thinking of Lady Muriel and his desire to be
with her, u I hope you won't come."

" That is not very civil, Susan, is, it?" says he, smil-
ing. He pauses and looks sullenly at her, a new expres-
sion growing in his eyes. " Of course, if you have ar-
ranged to go home with anyone else "

" No. No, indeed. But to take you away from your
guests "

M My guests will live without me for half an hour I have
no doubt." His tone is quite its old joyous self again.
" And I promised your aunt to see that you got safely back
to her, and, as the children say, ' a promise is a promise.'
Here are your begonias. Shall I fasten them in for you ? "

He arranges them under her pretty chin, she holding up
her head to let him do it, and then they go back to the
music-room, where Sir William catches him and carries him
off for something or other. Susan, sinking into a chair, •
finds Josephine Prior almost immediately beside her.

" Those pretty begonias ! " says she. " How they suit
you, though hardly your frock. Of course" — with ele-
phantine archness — u I need not ask who gave them to you.
Mr. Crosby is always showering little favors on his women
friends. Those roses to Lady Muriel " — Susan holds her
breath a moment — " and these begonias to you, and opera
tickets to others, and last night such a delicious box of
marron glaces to me." She forgets to add that he gave a
similar box to each of his lady guests, having run up to
Dublin in the morning and brought them back with him
from Mitchell's.

" I declare the sun is coming out at last," says Lady
Forster. " It is going to be a glorious evening. What a
swindle ! We have been quite done out of our day. I do
call that maddening. Never mind, we must make up for it
to-night. We will have — what shall we have, Dolly f " to

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 287

Miss Forbes, " a pillow scuffle ? Yes. That will be the
very thing. And, Susan, you shall stay and sleep and help
us. And we'll get the boys up. They would be splendid
at it, and give even us points, I shouldn't wonder."

" I have promised Miss Barry," says Crosby, in a dis-
tinct tone, " to take Susan home this evening at six, and
I'm afraid it is rather after that now. Will you go and
put on your hat, Susan f "

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288 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XL.

" Heart'aease I found where Love-lies-bleeding
Empurpled all the ground,
Whatever flower I missed unheeding
Heart'aease I found. 11

The day is still lingering, but one can see that night is
beginning to coquet with it. Tender shadows lie here and
there in the corners of the curving road and in and among
the beech trees that overhang it birds are already rustling
with a view to slumber. The soft coo-coo of the pigeon
stirs the air, and on the river down below.

44 Now winding bright and full with naked banks," the
first faint glimmer of a new moon is falling — falling — as
though sinking through it, to a world beneath.

44 What are you thinking of, Susan f " asks Crosby, at
last, when the sound of their feet upon the road has been
left unbroken for quite five minutes. Susan had chatted to
him quite gaily all down the avenue, and until the gates
were left behind, but after that she had grown — well —
thoughtful.

44 Thinking ? " she looks up at him as if startled out of a
reverie.

44 Yes. What have you been thinking of so steadily for
the past five minutes ? "

Thus brought to book, Susan gives him the truest an-
swer.

44 1 was thinking of Lady Muriel Kennedy. I was think-
ing that I had never seen anyone so beautiful before."

44 That's high praise."

"You think so too ?"

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 289

" Well — hardly. She is handsome, very handsome, but
not altogether the most beautiful person I have ever seen."

" To me she is," says Susan, simply.

" That only shows to what poor use you have put your
looking-glass," says he, and Susan laughs involuntarily as
at a most excellent joke. Crosby glancing at her, and
noting her sweet unconsciousness, feels a strong longing to
take her hand and draw it within his arm, and hold it, but
from such idyllic pleasures he refrains.

The dusky shades are growing more pronounced now.
" Eve saddens into night." The long and pretty road, bor-
dered by overhanging trees, though still full of light just
here, looks black in the distance and overhead,

" The pale moon sheds a softer day,
Mellowing the woods beneath its pensive beam."

After a little silence Susan turns her head and looks
frankly at him.

" Are you going to be married to her ? " asks she, gently
and quite naturally.

" What ! " says Crosby. He is honestly amazed and con-
scious of some other feeling too, that brings a pucker to his
forehead. " Good heavens, no — what put that into your
head?"

" I don't know. I — " she has grown all at once con-
fused, and a pink flush is warming her cheek. " Of course
I shouldn't have asked you that. But she is so lovely, and
I thought — I fancied — I am afraid," her eyes growing
rather misty as they meet his in mute appeal, " you think
me very rude."

" I never think you anything but just what you are,"
says Crosby, slowly. " I wonder if you could be rude if
you tried, I doubt it. However, don't try. It would spoil
you. As for Lady Muriel, she wouldn't look at me."

Susan remains silent, pondering over this. Would he
look at her f

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290 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" Should you like her to ? " asks she at last.
* " To look at me f " Crosby is now openly amused.
" The cat may look at the king, you know."

" Oh, but she—"

" Is not the cat? That's rude anyway. Susan, I take
back all the handsome things I said of you just now. So
I'm the cat and she is the queen, I suppose. Well, no ; I
don't want Queen Muriel to look at me. It would be
rather embarrassing, considering all things. She is a very
high and mighty young lady you know, and I'm terribly
shy. On the whole, Susan — " he pauses, and studies her
a minute, " I should prefer you to look at me."

His studying goes for naught : not a vestige of blush ap-
pears on Susan's face or any emotion whatever. His little
flattery had gone by her. " Oh, you know what I mean,"
says she.

" Do I f You are often very deep, you know ; but if you
mean that perhaps I should like to marry Lady Muriel.
Well, I shouldn't."

" How strange," says Susan. " I think if I were a man,
I should be dreadfully in love with her."

Crosby laughs.

" So you think you could be dreadfully in love f " says ho

Susan's lips part in a little smile.

" Oh, not as it is. I was only thinking of Lady Muriel.

. . . and you — that you ought to be. . "

11 Dreadfully in love t How do you know I am not —
with somebody else ? "

She shakes her head.

" No, you are not," says she. " After all, I think you
are just as little likely to be dreadfully in love with anyone
as I am."

" Susan ! You are growing positively profound," says
he.

They are now drawing near to the rectory gates, and
Susan's fingers are stealing into her pocket, and out agam-^i

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 291

with ' nervous rapidity. Oh, she must give it to him now,
or never. To-morrow it will be too late. One can't give a
birthday gift the day after the birthday. But it is such a
ridiculous little bag, and she has seen so many of his pres-
ents up at the Hall — and all so lovely, and in such good
taste. Stilt, to let him think, after all his kindness, that
she had not even remembered his birthday.

" Mr. Crosby," says she, and now the hand that comes
from the pocket has something in it. " I — all day, I " —
tremulously — " have been wanting to give you something
for your birthday. I know," she pauses, and slowly and
reluctantly — and in a very agony of shyness, now holds out
to him the little silken bag filled with fragrant lavender.
u I know " — tears filling her eyes — " after what I saw to-
day . . . those other gifts — that it is not worth giving,
but — I made it for you."

She holds it out to him, and Crosby, who has colored a
dark red, takes it from her, but never a word comes from
him.

The dear, darling child 1 To think of her having done
this for him ! ... To Susan bis silence sounds fetal.

" Of course," says she, " I knew you wouldn't care for it.
But "

11 Care for it ! Oh, Susan ! To call yourself my friend,
and so misjudge me 1 I care for it a good deal more, I can
tell you, than for all those other things up there put to-
gether."

There is no mistaking the genuine ring in his tone. In-
deed his delight and secret emotion amasses even himself!
Susan's spirits revive.

" Oh, no," protests she.

" Yes, though. No one else," says Crosby, " took the
trouble to make me anything 1 That's the difference, you
see. To make it for me — with your own hands. It is easy
to buy a thing — there is no trouble there." He looks at
her present, turning and twisting it with unmistakable

292 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

gratification. " What a lovely little bag, and filled with
lavender, eh ? "

" It is to put in your drawer with your handkerchiefs,"
says Susan, shyly still ; but she is smiling now, and looking
frankly delighted. " Betty made me one last year, and 1
keep it with mine."

" So we have a bag each," says Crosby, and somehow he
feels a ridiculous pleasure in the knowledge that he, and
she, have bags alike, and that both their handkerchiefs will
be made sweet with the same perfume. And now his eyes
fall on the worked words, that lie criss-cross in one of the
corners,

" Mr. Crosby, from Susan."

" Do you mean to say you actually did that too? " asks
he, with such extreme astonishment, that Susan grows ac-
tually elated.

" Oh, yes," says she, taking a modest tone, though her
conceit is rising, " it is quite easy."

" To me it seems impossible. To do that — and only with
one's fingers. It beats typewriting," says he. " It is
twice as legible. Do you mean to say you wrote — worked,
I mean — that with a common needle and thread ? "

" I did indeed," says Susan, earnestly, whose heart again
knows a throb of exultation. Why, if he could only see
the cushion she worked for Lady Millbank's bazaar !

" It must have taken a long time," says he, thoughtfully.
And then, " And to think of you doing it for me ! "

"Oh, for you," says Susan. "You who have been so
kind to us all ! I," growing shy again, " I am very glad
you really like that little bag ; but it is nothing — nothing.
And I was delighted to make it for you, and to think of
you all the time as I made it."

"Were you, Susan?" says Crosby, as gratefully as
possible, though he feels his heart in some silly way is sink-
ing.

" I was, I was indeed I " says Susan openly, emphatically.

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 293

44 So you must not trouble yourself about that." Crosby's
heart foils another fathom or two.

" I'll try not to," says he, with a somewhat melancholy
reflection of his usual light-heartedness. They had ar-
rived at the gate now, and Susan holds out her hand to
him.

" Remember you have promised to bring up the boys to-
morrow for their gipsy tea," says he, holding it.

" Yes." She hesitates and flushes warmly. " Might I
bring Betty,'too?"

" Why, of course," eagerly. " Give my love to her, and
tell her from — my sister that we can't have a gipsy tea with-
out her."

" And Lady Forster ? " Susan grows uncertain about the
propriety of asking Betty without Lady Forster's consent.

" Now, Susan ! As if you aren't clever enough to know
that Eatherine delights in nothing so much as young people
— she's quite as young as the youngest herself— and that
she will be only too pleased to see a sister of yours."

There is emphasis on the last word.

" You think then she likes me ? " Susan's tone is anxious.

" I think she has fallen in love with you." She smiles
happily and moves a step away. But his voice checks her.

44 Not the only one either, Susan."

44 Oh, not Captain Lennox again. I have had one lecture."
Susan looks really saucy, for once in her life, and alto-
gether delightful, as she defies him from under her big straw
hat.

44 No, I was thinking of "

44 Yes? "gaily.

44 Never mind."

He turns and walks away, and Susan laughing to her-
self at his inability to accuse her further runs down the lit-
tle avenue to her home. There is a rush from the lawn as
she comes in sight.

44 Oh, there you are Susan ! "

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294 . THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" How did it go off? "

" Were they all nice ? Were you nervous 1 "

" Is the house lovely ? "

" Oh it is," says Susan, now having reached a seat, and
feeling a little consequential with all of them sitting round
her and waiting on her words. " You never saw such a
house t Much, much more beautiful than Lady Millbank's."

" Well, we all know it's twice — four times the size, but
.Lady Millbank's furniture was "

" Oh I That's all changed. Mr. Crosby has furnished
his house all over again from beginning to end. Of course
we've been through it many times when he was away, but •
now you wouldn't know it. It appears he has had things
stored up after his travels — left in their cases, indeed — that
lately have been brought to light. The drawing-room is
perfect, and — the pictures "

" And the people ? " asks Betty, impatiently, who is dis- .
tinctly material.

" Very, very nice too. That is most of them. Miss
Prior was there. She — well, I can't bring myself to like
her."

u What did she do to you ? " asks Dom.

" Oh, nothing ; nothing really, only "

" That's enough," says Carew. " You didn't hit it off
with her evidently. ' r

Susan hesitates, and as usual is lost.

" I can't bear her," says she.

" And that lovely girl who drove home with Mr. Crosby f "
asks Betty.

" Ah, she is even lovelier than I thought," says Susan,
with increased enthusiasm. She finds it quite easy to praise
her now. " And so charming. She wished particularly to
be introduced to me, and — "

" Did she ? " from Betty. " What a good thing that she
likes you. If she marries Mr. Crosby she may be very use-
ful to us."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 295

" I don't think she's going to marry him/' says Susan,
thoughtfully.

"No?" with growing interest. "They," casting back
her thoughts, " looked very like it on Sunday. How do you
know ? "

" I asked him," says Susan, simply.

" What ! " They all sit up in a body. " You— asked
him ? "

" Yes. Does it sound dreadful ? " Poor Susan grows
very red. " It," nervously, " didn't sound a bit dreadful
when I did it. And," desperately, " I did anyway."

" It wasn't a bit dreadful," says Carew, good-naturedly.

" Not a bit. Go on, Susan," Dom regards her with large
encouragement. " Did you ask him any more questions f
Did you ask him if he would like to marry you f There
wouldn't be a bit of harm in that either, and — "

" Dominick t " says Susan in an outraged tone.

Here Betty promptly catches his ear, and pulling him
down beside her begins to pummel him within 'an inch of his
life.

" Never mind him, Susan. He's got no brains. They
were left out when he was born. Tell us more about your
luncheon party."

" There is so little to tell," says Susan, in a subdued voice.
Her pretty color has died away, and she is looking very pale.

" What about the poet t "

" Oh I the poet. His name is Jones ; of all the names in
the world."

Here she revives a little, and at certain recollections of
the illustrious Jones, in spite of herself her smiles break
forth again. " He," she bursts out laughing. " It sounds
horribly conceited, but I really think he believes he is in
love with me. Such nonsense, isn't it ? "

(Oh ! too pretty Susan ! who wouldn't be in love with
you!)

" I don't know about that," says Dom, who has escaped

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296 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

from Betty 's wrathful hands and is prepared to go any
length to prevent a recurrence of the late ceremonies. " He
might do worse ! "

44 And so the house is lovely," says Betty, with a regret-
ful sign. Now if only they would ask her there ; but of
course nobody remembers second girls.

" Yes, lovely. The halls are all done up ; and there are
paintings on the walls, and as for the marbles they are ex-
quisite ! "

" Nice simple people apparently," says Dom. " Were
they glass or stone, Susan ? Alleys or stony taws ? Did
you have a game yourself? I'm afraid our education has
been a little neglected in that line— but still I can recollect
your doing a little flutter in the way of marbles about half
a decade or so ago ; and you won, too ? "

" I suppose you think you're funny," says Betty, which
is about the most damping speech that anyone can make,
but Mr. Fitzgerald is hard to damp. He gives her a re-
proachful glance and sinks back with the air of one thor-
oughly misunderstood.

44 For the matter of games I suppose they," Betty is
alluding to Mr. Crosby's guests, " wouldn't play one to
save their lives ; quite fashionable people, of course ! "
Betty plainly knows little of fashionable people. " Hardly
even tennis, I daresay. They would call that, no doubt,
fatiguing. Were they — were they very starchy ? "

44 So far from that," says Susan. 4t That — " she hesitates.
44 I'm almost sure I heard quite right — and certainly Lady
Forster asked Mr. Crosby to let me stay on this evening,
and sleep there, so that I might take part in — "

She pauses.

44 Private theatricals ? " cries Betty, excitedly.

44 No. I think it was a 4 Pillow Scuffle ' they called it."

There is a solemn silence after this, and then —

44 A pillow scuffle ! " says Betty, faintly. 44 Are they so
nice as that f "

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THE PXOPESSO&S EXPERIMENT. 28*

" They are. They are very nice, just like ourselves."

This flagrant bit of self-appreciation goes for a wonder
unnoticed beneath the weight of the late announcement.

" Why on earth don't they ask us to go up," says Dom-
inick, who has many reasons for knowing he could do much
with a pillow.

" Well, they have asked you," cries Susan eagerly ; " not
for a pillow match, but for afternoon tea in the woods to-
morrow. She (Lady Forster) you know was delighted
when she heard of you boys, and she said I was to be sure
and bring you. And there is to be a fire lit, and — "

" Oh, Susan ! " cries Betty, in a deplorable tone, tears fast
rising to her eyes. " I think you might have said you had
a sister."

" So I did. So I did," eagerly ; " and you are to come
too; and — "

"Oh, no? not really."

"Yes, really."

"Oh, darling Susan I"

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868 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XLI.

u As long as men do silent go,
Nor faults nor merits can we know.
Yet deem not every still place empty,
A tiger may be met with, so."

Friday has dawned, and is as delightful a day as ever'
any miserable out-of-door entertainer can desire ; and Miss
Barry, in spite of her tremors, and her fears for the success
of this, her first big adventurous party, feels a certain sense
of elation. Yes, to-day she is going to entertain all the
party at the Park : yesterday the Park had entertained all
her young people. The good soul (so good in spite of her
temper and her peculiarities) has felt deep joy in the
thought the children had been not only invited, but actually
sought after, by all those fashionable folk up there, and
though she would have died rather than boast of it to her
neighbors, being too well-born for boasting of that kind,
still her own heart swelled with pride at the thought, that
in spite of their poverty, the children's birth had asserted
itself, and carried them through all difficulties, to the society
where they should be.

So happy has she been in her unselfish gladness, that she
has forgotten to scold one of them for quite ten hours.
And now Friday, the day of her coming triumph has ar-
rived, and she has risen almost with the sun that has
brought it. There is so much to be done you see : the best
tablecloths to be brought out, and the old Queen Anne tea-
pot to get a last rub, and all the cakes to be make I There
will be plenty of time for the baking of them before five

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o'clock, at which hour Lady Forster has arranged to come
with all her guests.

Susan and Betty have been busy with the drawing-room
— one of the smallest rooms on record — a fact, however,
made up for lavishly by the size of the furniture, which
would not have disgraced a salon. It is now, to confess the
truth, in the seer and yellow stage, and some of the chairs
have legs that are distinctly wobbly, and by no means to
be depended upon.

" Hurry up, Susan," says Betty. " The room will do
very well now, especially as no one will come into it. They
are sure to stay in the garden this lovely evening. Come
and see about the flowers for the table."

" Oh, look at that screen," cries Susan ; and indeed, as a
feet, it is upside down.

" Never mind ! Come on," says Betty impatiently, drag-
ging her away. " Even if it is the wrong way up it doesn't
matter. It looks twice as Japanesey that way. I wonder
if the boys have brought the fruit yet ? "

When first Dominick had heard of Miss Barry's intention
of giving a party for the Park people he had decided that
at all risks it should be a success. But his quarter's allow-
ance was, as usual, (he had received it only a month ago)
at death's door, and only thirty shillings remained of it.
He had at once written to his guardian saying circum-
stances over which he had no control — I suppose he meant
his inability to refrain from buying everything his eye lit
on — had made away with the sum sent last June, and he
would feel immensely obliged to Sir Spencer if he could let
him have a few pounds more, or even give him an advance
on his next allowance. The answer had come this morning,
had been opened hurriedly, but alas t had contained instead
of the modest cheque asked for, a distinct and uncompro-
mising " No."

" Mean old brute ! " said Dom indignantly, referring, I
regret to say, to his uncle. " I wrote to him for a bare

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300 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

fiver, and the old beast refuses to part. Never mind,
Susan ! We'll have our spread just the same. I've thirty
shillings to the good still, and that'll get us all we want."

" No, indeed, Dom," said Susan, flushing. " You mustn't
spend your last penny like that. We'll do very well as we
are, with auntie's cakes."

" We must have fruit," says Mr. Fitzgerald with deter-
mination. " Do you remember all those grapes yesterday,
and the late peaches and things ? " Indeed they had had a
most heavenly day yesterday — a distinctly rollicking day —
in the woods, and had played hide and seek afterwards
amongst the shrubberies, at which noble game Lady Forster
and Miss Forbes had quite distinguished themselves ; the
latter beating Dom ail to nothing in the dodging line, and
reaching the goal every time, without being caught. It
had been altogether a splendid romp, and the Barrys had
come home, flushed and happy, and with so much to tell
their aunt, that their words tumbled over each other, and
were hard to put together in any consecutive way. I think
Aunt Jemima was a little shocked when Betty told her that
Lady Forster had called Carew u a rowdy dowdy boy," but
she fortified herself with the thought that no doubt the
world had changed a good deal since she was a girl — as no
doubt it had. Anyway the children were delighted, and
Dominick felt that nothing they could do for the Park peo-
ple, and especially for that jolly Miss Forbes, could be good
enough*

" We must have some grapes," said he, " and even if it is
to be my last penny, Susan, I am sure I can depend on you
to patch up my old breeches so as to carry me with decency
if not with elegance through the next two months."

" But, Dom — I really don't think you should — *-"

" Never mind her," Betty had said promptly here, Betty,
who is devoid of any sort of false shame, and looks upon
Dom as a possession, " of course, we must have fruit."

" And those little cakes at Ricketty's, with chocolate on

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 301

them. Put on your hat, Betty, and come down town with
me, and well astonish the natives yet t "

But Betty had too much to do, and finally Carew had
gone off with Dom on their foraging quest, and now, as the
girls come out of the drawing-room, they meet the two boys
" laden with golden grain," like the " Argosy," and eager
to display their purchases.

Such grapes ! Such dear sweet little cakes ! They are
all enchanted ; and soon the table, delicately laid out in a
corner of the queer, pretty, old garden, is a sight to behold!
And beyond lies the tennis court — one only — but so beauti-
fully mown, and rolled ! looking like the priest of famous
history, all " Shaven and shorn."

• • • • • • •

" Didn't I tell you it was a perfect old garden ? " Lady
Forster is saying, addressing Lady Muriel, who is laughing,
quite immensely for her, at one of Carew's boyish jokes.
Lady Forster is dressed in one of her smartest gowns — a
mere trifle perhaps, but done to please, and therefore a
charming deed. And all her guests incited by her, no
doubt, have donned their prettiest frocks, so that Miss
Barry's garden at this moment presents a picture more
suggestive of a garden party at Twickenham than a quiet
tea on the grounds of an old Irish rectory.

" It is too pretty for anything," says Lady Muriel " I
wouldn't have missed it for a good deal I think it was
very kind of your aunt, Mr. "

" Carew ! " says he, quickly.

41 May I ? What a charming name 1 It was very kind
of your aunt, Carew," smiling, " to ask us here ! "

" It is very kind of you to come," says Carew.

" Do you run over to town ? " asks Lady Muriel It has
occurred to her that she would like to repay this pretty
kindness of Miss Barry.

" Oh, no," shaking his handsome head. And then frankly,
" We are too poor for that."

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302 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

il Ah ! your sister ought to come," says she. After -which
she grows thoughtful.

Crosby glances quickly at her. He had heard that last re-
mark of hers, and somehow resents it. Susan — in London.

He had taken his cup of tea from Miss Barry a little
\ while ago, and carried it to where Susan was sitting, throw-
: ing himself on the grass at her feet, his cup beside him.
Lady Muriel's words grate on him. He looks up now at
the pure proGle beside him, and wonders what would be the
result of starting Susan as a debutante in town under good
auspices. What ?

" You are thinking," says Susan, softly, breaking into his
reverie gently.

" Yes, I was thinking," He looks up at her. " If I said
of you, would you believe me? "

" Not a bit," gaily. " Anyone would say that."

"Would they?" His regard grows even more pro-
nounced. How many have said that to her ? How, indeed,
could anyone refrain from saying it ? and — he draws his
breath a little quickly here — as conviction forces itself on
him — and everyone with truth ! " Susan I This is dis-
graceful," says he, carelessly. " You must have had a long
list of flirtations to speak like that."

Susan laughs merrily. She is in high spirits. All is go-
ing so well, and even Lady Millbank has praised the tea-
cakes. Lady Millbank, who never praises anything ! But
to-day Lady Millbank has changed her tune. Perhaps no
one had been so astonished as she, to see all the Park peo-
ple here to-day in this quiet old garden. She had been
asked to meet them, of course, being a friend and distant
relation of the Rector's, but she had dreamed of seeing only
Lady Forster, for half-an-hour or so, as a concession to her
brother's parish priest, and now — now — here they all are !
All these smart people, who had refused to go to her only
the day before yesterday ! Now, horrid snob that she is,
she goes quite out of her way to be nice to the Barrys.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 303

" A disgraceful list, Indeed 1 " says Susan, laughing down
into Crosby's eyes. Oh ! what pretty eyes hers are I

" You acknowledge it, then."

" Certainly. It is a list so bare that one must be ashamed
of it. Not even one name ! "

" What about James, the redoubtable ? "

" Oh, if you are going to be stupid," says she, and rising
with a pretty show of scorn, she leaves him. It is not en-
tirely her scorn of him, however, that leads her to this
drastic step ; it is an appealing glance from Betty, who is
sitting near her aunt, looking perplexed in the extreme.
There is cause for perplexity. Next to Miss Barry sits the ,
poet ! Unfortunately Miss Barry had heard a great deal
about this young man and all his works, and plainly con-
siders it her duty to live up to him, if possible, during his
visit to the rectory. She has now put on quite a literary
air, and her best spectacles, and is holding forth on litera-
ture generally, with a view to impressing him. She suc-
ceeds beyond her expectations ! The great Jones, who is
reclining beside her in an artistic attitude, becomes by de-
grees smitten into stone, so great, so wondrously surprising
are some of her utterances. Through all his astonishment,
however, he holds on to the artistic pose. Having struck
it with the intention of conquering Susan, he refuses to
alter it until, at all events, she has had a good look. It may
be a long time, poor girl, before she will get the chance of
seeing anything like it again !

" What's the matter with his leg?" asks Dom, who has
just come up, in a whisper to Betty. " It's got turned
round, hasn't it?"

" It looks broken," says Betty. " But it's all right. It's
a way he has with it. For goodness sake, Dom, stop auntie,
if you can."

But auntie is enjoying herself tremendously, and now
seeing her audience greatly increased, and the poet evi-

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304 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

dently much struck, her voice rises higher, and she beams
on all around her.

44 My two favorite authors," she is now saying, " are —
and I'm sure you will agree with me, dear Lady Porster,
and you too, Mr. Jones. Your opinion," with alarming
flattery, " is indeed important. My two favorite authors
are, dear Wilkie Troilope and Anthony Collins 1 "

Great sensation 1 Naturally everyone is impressed by
this startling; declaration, and Miss Forbes is actually over-
come. At all events she subsides behind her parasol, and is
for a little time lost in thought.

14 Yes, yes. Charming people, charming ! " says Lady
Forster quickly, if a little hysterically, and the poet hav-
ing seen Susan's eye upon him and his pose, and feeling
that he has not endured the last half hour in vain, strug-
gles into a more every-day attitude. Pins and needles,
however, have set in, in the most pos£ of the legs, he is
conscious of a good deal of unpleasantness, and at last a
desire to get up. Essaying to rise, however, it distinctly
declines to support him, and to his everlasting chagrin, he
falls " plop " upon the ground again, in a painfully inartis-
tic position this time.

" Anything wrong, old man. Got a cramp ? " asks Cap-
tain Lennox, hauling him into sitting posture.

44 It is nothing, nothing," said the poet sadly. Oh I what
it is to dwell in the tents of the Philistines ! " I was
merely overcome by the beauty of this divine spot." He
gives a sickly glance at Susan. " Such tones you know I
Such color 1 Such a satisfying atmosphere ! "

Here Susan, who is under the impression that he is ill,
brings him hurriedly a cup of coffee, which he takes, press-
ing her hand, and murmuring to her inaudible, but no doubt
very " precious " things.

44 One yearns over the beautiful always," says he. It is
plain to everyone that he is yearning over Susan, and
Crosby looking on, feels a sudden mad longing to kick him

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over the laurel hedge on to the road below. " And such a
spot as this wakes all one's dreams into life. Those trees !
Those distant glimpses t The little soft throbs of Nature —
Mother Nature ! All, all can be felt 1 "

" I wish to heaven I could make him feel something t "
says Sir William in a low but moving tone.

" And there — over there. See those green glimpses.
The parting of the leaves."

" Oh, go on, go on," says Miss Barry, growing tearful
behind her glasses. " This is indeed beautiful ! " %

" Dear lady, you feel it too I There," pointing to where
the Cottage trees seem to become one with those of the
rectory — at which Wyndham starts slightly. " One can
see the delicate blendings of Nature's sweetest tints, and
can fancy that from between those pleasant leaves a face
might once again, as in the old sweet phantasies, peep forth.
This dear place looks as if Hamadryads had not yet died
from out the world : as if still they might be found inhabi-
tating these lovely ways. Almost it seems to me as if
their divine faces might even now be seen, peeping through
those perfumed greeneries beyond.' 9

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306 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER. XLIL

Involuntarily, unconsciously, all their eyes follow his, to the trees
in the Cottage grounds.
And there—

"All orators are dumb when beauty pleadeth."

" Spite is a little word, but it represents as strange a jumble of
feelings and compound of discords as any polysyllable in the lan-
guage."

A profound silence falls on the group. Captain Lennox,
whose eyeglass is immovably fixed on something in the dis-
tance, is the first to break it.

" Almost it does ! " says he, mimicking the poet's lachry-
mose drawl to a nicety. But no one laughs ; they are all
too engrossed with what they see, peeping out shyly from
between the branches of those trees below, that seem to be-
long to the rectory, meeting them as they do, and mingling
with them so closely, that one loses memory of the road
that runs between. " I feel as if I saw one now. How do
you feel, Forster ? "

Sir William laughs :

" A charming Hamadryad beyond dispute," says he.

Charming, indeed ! Crowned by the leaves that hang
above her head, Ella's lace is looking out at them, like some
lovely vision. Her face only can be seen, but that very
distinctly. To her, unfortunately, it had seemed quite cer-
tain that she could not be seen at all. It was so far away,
and they would be talking and thinking, and it was so hard
to resist the desire to see them. Carew had insisted on her
being asked to join their party, and Susan had begged and

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 307

implored, but Ella had steadfastly refused to accept the in-
vitation. And then Susan had remembered that strange
minute or two during her luncheon at the Park, and the
evident anxiety of Mr. Wyndham that Mrs. Prior should
know nothing about Ella, and had refrained from further
pressing.

Now again this uncertain certainty occurs to Susan, and
she makes a little eager gesture, hoping that Ella will see
her and take the hint, and go away. But alas ! Ella is not
looking at her, or at Carew, or anyone, except — strange to
say — at Mrs. Prior.

There is an intensity in her gaze that even at such a dis-
tance Susan, who is eminently sympathetic, divines.

" It's her bonnet ! " thinks Susan, hurriedly, who had in-
deed been immensely struck by Mrs. Prior's head garment
on her arrival. Such a tall aigrette 1 and such big wings
at the sides! Again she makes little passes in the air
meant for Ella's benefit, but again in vain. Turning with
a view to enlisting Carew's help, she finds herself close to
Wyndham.

His face is livid. He is indeed consumed with anger.
Good heavens, is the girl bent on his undoing ? Is she de-
termined wilfully to add to the already too risqu£ situation ?

" Carew might do something," whispers she to him,
softly. " He might run across and tell her she can be seen,
or "

She looks round for Carew, and Wyndham follows her
lead, to see Carew behind an escalonia bush, waving his
arms frantically in the air. There is intense anxiety in the
boy's air, but something else too. There is, as Wyndham
can see, heartfelt admiration ; and beyond all doubt the ad-
miration outweighs the anxiety. He is conscious of a sen-
sation of annoyance for a moment, then his thoughts come
back to the more pressing need. He looks at Susan, and
then expressively at Mrs. Prior, and Susan, in answer to
Ms evident entreaty, goes quickly to hgr. ?iz jgnd suggests

308 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

softly a little stroll through the old orchard, but Mrs. Prior
peremptorily puts her aside, and taking a step forward
comes up to Wyndham, and looks straight at him in a ques-
tioning fashion, at which, as though by the removal of Mrs.
Prior's eyes from hers, Ella all at once ceases to be under
some strange spell — the charming head between the syca-
more trees disappears from view, and no more is seen of
Mr. Jones' Hamadryad.

" Though lost to sight to memory dear ! " breathes Cap-
tain Lennox, sentimentally. " I feel I shall remember that
goddess of the grove as long as I live."

The tiny excitement is at an end for most of the guests,
and they are now chatting gaily again of petty nothings,
all except Mrs. Prior, who is still looking at Wyndham.

" Who is that girl f " asks she, in a low but firm tone.
Wyndham would have spoken, but Carew breaks angrily
into the conversation. His heart is sore, his boyish indig-
nation at its height. Surely there had been disrespect in
their tone as they spoke of Ella ! He had specially objected
to that word " Hamadryad."

" She is a young lady who has taken Mr. Wyndham's
cottage," says he, in his clear young voice, " and a friend
of my sister's."

" Oh, indeed ! " says Mrs. Prior. " I congratulate you,
Paul," turning a withering glance on him, " on your taste
in tenants ! "

The evening lights are falling, falling softly, tenderly,
but surely. The crows are sailing home to their beds in
the elm trees, cawing as they come. The tall hollyhocks
are growing indistinct, the tenderer colors fading into
white. There is a rising odor of damp, sweet earth upon
the air. Lady Forster is making little signs of departure,
not hurried signs by any means — she seems, indeed, rather
reluctant to say good-bye, but Mrs. Prior had said some-
thing to her, on which she had risen, the others following
her example. There is no doubt about Mrs. Prior's .

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to go. With her face set like a flint she is already bidding
Miss Barry a stiff farewell, and is waiting with ill-concealed
impatience for Lady Forster.

44 Good-bye, Susan," says Crosby, coming up at this mo-
ment to the slim maiden who bears that name. " Though
you deserted me so shamelessly a while ago I bear you no
ill-will. I understood the action. It was a guilty con-
science drove you to it. I asked you a simple question and
you refused to answer it. I ask it again now." A pause,
during which Susan taps her foot on the ground, and tries
to assume a puzzled air that would not have deceived a boy.
14 And you still refuse, Susan f " tragically. " Is it that
you can't ? "

44 Can't what ? " blushing fatally.

44 Can't say that the redoubtable James is nothing to you."

44 1 suppose you want to drive me away again," says Su-
san, demurely.

44 That subterfuge won't answer a second time. Don't
dream of it. If you attempt to fly me now I warn you that
I shall grapple with that blue tie round your neck, and —
you wouldn't like a scene, Susan, would you t Come, is he
nothing to you ? "

44 1 really wonder," says Susan, struggling with a desire
for laughter, that brightens up her pretty eyes, and curves
the corners of her lips, u that after all I have said before,
you should still persist in this nonsense."

44 That still is no answer. I don't even know if it is non-
sense. I begin to suspect you of being a diplomatist, Su-
san."

44 1 am not," says she, a little indignantly. " I am noth-
ing in the world but what you see ; just Susan Barry."

44 And that means — shall I tell you what that means ? "
He is smiling lightly, easily, but a good deal of heartfelt
passion can lie behind a smile. 44 Shall I ? "

This is another question. But Susan, softly glancing,
puts that question by.

310 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" What, no answer to anything ? "

" Not to silly things." She shakes her head. " Besides,

it's my turn now. Do you " she lays her hand lightly

on his arm and looks cautiously round her, " do you think
it— is all right ? "

" All right. How should I know ? You refuse to an-
swer me, and what do I know of James ? "

" Oh, oh, oh 1 " Her soft voice shows irritation, and her
hand trembles on his arm as if she would dearly like to
shake him. " I begin to hate James."

" Ah, now we get near the answer," said he. " I feel
better. Go on. What's to be all right ? "

" You saw Ella, Mr. Wyndham's tenant, you know, in
the tree over there a little time ago. What do you think
about it ? I thought Mrs. Prior looked put out. But what
can it matter to her who is living there ? Did she want the
Cottage ? "

" It seems a fair solution of the problem," says Crosby,
thoughtfully, and after all truthfully enough. Certainly
Mrs. Prior has worked for eighteen months not only for the
Cottage but for the owner of the Cottage and all the rest of
his possessions for her daughter.

" But she won't be disagreeable to poor Ella, will she ? "

" Won't she if she gets the chance," thinks Crosby.
" Must see that she doesn't get it, though."

" No, no, of course," out aloud.

" And you think it doesn't matter her being seen ; that
nothing- will come of it f "

" Only a most infernal row," thinks Crosby again.

" Naturally, nothing. Besides, Mrs. Prior is going home
to-morrow."

" Oh, I'm glad of that," says Susan. " I didn't like her
expression when she saw Ella. And now I must go, Lady
Forster wants to say good-bye to me." She turns, then
runs back again. " Oh, a moment. Tell me," looking at

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him eagerly, but shyly, " You— do you really think it has
gone off—well ? "

The eyes are so anxious that Crosby feels it is impossible
to jest here. This little party has seemed a great deal to
her ; quite a tremendous event in her calm, isolated life.

44 I heard Katherine say just now," says he, " that she
had never enjoyed herself so much in all her life 1 " And if
he hadn't heard Katherine say that, I hope it will be for-
given him.

" And — and the others f "

u The proof of the pudding is in the eating," quotes he,
solemnly. " In my opinion you will have to get up the
sergeant and all his merry men to turn them out."

44 Oh ! now ! " says Susan, with a lovely laugh — that has
such sweet and open gratification in it. " That's too much.
And you," anxiously, " you weren't dull f "

He pauses. Then —

" I don't think so." He pauses again, as if to more reli-
giously search his memory. " I really don't think so ! "

At this Susan laughs with even greater gaiety than be*
fore, and he laughs too, and with a little friendly hand
clasp they part.

It doesn't take the Barrys, that is Susan, Dom, Carew,
and Betty a second after their guests have gone, to scamper
down the road to the little green gate, and beat upon it the
tattoo that is the signal between them and Ella. And it
takes only another moment for Ella herself to open the gate
cautiously, whereupon she finds herself instantly with her
hands full of cakes, and fruit and sweets, that they have
brought her from their party ; leaving the rest to the chil-
dren, who had really behaved remarkably well all through
the afternoon, thanks to the sombre Jacky, who had kept
them under his unflinching eye.

44 Well, we're alive," cries Betty. " Rather the worse for
wear, but still in the land of the living. And really, it went

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312 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

off miraculously well — for us. Not even a fly in the cream.
You saw us, I know. How did we look ? "

" Oh, it was all so prettj' ; so pretty I " says Ella, a little
sadly perhaps, but with enthusiasm that leaves nothing to
be desired. " Yes, of course, I saw you. I climbed up the
tree. But," nervously looking at Susan, " I'm afraid they
saw me."

" Certainly they saw you," says Carew, a little hotly.
" Why shouldn't they ? "

" Oh no. I didn't want that. I am sorry," says Ella,
with evident distress. " I thought I was quite safe there —
that no one could see me. But — Susan — did Mr. Wyndham
see me ? "

" Yes," says Susan gently. Ella's distress at once grow-
ing deeper, she goes on hurriedly, " But, as Carew saj f s,
why not ? It is your own place — your own tree — and I
have always said you ought to come out — and mix with
us."

41 No, no," hurriedly. All at once it seems to her that
she must tell Susan the whole truth ; how it is with her —
and her horror of being discovered by that man — and the
past sadness of her life, and the present loneliness of it.
But not now ; another time, when they are quite alone.

" The poet saw you at all events," says Dom. " He's not
quite right in his head, poor old chap, and he got very

mixed. He thought you were a Hindoo idol "

, " Dominick ! " Betty turns upon him indignantly.
" How disgracefully ignorant you are I After all papa's
teaching! Hamadryads aren't Hindoo idols. They are
lovely things. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"

" I am. I am," says Mr. Fitzgerald, with resignation.
" I really don't think I shall pass any exam."

" You don't try," says Susan with a slight touch of
anger. " You don't put your mind into your work. And
it is such a shame towards father. Why don't you try ? "

" He does try 1 " says Betty, angrily. She is

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dently on the defensive — on the side of the prisoner at the
bar — that they all stare — a matter that brings her to her
senses in a hurry. She to defend Dom, with whom she is
always at daggers drawn. A gleam of pleasure in Dom's
eyes enrages her, and brings the crisis.

" He does try," repeats she. " But," with a glance at
Dom meant to reduce him to powder, " he has no brains."

The glance is lost. Dom comes up smiling.

" You've got it," says he. And then, " anyway, Miss
Moore, our only poet thought you were a Sylvan Goddess.
Will that do, Betty ? Didn't he, Carew ? "

" He's a fool," says Carew, morosely.

" Did you notice him, Ella ? " asks Betty. "A little man
with a dismal eye and a nose you could hang your hat on ?
If poets are all like that, defend me from them ! He goes
about as if he was searching for a corner in which to weep,
and he looks as if "

" 'E didn't know where 'e are," quotes Dom.

" Yes, I saw him. He was sitting near you, Susan, and

I saw Mr. Wyndham, and " She pauses, and a faint

color steals into her cheeks. " Susan, who was that woman
with the high things in her bonnet ? "

" High things? " Susan looks puzzled, and Ella goes on
to describe Mrs. Prior's bonnet with more extreme accuracy.

" That was Mrs. Prior — Mr. Wyndham's aunt. Fancy
your noticing her. Do you know, Ella, I can't bear her, or
her daughter. They are all so — so unreal — so cruel, I think

But Ella is hardly listening. Her eyes are troubled. She
is thinking — thinking.

" It is strange," says she at last, " but somehow it seems
to me as if I had seen her before. Not here — not now — but
long, long, long ago." She makes a little movement of her
hands as if driving something from her, then looks at Su-
san. " It is nonsense, of course." She is very pale, and her
smile is dull and lifeless. " But — I have seen her some*

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314 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

where in my past — or someone like her ; but not so cold —
so cruel."

" She is Mr. Wyndham's aunt," says Susan again. " Per-
haps the likeness you see lies there."

" Perhaps so. But no, he is not like her," says the girl
earnestly. " No, it is not Mr. Wyndham she reminds me
of."

" My goodness, Susan," says Betty suddenly, " perhaps
we should not have left all those cakes with the children.
They will make themselves ill, and we shall have a horrid
time to-morrow."

" Oh, and Bonnie I " says Susan, paling. She kisses
Ella hurriedly and races home again up the quiet little
shadowy road, without waiting for the slower coming of
those behind her.

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CHAPTER XLIIL

* Fortune makes quick despatch, and in a day
May strip you bare as beggary itself."

"Is this thing true, George t "

" What thing ? " asks Crosby.

41 Oh, you know, you know. You," turning her cold
eyes on him, with actual fury in their depths, " must have
known it all along."

44 My dear Mrs. Prior, if you would only explain."

Mrs. Prior motions him to a seat. She is already dressed
for dinner, though it is barely seven o'clock. She had, how-
ever, determined — after a stormy interview with Josephine
on their return from the rectory — on seeing Wyndham at
once, and demanding an explanation with regard to " that
creature," as she called her. Wyndham, it seemed, how-
ever, had not yet returned. 44 Gone to see her, no doubt,"
cried Mrs. Prior, with ever rising wrath, and thus foiled in
her efforts to see him she had sent for her host, who, of
course, being a bosom friend of Wyndham 's, and living
down here, must have known all about it from the first.

44 Do you think I need f " says she, with a touch of scorn.
44 Are you going to tell me deliberately that you do not
know what this — woman — is to Paul ? "

44 His tenant," says Crosby, calmly. 44 What's the mat-
ter with that ? Lots of fellows have tenants."

44 That is quite true. It is also true that 4 lots of fel-
lows 1 ' " she draws in her breath as if suffocating ;
« have "

44 Oh ! come now ! " says Crosby.

44 You would have me mince matters," says she in her

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316 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

low, cold voice, that is now vibrating with anger. " It is
inadmissible of coarse to mention things of this sort. But
I have my poor girl's interest at stake, and I dare to go
far — for her. This arrangement of Paul's down here, close
to you," she gives him a sudden quick glance ; " in the
very midst of us as it were, is a direct insult."

44 So it certainly would be, if matters were as you sup-
pose. I am confident, however, that they are not. I have
Paul's word for it."

" Oh, a man's word, on an occasion such as this ! "

44 Well, I suppose a man's word, if you know the man, is
as good on one occasion as another ! " says Crosby. " And
why should he lie to me about it f I have no interest in
his tenants. If, as you seem to fancy, she is ? "

" Oh, hush ! " says Mrs. Prior, making an entreating
gesture. " Don't speak so loud. That poor child of mine
— that poor, poor child — is there ; " pointing to the door on
her left. " And if she heard this — it would almost kill her,
I think." Mrs. Prior throws a little tragedy into her pale
blue eyes. " Her heart* is deeply concerned — is filled, in-
deed, with Paul ! As you know, George, for years this en-
gagement has been thought of."

" Engagement ? "

11 Between," a little impatiently, but solemnly, " Paul

and " She stops as if heart-broken and covers her face

with her handkerchief.

44 Virginia," is on the tip of Crosby's tongue, but by a
' noble effort he swallows it.

44 My unhappy Josephine," says Mrs. Prior, having com-
manded her grief. " For myself, I cannot see what the end
of this thing will be."

44 It's an unlucky name beyond doubt," says Crosby,
growing historical. 4< I don't think I'd christen another —
h'm — I mean, I don't think it is a good name to call a girl
by, don't you know ; but I fail to see where the unhappi-
ness comes in this time I "

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14 Don't you ? Do you imagine my poor child would wed
a man with such disgraceful antecedents ? I had thought
of the marriage for next year ; but now I And dear Shan-
garry had so set his heart on a union between my girl and
Paul. Only last month he was speaking to me about it.
It will be a horrible blow to the poor old man. Indeed, I
shouldn't wonder if he disinherited Paul on account of it."

Here she looks steadily, meaningly at Crosby. It is a
challenge. Crosby quite understands that he is to convey
to Wyndham that he is to give up his tenant, or else Mrs.
Prior will declare war upon him, and prejudice the old man,
his uncle, against him.

" On account of what ? " asks he, unmoved. " Because
he has a tenant in his Cottage, or because ? "

" Oh, tenant I " Mrs. Prior makes a swift movement of
her white and beautiful hands.

" Or, because f "

She interrupts him again as he had expected. He had
no desire whatever to go on, to say to her " because he
will probably refuse to marry your daughter," would have
been a little too broad. He had risked the beginning of
his speech with a hope of frightening her into some sort of
propriety. But he had failed.

" There will be a scandal," says she, with determination.

44 Not unless somebody insists upon one." Crosby crosses
one leg over the other, with a judicial air. " And scandals
are so very vulgar."

44 Quite the most vulgar things one knows — but they do
occur for all that. And if Shangarry once knew that Paul
so much as wavered in his allegiance to Josephine, he would
be very hard to manage."

44 But, has it then gone so far as that ? "

44 Far ! What can be farther f A girl — a young girl,
and a — well, I daresay there are some who would call her
beautiful — kept in seclusion ; called for decency's sake his
tenant "

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318 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" Oh, that I " says Crosby, " I wasn't alluding to that.
I mean, has this affair between your daughter and Wynd-
ham gone so very far ? Is this engagement you hint at —
a thing accomplished ? Has it been settled ? " He leans
towards her in a strictly confidential manner. " Any words
said ? "

"Oh, words! What are words?" says Mrs. Prior.
" Deeds count, not words. And all our world knows how
attentive he has been to my poor child for years."

This is a slip, and she is at once conscious of it.

" Years I Bad sign," says Crosby, stroking his chin.

" I don't know what you mean by that," irritably, and
with a view to retrieving her position. " The longer the
time, the greater the injustice — the injury afterwards. I
feel that my poor darling is quite compromised over this
affair. I need hardly tell you, George, who know her, and
how attractive she is." Crosby nods feelingly — and I hope
offers up a prayer for pardon ; " that she has refused many
and many a magnificent offer because she believed herself
pledged surely, if unspokenly to her cousin. Her great at-
tachment to him " — all at once Crosby sees Josephine's
calm, calculating eyes, and passionless manner — " has been,
I now begin to fear, the misfortune of her life ; because
certainly — yes, certainly, he led her to believe, all along
that he meant to make her his wife."

" Well, perhaps he does," says Crosby.

" What ! And do you imagine I would submit to — to—

that establishment — whilst my daughter " She buries

her face in her handkerchief. " Shangarry will be so
grieved," says she. , This is a second threat, meant to be
conveyed to Wyndham. Crosby represses an inclination
to laugh. After all, she has chosen, poor woman, about the
worst man in Europe for her ambassador. To him, Mrs.
Prior's indignation is as clear as day. With his clear
common sense he thus reads her :

She bus doubts about Wyndham's relations with Ws

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 319

pretty tenant, but she has deliberately set herself to believe
the worst. The worst of her, however, would not be the im-
moral attitude of the case, but the dread that the girl would
inveigle Wyndham into a marriage with her, and so spoil
her daughter's chance. The girl, as she saw her through
the spreading branches was very beautiful, and Josephine —
well I There was a time when she was younger — fresher.

" I really think, Mrs. Prior, you are making a mountain
out of a mole-hill," says he presently. " I assure you, I
think this young lady, now living in the Cottage, is noth-
ing more or less than Wyndham's tenant. Why make a
fuss about it f I am sure if you ask Wyndham — by-the-
bye, why don't you ask him ? "

"Because he refuses me the opportunity," says Mrs.
Prior. " I sent for him. He was not to be found. He
purposely avoids me this evening. But he shall not do so
to-morrow ! I am his aunt, I have every right to speak to
him on this disgraceful subject."

" Not disgraceful, I trust," says Crosby, who is now
devoutly thanking his stars that Mrs. Prior is not his aunt.

" Utterly disgraceful, when I think of how he has be-
haved to my poor trusting girl "

" Still," says Crosby, thoughtfully, " you tell me there
were no words said."

" No actual words ! "

" Ah — the others are so useless," says Crosby.

Mrs. Prior lifts her eyes to his for a moment. Real
emotion shines in them ; and all at once Crosby is con-
scious of a sense of shame 1 Poor soul, however mistaken,
however contemptible her trouble — still it is trouble, and
therefore worthy of consideration.

" I can see you are not on my side," says she, at last.
" You have no sympathy with my grief, and yet you might
have. I have had many griefe in my time, George, but
this is the worst of all. To have my daughter thus
treated. Of course after this I could not — I really believe

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320 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

I could not sanction her marriage with Paul." She pauses,
and delicately dabs her handkerchief into her eyes. Her
hopes of a marriage between her daughter and Wyndham
have been at such a low ebb for a long time that there is
scarcely any harm in declaring now her determination not
to wed her daughter to her cousin at any price. If things
should take a turn for the better, if her threats about in-
forming Shangarry should take effect, she can easily get out
of her present attitude. " Yes — such trouble ! " She dabs
her eyes again. " First my sister's terrible marriage with
a perfectly impossible person — you know all about that,
George — poor, dear Eleanor — and then my Cither's will,
leaving everything to Eleanor and her children, though he
had so often excommunicated her, as it were. And the
trouble with that will. The searching here and there for
Eleanor — poor Eleanor — such awful trouble — advertise-
ments, and private enquiry people, and all the rest. As you
know, it is only quite lately that certain information of her
death without issue having come to hand, I have been en-
abled to live."

" Yes. Yes, I know," says Crosby. He is on his very
best behavior now.

"You have always appreciated my sweet girl at her
proper worth, at all events," says Mrs. Prior, dabbing her
eyes for the last time, and emerging from behind her hand-
kerchief with wonderfully pale lids.

" I have. I have indeed," exclaims Crosby, warmly.
Anything to pacify her! His manner is so warm, so
ardent, that Mrs. Prior pauses, and her mind starts on an-
other track. With rapidity her thoughts fly back and then
forward. Crosby is quite as good a match as Paul, if one
excludes the title. And perhaps — who knows ?

" George," says she softly, but with emotion, " perhaps
you think me hard. But a mother — and that dreadful girl
lives there alone is this house — and he visits her — and — can
you still, from your heart, tell me that she "

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She breaks off as if quite overcome, and unable to go on.

" I can tell you this, at all events," says Crosby, " that
she does not live alone. Wyndham has engaged a lady to
be a companion to her."

" Paul I " Mrs. Prior turns her eyes, moist with her late
emotion, on him, eyes now full of wrath. " Is she an
imbecile, then, this girl I Must Paul engage a keeper for
her. What absurd throwing of dust in the eyes .of the
world!"

" A companion, I said."

She throws him a little contemptuous glance, and with
agitation begins to pace up and down the room. " A nice
companion ! They are well met, no doubt ! " cries she, sud-
denly. " This * companion ' and her charge. I tell you,
George, I shall get at the root of this."

"I don't think you will have to go very deep," says
Crosby.

" You think it is so much on the surface as that ? I
don't. And I shall take measures. I shall know what to
do."

There is something so determined in her air as she says
this, that Crosby looks at her with some consideration.
What is she going to do ?

But she is looking down upon the carpet, and is evidently
thinking. Yes — she knows what she will do. She will go
to that girl to-morrow, and tell her plainly what her posi-
tion is. She will so speak, and so argue, that if the girl is,
as George Crosby pretends to suppose, a virtuous girl, she
will frighten her out of her present position. And if she is
what Mrs. Prior, with horrible hope, determines she is, well
then, no harm will be done, but the " little establishment,"
as she calls it, will infallibly be broken up. There is an-
other thought, however. Crosby just now had spoken
almost tenderly of Josephine. If there is the smallest
chance of Crosby's being attracted by her, Mrs. Prior feels
that she could stay proceedings with regard to Paul with a
31

322 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

most willing hand. If not I Anyway, there is a whole
evening to think it over.

"What do you think of doing?" asks Crosby at this
moment a little anxiously. To attack Wyndham before
them all, downstairs • . . That would be abominable,
and yet he would hardly put it beyond her.

" Ah ! that lies in the future," says she. She rises
languidly from the chair into which she has sunk and smiles
at him. "I am afraid I am keeping you from your other
guests."

44 Not at all, not at all," says Crosby, amiably. " You
are keeping me only from my man, and my tie, and the rest
of it."

He bows himself hurriedly, but amiably, out of the room.

B. Zebley.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XLIV.

" Where jealouaie is the jailour, many break the prison, it opening
more wayes to wickedness than it stoppeth."

It is indeed perilously near the dinner hour I Mrs.
Prior, after a few words with Josephine — who had evidently
had her dainty ear applied to the key-hole, and who is dis-
tinctly sulky — had gone downstairs and into the smaller
drawing-room, where she finds a group on the hearthrug
gathered round a little, but friendly autumn fire, discussing
all in heaven and earth. They have evidently come down
to earth as she enters, because the name of Susan Barry is
being wafted to and fro.

" Oh I she's lovely — lovely I " Lady Forster is saying
with enthusiasm. " Such eyes, and with such a funny ex-
pression in them sometimes ; sometimes when she isn't so
dreadfully in earnest, as she generally is. After all, per-
haps the earnestness is her charm I She is certainly the
very sweetest thing — George!" She turns, looks round
her, and finding Crosby not present, laughs, and makes a
little gesture with her hands. " George will never be able
to go back to his niggers ! " In her heart, being devoted
to her only brother, she hopes this will be the case.

" If you don't take care she will marry your brother,"
says Miss Prior from her low seat. She is protecting her
complexion from the light of the big lamp near her by a
fan far bigger than the lamp.

" Well, why not f " says Lady Forster, who detests
Josephine.

" A girl like that — a mere nobody — the daughter of an
obscure country parson."

" Oh I not so very obscure I " says Lady Muriel, in her

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324 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

gentle way. " Mr. Barry is very well connected ; I have
met some of his people."

" Still — hardly a match for Mr. Crosby." Josephine
waves her fan lightly, yet with a suggestion of temper.
Her mother, who has subsided into a seat, listens with an
interest that borders on agitation to the answer to this
speech. On it hangs her decision about the girl at the
Cottage. If Crosby's people support Crosby in his in-
fatuation for that silly child at the rectory then — nothing
is left to Josephine.

u Do you know," says Lady Forster, " I don't feel a bit
like that. Let us all be happy is my motto. I think,"
thoughtfully, " I am not sure, mind you — but I think if
George wanted to marry a barmaid or something like that,
I should enter a gentle protest. But if he has set his
heart on this delightful Susan ... I Isn't she a
heart, Muriel f Such a ducky child."

" I thought her delightful, and her brother, too," says
Lady Muriel, laughing at Katherine's exaggerations. " She
is decidedly pretty at all events. Even more than that 1 "

" Oh, a great deal more," says Captain Lennox, who has
come into the room with some of the other men.

" And of very good family, too," says Lady Millbank,
who is dining with them. The Barrys, as has been said, are
a connection of hers, but always up to this — on account of
their poverty — scarcely acknowledged, and kept carefully
in the shade. But now, with this brilliant chance of a mar-
riage for Susan, she is willing to bring them suddenly into
the fuller light. \

" But penniless I " puts in Josephine, carefully.

" Ah ! what do pennies matter," says Lady Forster
sweetly, but with a faint grin at her husband, who is near
her. He, too, feels small affection for the stately Josephine.
" And if George fancies her — why, it will keep him from
marrying a squaw — they don't call them squaws in Africa,
do they ? Something worse, perhaps f "

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THE PR0FE8S0&S EXPERIMENT. 326

" Not much difference," says Captain Lennox. " But the
squaws as a rule wear more clothing than the Zulu ladies,
and that might perhaps — "

" Oh, good heavens I " says Lady Forster. " It might in-
deed. If they wear less petticoats than the dear old
squaws. . . And if he should bring one here. Fancy her
advent into one's drawing-room. People would go away."

" I don't think so. I really don't," says Captain Lennox,
reassuringly. " I believe honestly you might depend on
• people ' to support you under the trying circumstances.
What are friends for— if— "

" Oh, well, I couldn't stand it, if you could," says Lady
Forster, with a glance at him. " And I don't want George
to marry a nasty Zulu, anyway. What do you think,
Billee Taylor J " to her husband. " Isn't Susan nicer than
a Zulu woman f "

" I've not had much experience," says Sir William,
lazily. " But I. daresay you're right."

" But listen ! Isn't it better for George to marry Susan
than to go out there again, and perhaps give you a sister-
in-law * mit nodings ' on her f "

" It's very startling," says Lennox.

" Take time, Billy, before answering, you might commit
yourself."

41 Really the question is," says Josephine, in her cold,
settled way, " whether it would be wise to encourage a mar-
riage so distinctly one-sided in the way of advantage, as
that between. . . "

" Yes, yes, yes," interrupts Lady Forster, impatiently.
" But if George goes away again I have a horrid feeling that
he won't come back at all. You see he is too much one of
us, to bring into our midst a dusky bride. And men have
married out there. And if he likes this charming child,
and she likes him. . . People should always marry for
love I think, eh, Billee ? " turning to her husband.

" I always think as you do," says the wise ma

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326 THE PBOFESSO&S EXPERIMENT.

"Billee Barlow! What an answer!" She looks aggrieved,
and throws up her little dainty fairy-like head. " Do you
think I'd have married you if I hadn't — liked you ? "

" Was that why you married me ? " asks he, laughing,
and bent on teasing her.

" No." She turns her back on him. " I don't know why
I married you except — that you were the biggest duffer in
Europe ! "

Forster roars.

" I'm glad I'm the biggest," says he. " It's well to be
great in one's own line."

" Well, that's where it is," says Lady Forster, returning
with perfect equanimity to the original subject. " And if
it comes off, Susan will be a perfect sister-in-law. One has
to think of oneself, you know ! And what I dwell on is,
that I'll have the greatest fun bringing her out in town.
I've thought it all over. She will have a regular boom !
There won't be a girl next year in it with her. I know all
the coming debutantes, and she could give them miles and
beat them."

Miss Prior laughs curiously, and Lady Forster looks at her.

"You think?"

"That you are the most disinterested sister on earth,
or "

"Well?"

" The most selfish."

Lady Forster, who is impetuous to a fault, makes a move-
ment as if to say something crushing — then restrains herself.
After all, it is her brother's house — this girl is her guest.

" Oh, not selfish ! " says she, sweetly. " I have a strange
fancy that George adores her."

" Strange fancies are not always true," says Miss Prior.
" Sir William, do you agree with Katherine about this
adoration ? "

Sir William shrugs his shoulders. How should he know.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 327

" Oh, Billee's a fool ? " says Lady Forster, in her plaintive
voice. " Aren't you, Billee ? "

44 My darling ! You forget I married you," says Forster,
in his tragic tone, whereat she rolls her handkerchief into a
little ball, and throws it at him.

Mrs. Prior, who had sat on a lounge near the door listen*
ing silently to this conversation, now makes up her mind.
There is nothing to be hoped from Crosby I To morrow,
then, she will see this " tenant " of Paul's, though all the
guardians and chaperons in Europe rise up to prevent her.

44 But are you really so sure that your brother is in love
with Miss Susan ? " asks Lennox of Lady Forster, in a low
tone, unheard by the others.

44 No, I'm not I " declares she, with astounding frankness.
44 1 only wanted to be a tiny bit nasty to Josephine, who
I'm sure has her eye on him in case another complication
foils. No indeed " — sighing — " no such luck. Wanderers
like George are like confirmed gamblers or drunkards, or
that sort of extraordinary person. They are beyond cure.
I'm sure that in spite of all that pretty Susan's charms he
will go back to his nasty blacks and his lions, and his gen*
era! tomfoolery."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XLV.

"They begin with making falsehood appear like troth, and end
with making troth appear like falsehood,"

Mrs. Pbiob knocks gently at the front gate of the Cot-
tage, not the little green gate so well known to the Barry s;
and after a little delay Mrs. Denis' martial stride can be
heard behind it, and her voice pierces the woodwork.

"Who's there?"

" It is I, Mrs. Prior." Mrs. Prior's tones are soft and
suave, and persuasive. " That is you, I think, Mrs. Denis.
I recognize your voice as that of an old friend. I have been
here before, you know, several times, and I quite remember
you. My nephew — your master, Mr. Wyndham, has at last
let me know about his tenant, and I have come" — very
softly this — " to call on her."

That she is lying horribly and with set purpose is beyond
doubt. To herself she excuses herself with the old, sad,
detestable fallacy, that her words are true, whatever the
spirit of them may be.

Mrs. Denis, astute matron and alert Cerberus as she is (a
rather comical combination), is completely taken in. She
is the more ready to be deceived, in that she is at her heart,
good soul, so unfeignedly glad to think that now, after all
this time, her master's people are coming forward, to recog-
nize, and no doubt make much of the " purty darlin' " under
her care. Her care. Never for a moment has she admitted
Miss Manning's right to chaperon Ella, though now on ex-
cellent terms with that most excellent lady.

She does not answer Mrs. Prior immediately, but strokes
her beard behind the gate, and smiles languidly to herself.

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TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 329

Hah I He's tould 'em I He's found it for himself that he
loves her I The crathure ! An' why not ! Fegs there
isn't her aqual between this and the Injies 1 An' of course
it is a mark of honor designed by him to his young lady,
/'that his aunt should come, an' pay her respects to her.

For all this, she is still cautious, and now opens the gate

to Mrs. Prior, by only an inch or so at a time. Mrs. Prior,

• on this, calmly and with the leisurely manner that belongs

to her, moves forward a step or two, a step that places her

parasol and her arm inside the gateway.

"You are, I can see, a most faithful guardian," says she,
pleasantly, and with the distinctly approving tones of the
superior to the efficient inferior. " I shall take care to tell
Mr. Wyndham my opinion of you." The little sinister
meaning in her speech is clouded in smiles. She takes an-
other step forward that brings not only her arm and parasol,
but herself, inside the gate ; thus mistress of the situation,
she smiles again — this time a little differently, but still
with the utmost suavity.

" This young lady ? " asks she. " She is in the house no
doubt f If you could let me see her without any formal
introduction. It would be so much more friendly it seems
to me."

Mrs. Denis' ample bosom swells with joy and pride. Her
beard vibrates. "Friendly." So they are going to be
friendly — those people of his I After all perhaps Miss Ella
is a princess in disguise ; and they have only just found it
out. Well, she looks one — wid her little feet, an' her little
hands, an' those small features of hers.

" No, ma'am," says she, addressing Mrs. Prior, with a
courtesy she seldom uses to anyone. " Miss Ella is in the
garding ; an' as you say ye'd like to see her all be yerself,
if ye'll go round that corner, ye'll find her aisy, near the
hollyhocks. An' I'll tell ye this," says Mrs. Denis, squar-
ing her arms, and growing sentimental, " 'Tis plazed ye'll
be, whin ye do see her."

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330 THE P&0PE8S0&S EXPERIMENT.

" I feel sure of that," says Mrs. Prior. She speaks quite
calmly, yet a rage of hatred shakes her. Glad to see this
abominable creature, who has interfered with the marriage
of her daughter !

" She's got the face of an angel, ma'am."

" And the heart of one, of course," says Mrs, Prior. The
sarcasm is thrown away upon Mrs. Denis,who is now burst-
ing with a paean addressed to her goddess.

" Ay, ma'am. Fegs 'tis aisy to see the masther has bin
tellin' you about her."

" Just a little," says Mrs. Prior. " He J "

" He thinks a dale of her," says Mrs. Denis, putting her
hand to her mouth, and speaking mysteriously. " I can see
that much, but 'tis little he says. But sure ye know him.
'Tis mighty quiet he is entirely."

" Yes, I think I know him. But this. . . • young
lady "

" Wisha I 'tis only keepin' ye from her I am. An' 'tis
longin' ye are to see her ov course."

" You are right, my good woman," says Mrs. Prior, " I
really don't think I was ever so anxious to make the ac-
quaintance of anyone before. . . Round that corner, you
say ? Thank you. I shall certainly tell my nephew what
a trustworthy guardian you make."

She parts with Mrs. Denis with a little gracious bow,
and a sudden swift change of countenance that strikes that
worthy woman at the time— but unfortunately works out a
little late. Stepping quickly in the direction indicated,
Mrs. Prior turns the corner and goes along the southern
border of the pretty Cottage until she reaches a small iron
gate that leads to the garden proper.

In here, soft perfumes meet one in the air, and delicate
tints delight the eye. The little walks run here and there.
The grasses grow. And from the flowering shrubs sweet
trills are heard sounds beautiful, and

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 331

44 Not sooner heard
Than answered, doubled, trebled more,
Voice of an Eden in the bird
Renewing with his pipe of four
The sob ; a troubled Eden rich \

In throb of heart."

The grandeur of the dying autumn strikes through all;
for over there as a background to the still brilliant flowers,
are fading yellows, and sad reds, and leaves russet brown,
more lovely now perhaps than when a life dwelt in them.

Mrs. Prior moves through all these things untouched by
their beauty — on one thought bent. And all at once the
subject of her thought lies there before her. The clearest,
sweetest thought 1

Ella, on one of the many small paths, is standing as if
struck by some great surprise. She is looking at Mrs.
Prior earnestly — half-fearfully — with eager meaning in her
large dark eyes — as of one trying to work out some prob-
lem, that had been suggested many years ago.

The sight of the girl standing there, with her hand
pressed against her forehead as if to compel thought, drives
the anger she is feeling even deeper into Mrs. Prior's soul.
Such an attitude 1 As if not understanding 1 The absurd
put on innocence of it is positively — well . . . disgust-
ing!

And always Ella stands looking at her, as if frightened
by the sudden unexpected visitor, but presently through
her fear and astonishment another look springs into life.
Her eyes widen — she does nothing — she says nothing — but
anyone looking on would say that the girl all at once had
remembered. But something terribly vague had touched
her : something startling out of the past that until that mo-
ment had lain dead. Oh, surely she knows this lady. Has
met her somewhere —

As if impelled by this mad fancy she goes quickly to-
wards Mrs. Prior.

332 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 I — Do I know you ? " asks she, in a low tense way.

" I think not/' says Mrs. Prior, in her calm trainante
voice, that is now insolent in a degree. A faint, most cruel
smile plays upon her lips. " You, and such as you, are
seldom known by — us."

The girl stands silent. No actual knowledge of her
meaning enters into her heart, but what does come home to
her in some vague way is that she has been thrust back —
put far away — cast out as it were.

" I don't understand," says she, a little faintly.

44 Oh, I think you do," says Mrs. Prior, with cultivated
rudeness. " But I have not come here to-day to inform
you as to your position in life. I have come rather to ex-
plain to you that your— er — relations with my nephew,
must come to an end — and — at once.".

44 Your nephew ? "

44 Has Mr. Wyndham not spoken to you of his people
then? Rather better taste than I should have expected
from him. But one may judge from it, that he is not yet
lost to all sense of decency."

The insolence in her tone stings.

44 You must believe me or not as you like, 94 says the girl,
drawing up her slight figure, " but I don't know what you
are speaking about. Do you mean that you think it wrong
of me to have rented this Cottage from Mr. Wyndham ? "

Mrs. Prior raises her pince-nez and looks at her.

44 Really, you are very amusing," says she. 44 Now what
do you think it is ? Right ? Your views should be inter-
esting."

44 If not this house, I should take another," says Ella.
She is feeling bewildered and frightened, and she has grown
very pale.

44 Of course, if you insist on the innocent rdle," says Mrs.
Prior coldly, shrugging her shoulders, " it is useless my
wasting my time. If, however, you have any regard for
Mr. Wyndham, who, it seems, has been very kind to you "

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 333

— she glances meaningly round the charming little home
and garden — " if distinctly unkind to himself, it may be of
use to let you know, that your presence here is very likely
to be the cause of his ruin."

" His — ruin I " The unmistakable horror in the girl's
foce strikes Mrs. Prior as hopeful, so she proceeds briskly.

" Social ruin I It will undoubtedly mean his disinherit-
ance by his uncle, Lord Shangarry, and — the rupture of his
engagement with the girl he — loves ! "

She plants this barb with joy. The telling of a lie more
or less has never troubled her during her life.

" The girl — he loves ! " Ella's voice as she repeats the
words sounds dull and monotonous. She is quite ghastly
now, and she has laid her hand on the back of a garden
chair to steady herself.

" Yes. The girl he has always meant to marry ! " She
lays great stress on the last word. That ought to tell.
" Whom he meant to marry until your — fascinations " —
she throws destestable meaning into her speech — base, as it
is detestable — " alienated him — for the moment 1 "

All at once Ella recovers herself.

" Oh ! you are wrong, wrong I w cries she vehemently.
" Somebody has been telling you what is not true, what is
not the case 1 Mr. Wyndham does not — does not " — she
trembles violently — " love me. Not me — anyone but me.
Oh ! who could have said such a thing ! Believe me, do be-
lieve me," she comes forward, holds out her hands implor-
ingly, " when I tell you that I am the last girl in the world
he would fall in love with. If you know this young lady he
loves, go back to her, I implore you, and tell her it is all
untrue — that he loves her, and her only, and that all she
has heard to the contrary is not worth one thought. Oh !
madam 1 If he should be hurt through me. . . . Alter
all his goodness to me ! Oh. ... go ... go to
her and tell her what I say 1 "

She stops, and covers her face suddenly with her hands.

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834 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

She is not crying, however. Tears are far from her eyes.
But the misery of death has swept over her soul.

M rs. Prior gives way to a low laugh.

" Why didn't you go on the stage," she says. " Ton
would have made even a better living there. But perhaps
; you have only just come off it f "

• The girl lets her hands drop to her sides, and turns pas-
sionately upon her.

" Why won't you believe me ? " cries she, with sudden
wild vehemence. " What have I done that you should dis-
believe my word 1 " Her eyes are bright with grief and the
eager desire that is consuming her, to make things straight
for Wyndham and the girl he loves. Wyndham who has
been so good to her, who has brought her out of such deep
waters I To hurt him. To injure him. The very thought
is unbearable. She has involuntarily — unknowingly —
drawn up her svelte and slender body to its fullest height,
and with a courage that few women could have found under
circumstances so poignant, so filled with agonized memory,
and with yet another feeling that perhaps is bitterest of all
(though hardly known), she looks full at her tormentor.

" Can't you see ! " cries she, with a proud humility,
u how wrong you must be 1 How could I interfere between
Mr. Wyndham and the woman he loves? Who am If
Nothing." She throws up her beautiful head with a touch
of inalienable pride, and repeats the word distinctly,
" Nothing."

" Less than nothing," says Mrs. Prior, who is only moved
to increased and unendurable hatred by her beauty and her
unconscious hauteur. " So far as he regards you ! "

Ella draws her breath quickly.

" If so small in his regard, how then do I prevent his
marriage with the girl he loves ? "

Alas! for the sorrow of her voice 1 It might have
touched the heart of anyone ! Mrs. Prior, however, is im-
pervious to such touches.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 335

" Don't you think it very absurd your pretending like
this ? " says she, contemptuously. " Of course, in spite of
the absurd innocence you pretend, one can see that you
quite understand the situation, and how unpleasantly you
are in the way. If he had brought you anywhere but here,
it might have been hushed up, but to the very house his
poor mother left him. Why, it is an open scandal 1 And
an insult to my daughter."

The girl makes a shocked gesture I " It is your
daughter, then? But," quickly, " now that you know he
doesn't love me, and you can tell her — and — — " she is look-
ing eagerly, with almost passionate hope, at Mrs. Prior.

"Tell her! Tell my daughter about you!" Mrs.
Prior's voice is terrible : " How dare you suggest the idea

of my speaking to my girl of " She checks herself with

difficulty, and goes on coldly, " No doubt you believe Mr.
Wyndham will be to you always as he is now. Women of
your class delude themselves like that. But — when he mar-
ries — as he will — as he shall — you will learn that a wife is
one thing and a mis "

She breaks off in the middle of her odious word, as
though shot ! A hand has grasped her shoulder.

" Hould yer tongue, woman, if there's still a dhrop o'
dacency left in ye! Hould yer tongue, I say."

The voice is the voice of Mrs. Denis.

" May I ask who it is you are addressing ? " asks Mrs.
Prior, releasing herself easily enough. Putting up her eye-
glass, she bends upon Mrs. Denis the glare that she has al-
ways found so effectual for the undoing of her foes. But
Mrs. Denis thinks nothing of glares. She is indeed at this
moment producing one of her own, beneath which Mrs.
Prior's sinks into insignificance.

" Faith ye may 1 " says she, advancing towards the enemy
with a regular " come on " sort of air. " An 9 as ye ask
me, 111 give ye yer answer. Ye're the aunt of a nevvy
that has ivery right to be ashamed o' ye ! Know ye is it J

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336 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Arrah 1 " Here the unapproachable sarcasm of the Irish
peasant breaks forth, " Is it that ye're askin' ? Fegs, I do
thin, an' to me cost, for 'tis too late I am wid me knowl-
edge." She pauses here, and planting her hands on her
ample hips, surveys Mrs. Prior with deliberate scorn.

" Oh ! ye ould thraitor ! " says she at last.

Tableau !

It is open to question, whether Mrs. Prior's instant anger
arises most from the word " ould " or " thraitor." Probably
the " ould."

" You forget yourself," cries she, sharply — furiously.

" Ye're out there," says Mrs. Denis, " for 'tis I'm remim-
berin'. 4 Oh, Mrs. Denis,' " with a wonderful attempt at
Mrs. Prior's air — " ' an' is that you J ' — so swate like. An'
* I'll be tellin' me nevvy what a good guardian ye are. — An'
'tis me nevvy tould me to come, an' pay me respecks to
your young ledy.' " Here Mrs. Denis lifts her powerful fist
and shakes it in the air. " I wondher to the divil," says
she, " that yer tongue didn't sthick to yer mouth when ye
said thim words. Yer newy indeed ! Wait till I see yer
nevvy I 'Tis shakin' in yer shoes yell be thin! Worse
than ye made this poor lamb," with a glance at Ella, who
has drawn back and is trembling violently, " shake to-day."

" You shall have reason to remember this. . . This
most insolent behavior. You shall know. ..." be-
gins Mrs. Prior, white with wrath, but Mrs. Denis will have
none of her.

" I know one thing, anyway," says she, " that out ov this
ye go, this minnit-second. Ye can tell yer nevvy all about
it, whin ye git out, an' the sooner ye're out, the sooner ye
can tell him ; an' I wish ye joy of the tellin' ! Come now ! "
she steps up to Mrs. Prior with a menacing air, " Quick
march I "

This grand old soldier — with whom even her husband,
good man and true as he had proved himself on many a
battlefield, would probably have come off second best

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 337

close tussle — now sidling up to Mrs. Prior, with distinct
battle in her eyes, that lady deems it best to lay down her
arms, and sound a retreat.

" This disreputable conduct only coincides with the whole
of this establishment," says Mrs. Prior, making a faint
effort to sustain her position whilst being literally moved
towards the gate by the powerful personality, and still more
powerful arm of Mrs. Denis. The latter does not touch
her, indeed, but she keeps waving that muscular member
up and down like a windmill, in a most threatening man-
ner. " Tou understand that I shall report all this to Mr.
Wyndhamf"

44 Ye've said all that before," says Mrs. Denis, with great
contempt. " An' now I'll tell you something. That report
ye spake of, in my humble opinion, will make mighty little
noise 1 "

After that she closes the gate with scant ceremony, on
Mrs. Prior's departing heels.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XLVI.

* To hear an open scandal is a curse :
Bat not to find an answer is a worse."

Mrs. Prior thus forcibly ejected (ejections are the vogue
in Ireland), commences her return journey to Crosby Park,
smarting considerably under her wrongs, and the big um-
brella she is holding over her head. She has gone but a
little way, however, when, on suddenly turning a corner,
she finds herself face to face with Wyndham.

He has evidently been walking in a great hurry, but as
he sees her he comes to a dead stop. All his worst fears are
at once realized. The fact is that Crosby had missed Mrs.
Prior at luncheon hour, a most unusual thing, by-the-way,
for her to be absent, for she dearly loved a meal, and he had
asked Miss Prior where she was. Miss Prior had said she
did not know — hadn't the faintest notion — perhaps gone for
a prowl and forgotten her way home. Crosby, somehow v
had felt that the fair Josephine was lying openly and freely,
and had at once given a hint to Wyndham of Mrs. Prior's
conversation with him on the previous night ; even suggest-
ing that Mrs. Prior's unusual absence from luncheon might
have some connection with the Cottage. The result of all
of which is that Mrs. Prior now finds herself looking into
her nephew's eyes, and wondering rather vaguely what the
next move is going to be.

His eyes are distinctly unpleasant. They had been anx-
ious, horribly anxious, when first she saw them, but now
they seem alive with active rage.

" Where have you been ? " asks he, immediately, his face
set and white. Crosby, then, had been quite right in his
suggestion.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 339

*' I have been doing my duty," returns Mrs. Prior, who
has pulled herself together. Her tone is stern and uncom-
promising.

" You have been at the Cottage."

" You have guessed quite correctly."

a You have seen that poor girl, and "

" I have seen that most wretched girl, and told her my
opinion of her."

Wyndham makes a sharp ejaculation. " You spoke to
her, insulted her, that poor child ! " He feels that reproach
is no longer possible to him. What has she said, what in-
deed has she left unsaid. Great heavens, what monsters
some women can be.

" I explained to her her position. Not that she needed
explanation, in spite of all her extremely clever efforts at
an innocent bearing. I passed over that, however, and told
her — hoping that perhaps she had some real feeling for you
— though I understand that class of person never has any
honest feeling — that beyond all doubt Lord Shangarry
would disinherit you if he heard of your connection with
her." She pauses here. This is her trump card, and she
looks straight at Paul as she plays it.

It proves valueless. He passes it over as though it were
of no consequence whatever.

" I don't know what to say to you," says he, struggling
with his passionate rage, and grief, and shame. " I hardly
know how to condemn you strongly enough. I wish to God
you were not a woman, and then I should know what to do.
This girl you have so insulted is a girl as good and pure as
the best girl you have ever met, and yet you have gone
down there," pointing in the direction of the Cottage,
" and deliberately hurt and wounded her. I wonder you
had the courage to do it. Are you," growing now furious,
" a fool that you couldn't see how sweet and gentle and
innocent she is."

" Is it your intercourse with this sweet and gentle and

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340 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

innocent girl that has made you so extremely rude ? " asks
his aunt, in her low, well-bred voice. " If so I consider I
have done an extra duty by my visit to her. It may have
results. Your disinheritance by Shangarry, for example, is
sure to have an effect upon her. I am afraid, alter all, it
is you who are the fool. In the meantime, Paul, I can quite
see that your infatuation for an extremely ordinary sort of
girl has blinded you to her defects. Some of these people,
I am told, quite study our manners nowadays ; but she
lacks distinction of any sort. That you happen to be in
love with her at present of course prevents your seeing
these foults."

" You seem so remarkably well up in the affair," says
Wyndham, who could now have cheerfully strangled her,
" that I suppose it will be quite superfluous to tell you that
love has no voice in the matter. I am not in love with her,
and she most positively is not in love with me."

Mrs. Prior makes a contemptuous movement of her thin ,
shoulders.

" So very odd," says she. " Do you suppose, my dear
Paul, with the stake you have in view, that I expected you
to say the truth — to tell me that you had fallen violently
in love with this little paltry creature who has come out of
no one knows where, except yourself, to go back to no one
knows where, when you are tired of her f "

" Look here," says Wyndham, driven beyond all courtesy
by some feeling that he can hardly explain, " I think you
have the worst mind of any woman I have ever met. I see
now that it is useless to try to convince you, but remember
— remember always," he makes a distinct pause, as if on
purpose, as if to fasten the words on her mind, u what I
say to you now, that anyone who calls Ella Moore anything
less than the best woman on earth— lies I "

"Your infatuation has gone deep," says Mrs. Prior.
" Few men would speak so strongly in favor of the virtue
of their — friends."

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" I understand your hideous hint," says Wyndham, who
has now grown cold and collected. u You are a woman,
and it is hard to tell a woman that she lies. But if you
were a man I shouldn't hesitate about it."

" As I tell you, she has not improved your manners,"
says Mrs. Prior, with a bitter smile. She has not dreamt
the affair would take this turn. She had believed that
Paul, through dread of Shangarry's displeasure, would at
the most have made light of the matter, have parried the
attack, and perhaps have sworn fresh allegiance to Joseph-
ine on the head of it. That he should defend this " crea-
ture," and defy her — his aunt — because of her. . . The
situation has become strained beyond bearing.

" If you do not love her, and she does not love you, and
is not even your friend," says she, sneeringly, " what is she
to you f "

u My tenant. Neither more nor less."

" Tou mean to tell me— on your honor — that she pays
you rent J "

" Certainly she does."

" She is a bona fide tenant, nothing more ? Then if so,
why all this mystery ? Why did you give me to under-
stand weeks ago that she was a man ? "

" Tou understood that for yourself. And with regard to
the mystery, it seems that she is desirous of privacy."

" How very modest ; and what an extraordinary tenant
to pick up. May I ask where you first heard of her f By
advertisement f "

" No."

"How then?"

For a moment Wyndham hesitates. Hesitation is sup-
posed to lead to ruin, but Wyndham comes out of it sound
in wind and limb. His mind had suffered a shock as it fell
back upon that tragic scene in the Professor's room, but
recovered from it almost immediately.

« Tou may have heard of Professor Hennessy," says he.

342 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 A very distinguished man. He told me of her, just be-
fore his death. Now," sarcastically, " have I answered
enough of your questions? Is your conscience quite satis-
fied as to your duty ? "

" It is open to anyone to make light of sacred subjects,"
said Mrs. Prior, with dignity. " Duty to me is the one
sacred thing in life. I have taken this matter in hand, and
in spite of all you have said, Paul, I may as well warn you,
that I shall not take your word for it, but shall sift it
steadily to the bottom. I consider that my duty to both
you, and to my daughter."

44 To Josephine ? "

" Yes — to Josephine. Are you prepared to say that you
have no duty towards her.

44 Not that I am aware of."

44 After all these years. After all Shangarry has hinted
and said t After all the notoriety — the talk, the gossip of
our world 1 That a man should pay pointed attentions to
a girl for two years — should come and go — be received at
her mother's house — and escort her to balls and concerts
and to theatres ; is all that to go for nothing ? Is my poor
girl to be cast aside now as though nothing had occurred — "

44 If you are alluding to Josephine," says Wyndham,
coldly and calmly, " I can't see that anything has occurred
to cause her annoyance of any kind. I am afraid you are
misleading yourself. You ought to speak to your daugh-
ter, and she, no doubt, will post you up about it. I, for my
part, can assure you that there is nothing between us — nor
has there ever been. Your daughter is as indifferent to me
as," emphatically, " I am to her."

He feels abominably rude as he says this, but he feels too
the necessity for saying it. And after all the onus of the
rudeness lies with her. Mrs. Prior is silent for a moment,
more from anger than from inability to speak ; then she
breaks out —

44 1 shall write to Shangarry."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 343

f

44 You can write," says Wyndham, quietly, " to anyone
on earth you like."

44 You distinctly then decline to carry out your engage-
ment to my daughter ? "

44 My dear aunt. Surely you exaggerate. When was
there any engagement t "

44 It was the 'same thing. You paid her great attention,
and Shangarry has set his heart on it."

44 1 am sorry for Lord Shangarry."

44 You refuse then "

44 Distinctly," says Wyndham. He lifts his hat and hur-
ries past her. She waits a little, watching him, until he
disappears round the corner that will lead him to the
Cottage.

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344 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XLVII.

" For what wert thou to me ?
How shall I say?"

Hs finds Ella standing, where she had stood throughout
her interview with Mrs. Prior, beneath a big horse chest-
nut tree in the garden. She had resisted all Miss Man-
ning's entreaties to come indoors, and lie down, and have a
cup of tea (that kind woman's one unfailing receipt for all
diseases and griefs under the sun), and had only entreated
piteously that she might be left alone.

Now as she hears Wyndham's step upon the gravel she lifts
her head , and the white misery of her face, as he sees it, makes
his heart swell with wrath within him. Great heavens, what
had that fiend said to her 1 He struggles with an almost
ungovernable desire to go to her, and press those poor for-
lorn eyes against his breast, if only to shut them out from
his vision, and he struggles too, it must be confessed — not
so successfully — with a wild longing toigive way to bad
language. A few words escape him — breathed low indeed,
but extremely pungent. They bring some feint relief, but
still his heart burns within him, and indeed he himself is
surprised at the intensity of his emotion.

She does not speak, and he does not attempt to shake
hands with her. It is impossible for him to forget that it is
his own aunt who has thus wantonly insulted her — who has
brought this terrible look into her young face. She —
who has known so much suffering, who is now indeed only
slowly recovering from a life unutterably sad.

" I know it all," begins he, hurriedly, disconnectedly —
he, the cold, clever barrister. " I met her just now— just
outside the gate. She is a woman of a most vindictive

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THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT. 345

temper. I hope you will not let anything she may have
said dwell for a moment in your memory. It is not worth
it, believe me. She is unscrupulous." He is almost out of
breath now, but still hurries on. " She would do anything
to gain a point. She "

" You are talking of your aunt/' says Ella at last, in a
stifled tone.

" Yes. And God knows," says he, with vehement bitter-
ness, " There was never anyone more ashamed to acknowl-
edge anything, as I am to acknowledge her. You — you
will try to forget what she said — "

" Forget ! Every word," says the girl, lifting her hands,
and pressing the palms against her pretty head, " Seems
beaten in here."

" But such words — so false — so meaningless — the words
of a malicious woman — used to gain her own purpose—"

" Still they are here," says she, wearily.

" For the moment — but in time you will forget not only
her words, but her."

" Her ! I shall never forget her." She turns to him with
quick questioning in her eyes. " Is she really your aunt,
Mr. Wyndham? It is strange — it is impossible — but I
know I have seen her before. In my dreams sometimes
now, I see her. But in my dreams she does not look
as she did to-day." She shudders, and presses her
fingers against her eyes, as if to shut out something.
" She is lovely there, and kind, and so beautiful, and she
calls me * Ellie.' I must be going mad, I think," cries she,
abruptly. " A brain diseased sees queer things ; and when
I saw her in the rectory garden, yesterday, all at once it
came to me that I knew her — that I had seen her before.
Perhaps," she goes closer to him, and examines his face
with interest, marking every line as it were, every feature,
until Wyndham begins to wish that his parents had granted
him better looks, and then — " No, no," says she, sighing,
" I thought, perhaps it was her likeness to you that made

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346 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

her face seem familiar. But you are not like her. She,"
sighing again, " is very handsome."

This is a distinct " take down." Wyndham, however,
bears up nobly.

" No," says he, " I am grateful to say that I resemble my
father's family, plain though they may be. The Burkes,
of course, were always considered very handsome."

" Burke." She looks at him again, and frowns a little, as
if again memory is troubling her. " The Burkes were—"

" My mother was a daughter of Sir John Burke."

" Yes, yes. I see. And the lady who was here just
now, Mrs. — "

"Prior!"

" She was a daughter too 1 "

" I regret to say so — yes."

" Well, my dreams are wrong," says she, as if half to
herself. " And yet — " She breaks off.

She moves away from him, and in an idle, inconsequent
way, pulls at the shrubs and flowers near her. He can see
at once that she is thinking, wrestling with the troubled
waters of her mind, and there is something in the dignity
and sadness of the young figure that appeals to him, and
awakens afresh that eager desire to help her, that had been
his from the first.

After awhile she comes back to him, her hands full of
the late flowers that she nervously pulls from finger to
finger in an unconscious fashion.

" I can't live here any longer," says she. " I should not
have come here at all. She— -has quite shown me that."

" I have already told you that not one word Mrs. Prior
said is worthy of another thought."

He is alluding to Mrs. Prior's abominable suggestions as
to the real meaning of the girl's presence in the Cottage.

" Mr. Wyndham," says Ella, resting her earnest eyes on
his, " perhaps I have never let you fully understand how I
regard all you have done for me. How grateftd I am to ,

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you — a mere waif— a nobody 1 But I am grateful, and be-
lieve me, the one thing that has cut me to the very heart
to-day, is the thought that I — I," with poignant meaning,
" should be the one to cause dissension, between you and —
and — and her."

"Her?"

"Yes. Yes. She told me."

" She ? Who ? Her ? " This involved sentence is taken
no notice of.

. " It was your aunt who told me. But you can explain
to her "

" To her ? To whom ? My aunt ? "

"Oh, no. No." She pauses. " Surely you know." At
this moment something in the girl's air makes Wyndham
feel that she is believing him guilty of a desire to play the
hypocrite— to conceal something. " It cannot have gone so
very far ," says she, miserably. " A few words from you to
her "

" To her again f If not my aunt ? " demands he, frantic-
ally. "What her?"

She looks at him with sad astonishment.

" I see now, you wouldn't trust me," says she. Her eyes
are suffused with tears. She turns aside, her hands tightly
clenched as if in pain. Then all at once she breaks out.
" Oh," cries she, passionately, " why didn't you tell her at
first?"

Tell her at first ! Who the deuce is " her ? "

" Or even me ! If," miserably, " if I had known I should
not have come here, and then there would have been no
trouble — no wondering — no mystery ; and there would have
been no misunderstanding between you and " — she draws a
sharp breath — " the girl you love ! "

" Good heavens ! Do I find myself in Bedlam ? " cries
Wyndham, who is not by any means an even-tempered
man, and who now has lost the last rag of self-controL
"What girl do I love?"

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348 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

But his burst of rage seems to take small effect on Ella.

" Of course," says she, in a stifled tone, directing her at-
tention now to a bush near her, plucking hurriedly at its
leaves, " if you wish to keep it a secret. And you know I
said you didn't trust me. And of course if you wish to
" Her voice here sounds broken. u To tell me noth-
ing — you ere right. Quite right. There is no reason why
I should be let into your confidence.''

" Look here," says Wyndham, roughly. He catches her
arm and compels her to turn round. " Let's get to the
bottom of this matter. What did my aunt tell youf
Gome now ! Out with it straight and plain."

He has occasionally entreated his clients to be honest,
but usually with very poor results. Now, however, he
finds one to answer him even more straightly than he had
at all bargained for. Ella flings up her head. Perhaps she
had objected to that magisterial " Gome now."

" She said you were in love with her daughter, and that
you had meant to marry her, until — my being here inter-
fered with it ; she " The girl pauses and regards him

anxiously, as if looking to him for an explanation, " didn't
say how I interfered."

" She said that 1 " Wyndham's voice is full of suppressed
but violent rage.

" Yes. That. And a great deal more," she goes on now,
vehemently. " That my being here would ruin you. That
some lord — your uncle — your grand-uncle — Shan — Shan-
bally — or garry was the name," striving wildly with her
memory, " would disinherit you because you had let your
Cottage to me. But that wasn't just. Was it? Why
shouldn't you let your house to me as well as to anybody
else — Mr. Wyndham," with angry intonation. " Is that
three hundred a year the Professor left me, mine really f
Did he leave it to me at all ? Oh ! if he didn't — if I am
indebted to you for all this comfort, this happiness — "
She breaks down.

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" You are entitled to that money. I swear it," says
Wyndham. " His very last words were of you."

" You are sure ? Of course, if not. . . That might
be the reason for their all being so angry with me."

She is so very far off the actual truth, that Wyndham
hesitates before replying to her.

" I am quite sure," says he, presently. " The money is
yours."

" Then I do not understand your aunt," cries she, throwing
up her 8 mall head proudly. " She said a great many other
things that I thought very rude. At least I'm sure they
were meant to be rude by her air ; but they were so stupid
that no one could understand them. I hardly remember

them. I only remember those about " She breaks off

suddenly — tears rise in her saddened eyes. "I wish — I
wish," cries she, in an agonized tone, " you had told me
that you loved her."

" Loved her ! Josephine ! "

" Is that her name ; your cousin's name f n

" Yes, and a most detestable name it is." There is frank
disgust in his tone. The girl watches him wistfully.

" Perhaps, after all," says she. She hesitates, and the
hand on the rose bush now trembles, though Wyndham
never sees it. " Perhaps it wasn't your cousin she meant.
I misunderstood her, I dare say. It," she looks at him
with eager searching young eyes, " it was someone else,
perhaps ? "

" Someone else ? "

" You are in love with ? " She draws back a little, al-
most leaning against the rose bush now, and looking up at
him from under frightened brows.

" I am in love with no one," says Wyndham, with much
directness, " with no one in the wide world." He quite be-
lieves himself as he says this. But in spite of this belief a
sensation of discontent pervades him, as looking at the girl
he sees a smile, wide and happy, spreading over her charm-
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350 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

ing face. Evidently it is nothing to her. She has had no
desire that he should be in love with — her.

" There is one thing," says he, a little austerely — that
smile is still upon her face — " if you really desire privacy
you should be careful about letting yourself be seen. Yes-
terday, in that tree," he points towards it, and Ella colors
in a little sad ashamed way that goes to his heart, but does
not disturb his determination to read her a lecture, " you
laid yourself open to discovery and therefore to insult.

" The getting up into a tree or looking at people is noth-
ing," argues he, coldly. " It is the fact that though you
wish to look at people you refuse to let them look at you —
that makes the mischief Anyone in this narrow society of
ours who decides on withdrawing herself from the public
gaze is open to misconception — to gossip — and finally to in-
sult. I warned you of that long ago."

" I will not, I cannot. You know I cannot go out of this
without great fear and danger," says Ella, faintly.

" I know nothing of the kind. This determination of
yours to shut yourself away from the world is only a
species of madness, and it will grow upon you. Supposing
that man found you, what could he do ? "

" Oh, don't, don't," says she, faintly. She covers her eyes
with her hands. Then suddenly she takes them down and
looks at him. " You have never felt fear," says she. She says
this quickly, reproachfully, almost angrily ; but through
all the anger and reproach and haste there runs a thread of
admiration. " But I have. And I tell you if— that man —
were to see me again — were to come here and order me to
go away with him — I should not dare to refuse."

" He knows better than to come here," says Wyndham,
curtly. " You may dispose of that fear."

" Ah," says she, sighing. " You don't know him."

"I know — if not 'him individually — his class," says
Wyndham, confidently. " Give up, I counsel you, this
secrecy of yours. See what it has brought upon you to-
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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 351

day. And these insults will continue. I warn you," he
looks at her with a frowning brow, " I warn you they will
continue."

14 She," Ella looks at him timidly. " You think she will
come again 1 "

u Mrs. Prior t " — contemptuously ; " no ! But there will
be others. What do you think people are saying ? "

" Saying of me ? " She looks frightened. " They have
heard about that night at the Professor's ? " questioned she.
She looks now almost on the verge of fainting. " Your
aunt — she — did she know— she said nothing."

" No. She knows nothing of that," saya Wyndham, hur-
riedly. After all it is impossible to explain to her. But
Miss Manning will know. She will know what to say.

" She only saw me in the tree," says the girl, with a
voice that is now half sobbing. " And then she thought

you that I — Oh ! " more wretchedly still — " I don't

know what she thought ! But "—trembling — " I wish I
had never climbed into that tree."

" Because she happened to see you — never mind that.
She's got eyes in the back of her head. No one could
escape her," says he, touched by her agitation.

" I am not thinking of her," says Ella, proudly — making
a gesture that might almost be called imperious. " I am
only vexed because you are angry with me about it. But "
—eagerly — " I never thought anyone would find me out,
and, I did so want to see, what you — what " — quickly cor-
recting herself and coloring faintly — "you were all doing
in the rectory garden."

" If you want so much and so naturally," says he, " to
see your fellow people, why didn't you accept Susan's in*
vitation. It would have prevented ail this."

" I know. But I couldn't," says she, hanging her pretty
head. " You know I tried it once, and it was only when I
got back again here — here into this safe, safe place— that I
knew how frightened I had been all the time. And you

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352 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

may remember how I fancied then, on my return, that I
had seen " She stops as if unable to go on*

" I know. I remember. But that was a mere hallucina-
tion, I am sure. Tou must try to conquer such absurd
fears. Promise me you will try."

" I will try," cries she, impulsively. She holds out to
him her hand, and he takes it. " I will indeed. You have
been so good to me, that I ought to do something for you.
But all the same " — shaking her head — " I know you are
vexed with me about this."

" For your sake only. This abominable visit of my
aunt's, for example "

" Yes. About the girl you " She stops and with-
draws her hand.

" I thought I had explained that," says he, with a laugh.
" But what troubles me is, the thought that you may be
again annoyed in this way. Not by her, I shall see about
that," with force. "But there may be others. And of

course your welfare is " He checks himself—" of some

consequence to me."

" Is it 1 " She has grown cold too. " Your aunt's wel-
fare must be something to you as well."

" Do you mean by that — that you don't think I am on
your side f " She lifts her heavy lids and looks at him.

" You told me, that my affairs were nothing to you.
That they did not concern you in the smallest degree."

" Was that — some time ago t "

" Yes. Almost at first."

" Don't you think it is a little vindictive to visit one's
former utterances upon one now ? "

" I don't know."

" Well, good-bye," says he, quickly. He turns, wounded
more than he could have believed it possible to be by a girl
who is positively nothing to him. Nothing ! he quite in-
sists on this as he goes down the path.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 353

But now — what is this ? Swift feet running after him ; a
small eager hand upon his arm.

" Mr. Wyndham ! Don't go away like this. If I have
offended you I am sorry, I — " Her lips begin to tremble
now, and the eyes that are uplifted to his are dim. " I am
dreadfully sorry. Oh 1 don't go away like this 1 Forgive
me ! " Suddenly she burst into tears. " Do forgive me ! "

" Forgive ? I ? It is you who have to forgive," stam-
mers he. "Ella!"

He has laid his hand upon hers to draw them from her
eyes, but with a sudden movement she breaks from him, and
runs back to the house. At the door, however, she stops,
and glances back at him, and he can see that her face is
radiant now, though her eyes are still wet with their late
tears.

" Good-bye ! Good-bye I " cries she. She raises both her
hands to her lips and in the prettiest, the most graceful
fashion, flings him a last farewell This manner of hers is
new to him. It is full, not only of friendliness, but of the
joy of one who has been restored once more to happiness.

On the avenue of Crosby Park Wyndham meets the
master of it, who has plainly been strolling this way with a
view to meeting him on his return.

" Well I " says Crosby. Then seeing the other's face, " I
was right then ? "

" Tou were. She had made her way in, and insulted the
poor child in the most violent way."

" I felt sure she was up to mischief," says Crosby coloring
hotly ; he, too, is conscious of strong resentment. That any
one should go from his house to deliberately annoy a girl —
a young girl, and one so sadly circumstanced — makes his
usually easy going blood boiL " I thought her manner to
you at breakfast was over suave. Well f "

"There is hardly anything to tell you. That she was
23

354 THE PROFESSOR' 8 EXPERIMENT.

there, — that she spoke as few women would have had the
heart to do, is all I am sure of. No. This more. That that
poor child, thank God, didn't understand half of her vile in*
sinuations. I could see so much. But she was cut to the
heart for all that. If you could have seen her face, so>
white, so frightened. I tell you this Crosby "

He never told him, however. He broke off short — as if
not able to trust his voice, and Crosby, after one sharp
glance at him, bestowed all his attention on the gravel at
his feet. And as he waited for the other to recover his
serenity, he shook his head over the whole affair. Yes, this >
was always the end of this sort of thing. If Wyndham
didn't know it he did, Wyndham was desperately in love
with this " waif" of his — with this girl who had sprung out
of nowhere — who had been flung upon his hands out of the
angry tide of life. Presently, seeing Wyndham continuing
silent, as if lost in a train of thought, he breaks in.

" How did you know Mrs. Prior was there f "

" Prom herself."

" What ! You met her ? "

" Just outside the gate."

" And," Crosby here shows signs of hopeful joy, " had it
out with her t "

" On the spot. She denied nothing. Rather led the at-
tack. One has but a poor vengeance with women, Crosby,
but at all events she knows what I think of her. Of course
there is an end to all pretence of friendship with her in the
future, and I am glad of it."

" I hope you didn't say too much," says Crosby, rather
taken aback by the sullen rage on the other's brow.

" How could I do that ? If it had been a man "

" She might well congratulate herself that she isn't, if
she could only see your eyes at this moment," says Crosby
laughing in spite of himself. " But she'll make mischief
out of this, Paul, I'm afraid." He is silent a moment, and
then—.

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44 Your uncle is still bent, I suppose, on your marriage
with her daughter ? "

" Yes, rather a bore," says Wyndham, frowning. " I
don't like to disappoint the old man."

41 You mean ? "

44 That I should not marry Josephine Prior, if my ac-
cession to a throne depended upon it."

44 So bad as that f "

44 Is what so bad as that ? " struck by a meaning in the
other's tone.

t « Why — your infatuation for your tenant."

" My — . . Oh, of course, I might have known you
would come to look at it like that," says Wyndham, shrug-
ging his shoulders. With another man he might have been
offended. But it is hard to be offended with Crosby. u Still
you are a sort of fellow one might trust to take a broader
view of things."

44 What broader do you want me to take f " begins Crosby,
slightly amused. " But to get back to our argument —
mine, rather. I think it will be bad for you if you quarrel
with Shangarry over this matter. The title, of course,
must be yours — but barren honors are hardly worth get-
ting. And he may leave his money away from you. You
have told me before this, that he has immense sums in his
hands to dispose of— and much of the property is not en-
tailed. You should think, Paul. You should think." He
was the last man in the world to think, himself, on such an
occasion as this.

44 1 have thought."

44 You mean f "

44 1 don't know what I mean," says Wyndham,— then,
with sudden impatience-— 44 Is love necessary to marriage ? "

Crosby laughs.

44 Is marriage necessary at all f " says he. 44 Why not
elect to do as I do, live and die a jolly old bachelor f "

44 Ah ! I don't believe in you," says Paul, with a rather

356 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

mirthless smile. " If I went in for that state of life, de-
pending on you as a companion, I should find myself left —
sooner or later."

44 Well, then," says Crosby, who has no prejudices, " Why
not marry her ? "

44 Her?"

44 Your tenant — this charming, unhappy, pretty girl,
who, believe me, Wyndham," growing suddenly grave, 4< I
regard as much as you do, with the very deepest respect."
Crosby has his charm.

44 You go too far," says Wyndham, looking a little agi-
tated, however. " I am not in love with her, as you seem
to imagine." Crosby smothers a smile, as in duty bound.
44 And, besides, even if I did desire to marry her, how could
I do it ? It would kill Shangarry with his queer old-fash-
ioned ideas. ... A girl with no name. . . . And

our name — so old . It would kill him, I tell you. And !

And besides all that, George, I don't care for her, and she
doesn't care for me. • . not in that way."

44 Well, you are the best judge of that," says Crosby.
44 And if it is as you say, I am sorry you ever saw her. She
has brought you into a decidedly risqu£ situation. And
she is too good-looking to get out of it — or you, either,
without scandal."

44 You have seen her f " Wyndham's face is full of
rather angry enquiry.

44 My dear fellow ! Don't eat me ! We all saw her yes-
terday, if you come to think of it, in that tree of hers. You
may remember that ass Jones' remarks about a Hama-
dryad."

44 Oh, yes, of course. And you thought "

44 To tell you the truth," says Crosby, " I thought her
the very image of— Don't hit a little one, Wyndham I But
I did think her more like Mrs. Prior, than even Mrs.
Prior's own daughter is."

44 What absurd nonsense ! And yet, now D I.

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 357

she — Ella — Miss Moore said she felt as if she had seen Mrs.
Prior before."

" That's odd. And yet not so odd as it seems. Many
families totally unrelated to each other are often very much
alike; I daresay Mrs. Prior and Miss Moore's mother,
though in different ranks of life, might have possessed fea-
tures of the same type and nature very similar, too. Same
features, same manners, you know, very often."

" That ends the argument for me," says Wyndham, with
a frown, " Miss Moore's manners are as far removed from
my aunt's, and as far above them as is possible."

He brushes rather hurriedly past his friend. But his
friend forgives him. He stands indeed in the middle of the
avenue, staring after Wyndham's vanishing form.

" And to think he doesn't know he is in love with her,"
says he at last. " Any fellow might know when he was in
love with a woman. Well ! " with a friendly sigh of deep
regret. " I am afraid it will cost him a good deal."

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368 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

" What a rich feast the canker grief has made,
How has it suck'd the roses of thy cheeks!
And drank the liquid crystals of thy eyes."

Autumn is dead ! It has faded slowly and tenderly away, with
the great sudden changes — no desperate looking back towards the
life departing — no morbid rushing towards the death in front. Del-
icately but very sorrowfully it went to its grave and was buried al-
most before one realized its loss.

And now winter is with us ; chill and still chiller grow the winds
and harsh the biting frosts.

"The upper skies are palest blue
Mottled with pearl and fretted snow ;
With tattered fleece of inky hue,
Close overhead the storm clouds go,
Their shadows fly along the hills,
And o'er the crest mount one by one ;
The whitened planking of the mill
Is now in shade and now in sun."

It is as yet a young winter just freshly born, and full of
the terrible vitality that belongs to infancy. Sharp are the
little darting breezes, and merry blow the blinding showers
of snow, still so light and fragile — laughed at by the chil-
dren, and caught in their little up-turned hands, but still
sure forerunners of the bitter days to come, with the baby
winter shall be a man full grown and bad to wrestle with.

To these days so cold and pitiless to the fragile creatures
of the earth little Bonnie has succumbed. Into his aching
limbs the frosts have entered, racking the tender little body
and bringing it to so low an ebb that Susan, watching over
him with miserable fear and terrible forebodings from
morning till night, and from night again to morning (she

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TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. m

never now lets him out of her sight, refusing even to let
anyone else sleep with him) lives in secret awful terror of
what every day may bring.

Cuddled into her young warm arms at night, she clasps
him tightly to her, feeling he cannot be taken from her,
whilst thus she holds him — whilst still she can feel him— ^
feel his little beloved form, now, alas, mere bones with their
sad covering that seems to be of skin only. And to her
Father in Heaven she prays — not only nightly when he is
in her arms, or at intervals when she is on her strong young
feet, that he will spare her this one awful grief— the death
of her pretty boy I

No mother ever prayed harder — entreated more wildly—
(yet always so silently) for the life of her offspring than
Susan prays for the continuance of this small life.

For the last week he has been very bad, in great and in-
cessant pain, and Susan abandoning all other duties, has
given herself up to him.

No one has reprimanded her for this giving up of her
daily work, though the household is suffering much through
lack of her many customary ministrations. Even Miss
Barry has forgotten to scold, and goes very silently about
the house, whilst the Rector's face has taken a heart-broken
expression. The look it used to wear, as the elder children
so well remember, after their mother's death.

All day long Susan sits with her little boy, sometimes,
when his aches are worse than usual, hushing him against
her breast, and breathing soft childish songs into his ear to
soothe his sufferings, and keep up his heart, whilst her own
is breaking.

For is it not her fault that he is suffering now 1 If she
had not forgotten him, this little lamb of her dead mother's
fold, left by that dying mother to her special care, he might
be now as well and strong as all the rest of them I

She is sitting with him now in the schoolroom, 1;

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300 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

back in the old armchair, quite motionless, for the suffer-
ing child within her arms has fallen into a fitful slumber,
when the door is opened and Crosby enters. He had left
the Park about a month ago, and had not been expected
back for some time — not until the spring, indeed, but some-
thing, unknown or unacknowledged, even by himself, had
driven him back, after four weeks, to this small corner of
the earth.

" Sh I " breathes Susan, softly, putting up her hand. A
warm flush has suddenly dyed her pale face, grown white
through grief and many watchings. Her surprise at seeing
Crosby is almost unbounded, and with it is another feeling
of joy, of comfort, of support. All through her strange joy
and surprise, however, she remembers the child, and that
he sleeps. Of late his slumbers have grown very precious.

Crosby advances slowly, carefully. This gives him time
to look at Susan, to mark the sadness of the tender face
bending over the sleeping child — to mark also the terrible
lines of suffering on his. But his eyes wander always back
to Susan.

In her grief how beautiful she is ! How human ! How
womanly ! And with the child pressed against her breast.
Oh I Susan ! you were always pretty, but now I The grief
is almost divine t Oh, little young Madonna I

But then to have Susan look like that I He wakes from
his dreams of her beauty with a sharp anger against him-
self. And now only one thing is uppermost in his mind —
Susan is suffering t Well, then, Susan must not be allowed
to suffer I

" He is ill," he says quickly, in a low tone.

" Oh, so ill 1 He — he has been ill now for three weeks.
The cold — that hurt him." She lifts her face for a moment,
struggles with herself, and then lowers her head again, as
if to do something to Bonnie's little necktie, lest he should
see her tears.

" Tell me about it," says Crosby, drawing up a chair, and

THE rHOFESSO&S EXPERIMENT. 361

seating himself close to her and the boy. There is some-
thing so friendly, so sympathetic in his action that the poor
child's heart expands.

u Oh, you can't think how bad it has been," she says.
" This dreadful cold seems to get into him. Speak very
low. He slept hardly two hours the whole of last night."

" How do you know that f " quickly.

" How should I not know f " surprised. " I slept with
him — who should know if I didn't t n

11 Then you did not even sleep two hours f "

" Oh, what does it matter about me t " says she, in a low,
impatient tone. " Think of him. All last night he cried.
He cried dreadfully ! And what cut me to the heart," says
the girl, in an agonized tone, " was that I think sometimes
he was keeping back his tears for fear they should grieve
me. Oh I how he suffers I Mr. Crosby," suddenly, almost
sharply, " should people — should little, lovely, darling chil-
dren like this suffer so horribly, and when it is no fault of
their own 1 Oh I " passionately.

"It is frightful! It is wrong I Father is sometimes
angry with me about saying it, but how can God — be so
cruel ! "

Her tone vibrates with wild and angry grief, yet still she
keeps it low. It strikes Crosby as wonderful, that through
all her violent agitation she never forgets the child sleeping
in her arms.

He says nothing, however. Who could to comfort her in
an hour like this. He bends over the sleeping child and
looks at him. Such a small face, and so lovely — in spite
of the furrows pain has laid upon it. How clearly writ
they are. And yet the child is like Susan. Strangely like.
In the young blooming face, bending over the emaciated
one, the likeness can be traced.

" You think — you think," whispers Susan, eagerly, fol-
lowing his gaze, and demanding an answer to it.

"He looks ill- But-"

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ft* THE PROFESSORS tiXPE&IMtiNT*

" But ? " There is a terrible enquiry — oh, more, poor
child — there is terrible entreaty in her question.

" Susan," says Crosby, " there is always hope. But the
child is very ill."

" Ah I " She shrinks from him. " That there is no hope
is what you want to say to me."

" It is not. Far worse cases have sometimes recovered.
But in the meantime," anxiously, " I think of you. You
look exhausted, you shouldn't keep him on your, lap like
that. I have just seen Miss Barry, and she tells me you
keep him in your arms by night and by day."

Susan turns upon him with an almost fierce light in her
gentle eyes.

" I shall keep him in my arms always — always, when he
wishes it. I — " she stops. " He can't die whilst I hold
him," cries she. She draws in her breath sharply, and then
as if the cruel word " die " has stung her, she breaks into
silent, but most bitter weeping.

" This is killing you," says Crosby.

" Oh I I almost wish it were," says she. She has choked
back her tears, fearing lest the sleeping child should be dis-
turbed by the heaving of her chest. She lifts her haggard,
sad, young eyes to his. " It is I who have brought him to
this pass. Every pang of his should by right be mine. It
is I who should bear them."

" It seems to me," says Crosby, gravely, " that you are
bearing them."

He waits a moment. But she has gone back to her con-
templation of her little brother's face. She is hanging over
him, her eyes fixed on the pale fragile features, as if fearing
— as if dwelling on the thought of the last sad moment of
all, when he will be no longer with her — when the grave
will have closed over him.

Presently, Crosby — seeing her so absorbed — rises, very
quietly, and takes a step towards the door.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 363

As he moves she lifts her head, and holds out to him the
one hand free.

" Mr. Crosby," whispers she, with a dreary attempt at a
smile, " I don't believe I have even said so much as * how
d'ye do' to you. I certainly have not welcomed you
back—"

" No," says Crosby. " Not one word of welcome. But
how could I expect it at such a time."

u And anyway, I need not say it," says she, her eyes fill-
ing. " You know you are welcome."

" To you, Susan f "

" To me ! You know — you must know that," says Susan,
with the sweetest friendliness.

• •••••••

Crosby goes straight into Mr. Barry's study, where he
finds the Rector immersed in his books and notes, and there
makes clear to him the subject that only five minutes ago
had become clear to himself. Yet it is so cleverly described
to Mr. Barry that the latter might well be excused for be-
lieving that it had been thought out for many days and
carefully digested before being laid before him. The feet
was that he — Crosby — was going to Germany almost im-
mediately. Certainly next week, though even more cer-
tainly he had not thought of going to Germany, a country
he detested, so late as this morning. There were wonderful
baths there, he said, and a specialist for rheumatic people.
lie made the specialist the least part of the argument,
though in reality it was the greatest, as the professor he
had in mind (who had come to his mind during his inter-
view with Susan, so sadly miserable with that child upon
her knee) was one of the most distinguished men alive
where rheumatic affections were in question. If Mr. Barry
would trust his little son to him — would let him take Bonnie
to these wonderful, life restoring baths, and to this even
more wonderful specialist he would regard it as a great
privilege— as a mark of friendship— of esteem.

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364 THE PEOFESSO&S EXPERIMENT.

Poor Mr. Barry I He sank back in bis chair, and covered
his eyes with his hands. How could he take from a perfect
— well a comparative stranger — so great a boon. All the
old instincts — the pride of a good race fought with him, but
with the old instincts and the pride love fought and gained
the victory.

The child. Had he the right to refuse life to the child
because of his senseless shrinking from obligations to an-
other. He asked himself this question over and over again
whilst Crosby who sincerely pitied him, because he under-
stood him, waited. And then all at once the father saw the
child, bathed in sweat, and moaning with awful pain — and
human nature prevailed He gave in.

"I can never repay you, Mr. Crosby," he said, in a
shortened tone, standing tall and grim, and crushed behind
his table — his sharp aristocratic features intensified by the
shabbiness of the furniture around him.

" There is nothing to repay," says Crosby, lightly. " This
is a whim of mine. I believe in this specialist of whom I
tell you — many do not. But I have sufficient cause for my
belief, to ask you to entrust your little son to my care. I
tell you honestly it is a whim.' If you will gratify it, it
will give me pleasure."

Mr. Barry rises, and walks to the window. His gaunt
figure stands out clear before it and the room.

" No, no," says he. " You cannot put it like that. Do
not imagine ail your kind words can destroy the real mean-
ing of your kind action. This is the best action, sir, that I
have ever known," his voice shakes. " And as I tell you I
can never repay it. . . . But the child — "

He turns more sharply, as if going to the window, merely
to adjust the blind, but a slight glance at him has told
Crosby that the tears are running down his cheeks. Poor
man ! Poor father !

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 365

" The child will be safe with me," says Crosby, earnestly.

" I know that." The Rector turns all at once — his face
is now composed — but he looks older — thinner — if that
could be. He comes straight up to Crosby. " I am a dull
old man," says he, hurriedly. " I can't explain myself. But
I know what you are doing — I know — I — " He hesitates.
" I would pray for you — but you have no need of prayers."

" We all have need of prayers," says Crosby, gravely.
" Mr. Barry, this is an adventure of mine, out of which no
man can say how I may come. I take your child from you,
but how can I say that I will bring him back to you ? If
you will pray, pray for him, and for me too, that we may
come back together."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER XLIX.
" Tears from the depth of some divine despair."

********

Thus it was arranged, and when another week has come
and gone, the day arrives when Crosby is to carry off little
Bonnie to distant lands with a view to his recovery.

Susan had of course been told ; and there had been a
rather painful scene between her, and her aunt, and her
father.

" Bonnie to be taken from her," and so soon.

" But for his good, Susan."

She had given in at the last as was inevitable, with many
cruel tearings at her heart, and miserable beliefs that his
going now, would mean his going for ever. He would
never come back. And they would bury him there in that
strange land without his Susan to comfort him, and soothe
his dying moments.

It was with great fainting of the spirit that Susan rises
to-day. To-day, that will see her little lad carried away
from her — no matter in whose kindly hands — to where she
cannot know under three days! post whether he be alive or —

At one part of his dressing (he has never yet since his
first illness been dressed by anyone but Susan) she had
given way.

Of course the child knew he was going somewhere with
Mr. Crosby — he liked Crosby — " to be made well and strong
4 my own ducky,' " as Susan had told him, with her heart
bursting.

But I think it was when she was half way through his
dressing, and kneeling on the floor beside him, was fasten-
ing his small suspenders, that Susan's courage failed her.

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THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT. 367

" Oh ! Bonnie ! Oh, my own Bonnie ! " she cried, press-
ing her head agaimst his thin little ribs.

" Susan," said the child, earnestly, turning and clasping
his arms round her bent head. " 111 come back to you. I
will indeed I I promise ! "

It was a solemn promise. But it gave Susan nothing
but such an awful pang of sure foreboding, that it subdued
her. Despair gives strength ! She stopped her tears and
rose, and ministered to his little needs, and became as
though grief was no longer hers — as though she lived and
moved as her usual self. This immobility frightened her —
because she knew she would pay the penalty for it later on.
When he was gone !

• ••••••

Now standing in the garden awaiting Mr. Crosby and
the carriage that is to carry the boy away from her for six
long months, she is still dry-eyed and calm.

Here it comes ! She can hear the horses' hoofs now, and
the roll of the carriage wheels along the road. And now it
is stopping at the gate. And now

Mr. Crosby has jumped out and is coming towards her.

" Tou must say good-bye to me here, Susan," says he,
" because there will only be good-bye for the little brother
presently."

" Good-bye," says she.

" Obedient child." But as he holds her hand and looks
at her he can see the rings that grief has made around her
beautiful eyes. Seeing him still waiting as if for a larger
answer, as she thinks, though in reality he is only silent
because of his studying of her sad sweet face with its tears,
and its courage, so terrible in one so young — says, tremu-
lously, " I have not even thanked you ! "

" That is not it," says Crosby. " There is nothing to
thank me for, but there is something, Susan, you might
say ! Tell me that you will miss me a little bit whilst I'm
jtway."

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368 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

Susan's hand trembles within his, but answer makes she
none.

" Well 1 " says he, again, as if determined not to be de-
frauded of his rights by this child — this pretty child She
may not love him, but surely she may miss him.

Susan raises her eyes, and he can see that they are filled
with tears.

" Oh I I shall I " says she, earnestly. " I shall miss
you, and long for your return."

This fervid speech is so unlike Susan, that all at once he
arranges a meaning for it. Of course I Bonnie will be
with him — she will long for the child's return. If he re-
sents a little this thought of Susan's for Bonnie to the en-
tire exclusion of himself, he still admires the affection that
has inspired it, and that desolates her lovely face.

" Susan, I shall take care of him," says he, earnestly.
" Trust me in this matter. If human skill can do anything
for him, I shall see that it is done. If care and watching
and attention is of any use, he shall have it from me."

" Ah t but love ? " says Susan. " He has been so used
to love ! And now he will not have me — Mr. Crosby ! "
clasping her hands together as if to keep the trembling of
them from him. " Try — try to love him. He is so sweet,
so dear, that it can't be hard — and — and "

She stops, her face is as white as death.

" I would to God, Susan," says he, " that you oould have
come with us too ; but that — that was impossible."

" I know ; I know. And of course I seem very un-
grateful. But he is so ill — so fragile. So near to — " She
shivers as if some horrid pain had touched her. " And it
is to me he has turned for everything up to this. And to-
morrow " — suddenly she lifts her hands to her face, and
breaks down altogether — " Oh t who will dress him to-
morrow f "

The end has almost come. Bonnie has said good-bye to

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bis father and all the rest of them, and is now clinging to
Susan, and crying bitterly. Poor Susan I She is very
pale, and is visibly trembling, as she holds the child to her
with all her strength — as though to let him go is almost
impossible to her ; but she holds back her tears bravely,
afraid of distressing him further.

" I told you, I should have taken you with us," says
Crosby in a low tone to Susan, more with a view to light-
ening the situation than anything else. But the situation
is made of material too heavy to be blown aside by any
such light wind. Susan pays' no heed to him. He is quite
aware indeed, after a moment, that Susan neither sees nor
hears him. She is holding the child against her heart, and
breathing into his ear broken words of love, and hope, and
courage.

At last the final moment comes. Crosby has shaken Mr.
Barry's hand, who is looking paler and more gaunt than
usual, for at least the fourth time, and has now come to the
carriage in which Susan has placed Bonnie, having wrapped
him warmly round with rugs. Betty is standing near her.

" Good-bye," says Crosby, holding out his hand to Betty,
who is crying softly.

" Oh, good-bye," cries she, flinging her arms round his
neck, and giving him a little hug. " We shall never forget
this to you. Never."

" I shall bring him back," says he, smiling. He pats
her shoulder — dear little girl — and turns to Susan.

" Don't be unhappy," he whispers, hurriedly. " You
spoke of love for him I I shall love him ! I shall never
let him out of my sight, Susan. I swear that to you !
You believe me. You will take comfort ! "

" I believe you," says Susan, lifting her miserable eyes
to his. " And I trust you."

" Good-bye, then."

" Good-bye. I heard what you said to Betty. You will
bring him back. That is a promise."
24

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370 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" With the help of God I'll bring him back to you," says
Crosby, solemnly. " And now, good-bye again."

" Good-bye," says Susan. And then, to his everlasting
surprise, she leans forward, lays her hands upon his shoul-
ders, and presses her lips to his cheek, not lightly or care-
lessly, but with heartfelt feeling. She shows no confusion.
Not so much as a blush appears upon her face. It seems
the most natural thing in the world — to her I

That it is gratitude only that has impelled her to this
deed, is quite plain to Crosby. He pushes her back from
him very gently, and stepping into the carriage is soon out
of sight.

But the memory of that kiss goes with him. It seems to
linger on his cheek, and he can still see her as she raised
her head, with her lovely tear-dimmed eyes on his. It was
all done in the most innocent, the most friendly way. She
had no thought beyond the feet that he was being very
good to the little idolized brother. It was thus she showed
her gratitude.

But even through gratitude to kiss him! Suddenly a
fresh, a most unpleasant, thought springs to life. No
doubt she regards him as an old fogey. A man of such
and such an age ! A kind of bachelor uncle. Oh t con-
found it ! He is not so very much older than she is, if one
comes to think of it. He feels a rush of anger towards
Susan, followed by a strange depression, that he either will
not, or does not understand The anger, however, he un-
derstands well enough. There is no earthly reason why
she should think him old enough to kiss like that. It was
abominable of her.

He is conscious of a longing to go back and have it out
with her. To ask her at what age she considers a man
may be kissed. But at this point he checks himself, and
gives way to a touch of mirth that is a trifle grim. She
might mistake his meaning, and say twenty— that would
be about her own age.

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And of course it is impossible to go back, the journey
once begun. Though why he had undertaken the charge
of this child except to please her he hardly knows. And
in all probability the cure will never be effected. And then
she will go even further, and regret having given him that
insulting kiss — of gratitude. And what on earth is he to
do with this child : this burden t

Here he looks round at the little burden. Bonnie is
asleep. All the tears and excitement have overcome him,
and he is lying back in a deep slumber, and in a most un-
comfortable position.

Crosby bends over him, and tenderly, very tenderly,
lifts the small delicate flower-like bead from its uneasy
resting place against the side of the carriage, and lays it
softly on his arm. And thus he supports it for the rest of
the drive, until Dublin being reached he gives him into the
care of a trained nurse procured from the Rotunda, who is
to accompany the child abroad.

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CHAPTER L.

41 How goodness heightens beauty."

" O, what a Christmas Day," cries Betty, springing oat
of bed and rushing to the window.

" You will catch your death of cold," says Susan sleepily ;
but in spite of this protest, or rather in despite of it, she
too jumps out of her cosy nest and hurries to the window.
" Oh what a morning ! " breathes she.

And indeed the world seems all afire to-day. The sun is
glittering upon the snow, and the snow is casting back at it
lights scarcely less brilliant. All the trees and shrubs are
gaily decked with snowy wraps and armlets, whilst here and
there through the universal white, big branches of holly
berries, scarlet as blood, peep out.

" Ouf ! Yes. But it's cold," says Betty, after a moment
or two.

" I told you you would catch cold," says Susan, turning
upon her indignantly, though in reality she stands quite as
big a chance of meeting the dread foe as Betty.

"Ill catch you instead!" cries Betty, with full intent.
Whereon ensues a combat that might have given the gods
pause. A most spirited hunt ! that takes them round and
round the small bedroom a dozen times or more. It is a
regular chase. Over the bed, and past the wardrobe, and
behind the dressing table — it was a near shave for Susan
that last, and full of complication — but she gets out of it
with the loss of only one small china ornament. The very
least concession that could be made to the god of Battle.

And now away again! Over the bed once more, and
round a chair, deftly directed at the enemy's toes — and

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• • . After all the very bravest of us can sometimes
know defeat, and Susan is at last run to earth between a
basket chair and a trunk.

After this they condescend to dress — both a little ex-
hausted, and Betty, I regret to say, jibbing at her bath.

" If it was hot I'd say nothing," says she. " When I'm
married 111 have a hot bath in December."

" Who'd marry you I " says Susan, and then, like the im-
mortal parrot, is sorry that she spoke. Showers of icy
water descend upon her !

But now breakfast is ready, and they must hasten down,
with a last look out of their' favorite window at the golden
coloring there.

" I suppose it's almost warm where Bonnie is," says
Betty, after a slight pause.

" I hope so. Yes. I think so." There is, however,
doubt in Susan's tone. It seems impossible to believe any
place warm with that snow-burdened garden outside.

"It must be warm," says Betty. "Bonnie could not
stand cold like this, and the last accounts were not bad" —
this rather doubtfully.

" No. But " Susan's face, that had been glowing,

now loses something of its warmth : " Not good either.

Still. . . Betty " She looks at her sister, " don't

you think Mr. Crosby is a man one might depend upon ? "

u Oh, I do. I do, indeed," says Betty. " He," earnestly,'
and with a view to please Susan, " is so ugly that anyone
might depend upon him."

" Ugly I He certainly is not ugly," says Susan. " I
must say, Betty, I think sometimes you make the most
foolish remarks."

" Well, I'll say he's handsome, if you like," says Betty,
slightly affronted. " Anyway he has been very good to
Bonnie. I suppose that's what makes him

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374 TBE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

your eyes. And he has been kind too. Could anyone b4
kinder ; and sometimes, Susan, I feel that I love him just
as much as you do."

" Oh I don't love him," says Susan, flushing.

" No ? Is it gratitude, then ? Well, whatever it is you
feel, Susan, I feel just the same — because he has been so
kind to poor Bonnie."

Susan turns away without replying. And then "We
must go down," says she.

" Well, come," says Betty, a little urgently. " I'm sure
I have only been waiting for you, Susan. I wonder what
Christmas cards we shall get."

" One from Dom anyway." Mr. Fitzgerald had been sum-
moned home by his guardian for Christmas, much to his
disgust.

" Oh, that ! But Dom doesn't count 1 " says Betty, tilt-
ing her pretty nose in rather a disdainful fashion-

Breakfast is nearly over, however, before the post arrives.
The postman of Curraghcloyne has had many delays to-day.
At every house every resident has given him his " Christ-
mas Box," and sometimes a " stirrup cup " besides, so that
by the time he gets to the rectory he is very considerably
the worse for wear. Yet he gives out his letters there with
the air of a finished postman, and accepts the rectory an-
nual five shillings with a bow that would not have disgraced
Chesterfield. That his old caubeen is on the side of his
head, and his articulation somewhat indistinct, detracts in
no wise from the dignity of the way in which he delivers
his packages and bids Mr. Barry " All th' complaints o' t'
saison I "

" Oh, here's one from Dom," cries Betty, tearing open her

post. " And written all on the back. What on earth has

he got to say on a Christmas card ? Why didn't he write

\ letter? * My dear Betty, I feel as I write this that you

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 375

don't know where you are. That shows the great moral
difference between you and me. I know where I am, and I
wish to heaven I didn't. Old uncle is awfully trying. Puts
your back up half-a-dozen times a minute. I don't believe
I'll ever get back ; because if he doesn't murder me I shall
infallibly murder him, and then where shall we all be? I've
written most religiously all over this card (I chose a big
one on purpose) so that you cannot, in the usual mean fash-
ion peculiar to girls, send it on again to your dearest friend
as a New Year's offering. See how well I know your little
ways 1 ' "

" Isn't he a beast ! " says Betty, with honest meaning.
u And it would have done so nicely for old Miss Blake.
You see she has sent me one, though I had quite forgotten
all about her. I must say Dom is downright malignant. I
suppose I'll have to buy her one now. All the rest of mine
have ' Happy Christmas ' on them, and it does look badly
to send a card like that for New Year's day. Dom's has
both Christmas and New Year on it, and of course it would
have suited beautifully. Oh, Susan," pouncing on a card
in Susan's hand, " what a beauty, and nothing written on
the back. You will let me have it for Miss Blake, won't
you?"

" No, no, 9 ' says Susan, hastily. She takes it back quickly
from Betty. A little sharp unwelcome blush has sprung
into her cheeks.

" Who is it from — James ? "

" James 1 Are you mad ? " says Susan. " Fancy my
caring for a card from James. Why, here is his, and you
can have it to make ducks and drakes of, if you like."

" But that then ? " questions Betty, with some pardonable
curiosity, pointing at the card denied her.

" It is from Mr. Crosby. Don't you think, Betty," the
treacherous color growing deeper, " that one should treasure
even a card sent by one who has been so good to Bonnie? "

" I do. I do indeed," says Betty, earnestly. " And

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376 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

after all, one would treasure a card from most people.
Even this," flicking Dom's somewhat contemptuously," I'D
have to treasure, as I can't send it away to anyone/ Susan,
I .wonder if Ella has got any cards besides those we sent
her ? Shall we go to her this afternoon and ask her ? "

" I don't suppose she can have got any," says Susan,
thoughtfully. " You know she keeps herself so aloof from
the world. She had yours and * mine certainly, and
Carew's."

" Did Carew send her one ? "

" Didn't you know ? " Susan laughs a little. " I didn't
think it was a secret. I went into his room yesterday, and
saw an envelope directed to Ella, and said something about
it, but I really quite thought he had told you too."

" Well, he didn't 1 After dinner, Susan, let us run down
and see her, and show her our cards."

" Oh no," says Susan, shrinking a little. " If she had
none of her own, it might make her feel — feel lonely ! "

" That's true," says Betty.

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CHAPTER LI.

— " Who would trust slippery chance."

But after all, Ella has a card of her own, that is not from
Susan, or Betty, or Carew ! Some hours ago the post
brought it to her, and she has gone out into the garden,
that is now lovely in its white garments, with the red ber-
ries of the holly trees peeping through the snow — to read
it, and look at it again.

The walks have been swept clear by Denis, who has come
down from Dublin to spend a long (a very long) and happy
Christmas week with his wife. A third person in Mrs.
Denis' kitchen and private apartments might have ques-
tioned about the happiness, but that it is a lively week
goes beyond all doubt.

With Ella's card a little line had come too. Mr. Wynd-
ham was coming down by the afternoon train, to see to
something for Crosby, who had written to him from Carls-
bad, and he hoped to call at the Cottage before his return.
Ella reads and re-reads the little note. The afternoon train
comes in at one o'clock. It is now after twelve. Soon he
will be here 1 How kind he is to her ! How good ! And
to remember that Christmas card ! She had heard Susan
and Betty talking of Christmas cards, and they had sent
her one, each of them, and Carew had sent one too. They
also were kind, so kind, but that Mr. Wyndham should re-
member her, with ail his other friends to think of

Alone in this dear garden, with no one to hear or see her,
she gives way to her mood. Miss Manning has gone up to
Dublin to spend her Christmas Day with an old friend,
urged thereto by Ella, who, indeed, wished to be alone after
her post had come. Now she can walk about .

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378 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

speak to her own heart without interruption, Mrs. Denis
being engaged in that intellectual game called " words "
with her husband. Oh, how happy she feels ! How ex-
traordinarily happy ! She laughs aloud, and lifting her
arms crosses them with lazy delight behind her head, and
amongst the warm furs that encircle her neck. This ac-
tion draws her head backwards — her eyes upwards

Upwards I To the top of the wall on that far distant
corner. There her eyes rest as if transfixed — and there
grow frozen in this awful horror that has come to her.
Where is the happiness now in the eyes — the young, glad
joy?

She stands as if stricken into stone, staring into a face
that is staring back at her.

On the wall close to the old tree, from which she loves to
look into the rectory garden, and wave a handkerchief to
the children there to come to her, sits Moore, the man from
whom she had fled ; the man whom she dreads most of all
things upon earth ; the man who wanted to marry her !

Oh dear, dear Heaven, is all her good time ended ? Such
a little, little time, too — such a transient gleam of light !
And all so black behind it. Like a flash her life spreads it-
self out before her. What a childhood I Unmothered, un-
beloved 1 What a cold, terrible girlhood — and then a few
short months of quiet rest and calm, and now again the old
hideous misery.

It seems impossible for her to remove her eyes from those
above her — to move in any way. Her brain grows at last
confused, and only two words seem to be clear — to din
themselves with a cruel persistency in her ears.

" All is over I All is over 1 "

They have neither sense nor meaning to her in her pres-
ent state, but still they go on repeating themselves. " All
is over ! All, all, all is over."

The man has caught a branch of the tree now, and with
a certain activity, considering the squareness and the bulk T

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THE PROCESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 379

of his body, has swung himself into it, and so on to the
ground.

He is coming towards her. The girl still stands immov-
able, as if rooted to the gravel walk ; but her mind has re-
turned to her. Alas — it brings no hope with it. This man,
who has been a terror to her from her childhood, has now
again come into the circle of her daily life. She draws
back as he approaches her — her first movement since her
frightened eyes met his — and holds up her hands, as a child
might, to ward off mischief. This coming face to nice with
him is a horrible shock as well as an awakening. She had
believed herself mistress of her fears of him, though her
horror might still obtain, and now, now she knows that both
her horror and her fear are still rampant.

44 Well, I've found you at last," says the man, advancing
across the grass. " And here 1 " There is something ter-
rible in his tone and in the looks of scorn he casts at the
pretty surroundings, beautiful always, though now wrapped
in their snowy shrouds. " Four months ago I was here,"
says he, after a lengthened pause. " I was on your track
then, but a mere chance put me off it. Four months ago I
might have dragged you out of this sink of iniquity — had I
but known ! "

Ella is silent. That day when she had run back from
the rectory and fancied she saw him turn the corner of the
road. That fancy had been no delusion then I Ah ! why
had she played with it.

44 Have you nothing to say f " asks he slowly, sullenly,
gazing at her with hard, compelling eyes. a No excuse to
make, or are you trying to get up a story ? I tell you,
girl, it will be useless. This speaks for itself." Again he
looks round him, at the charming cottage, the tall trees, the
dainty garden and winding walks.

44 There is no story," says Ella at last. Her voice is dry
and husky ; she can hardly force the words between her
lips.

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380 THE PROFESSOR 8 EXPERIMENT.

" You lie I " says the man, fiercely. " There is a story,
and a most one for you." His eyes light with a sud-
den ftiry, and he looks for a moment as though he would
willingly fall upon her and choke the life out of her slender
body. His manner is distinctly brutal, but yet there is
something about it that speaks of honesty. It is rough,
cruel, hateftil, but honest for all that. A certain belief in
himself is uppermost.

He is a tall man, very strong in build, and with strong
features too. His dress is that of the comfortable, half
educated artisan ; but he shows some neatness in his attire.
His shirt is immaculate, his hair well cut, and altogether
he might suggest to the unimpassioned observer that he
was a man who had dreamt many dreams of rising above
the life to which he had been born. He is at all events
not an ordinary man of any type, and distinctly one to be
feared, if only for the enormous strength he had put forth
to fight with his daily surroundings, and with his past (a
more difficult enemy still) so as to gain a footing on the
ladder that will raise him above his fellows.

The girl shrinks from him, frightened even more by the
wild light in his eyes, than by his words, and as she shrinks
he advances, contempt mingled with menace in his eyes.

" You thought I should never find you," says he, with
cruel slowness. " But mine you were from the beginning,
and mine you are still."

Ella makes a faint and trembling protest

" Deny it," cries he. " Deny it if you can I Your own
mother left you to me. A mother who was ashamed to tell
her real name. She left you — a waif, a stray to my charity,
and so, of my charity I bought you through my wife.
You are mine, I tell you. Hah I Well you may hide
your face. Child of infamy — now sunk in infamy 1 "

His strong, horrible face is working. The girl, as if pet-
rified by fear, has fallen back into a garden chair, ahd is sit-
ting there cowering, her face hidden in her shaking hands.

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" So," continues the man in mocking accents, the very
mockery of it betraying the intolerable love he had borne
her, in her sad past : a love now deadened, but still half
alive, and quick with revengeful wrath. u You ran away
from me — not so much from hatred of me— but for love
of him."

" Of him ? " Ella lifts her haggard face at this.

" Ay, girl Of him ! The man who has dragged you
down to this — who has brought you here to be a bird in
his gilded cage. D'ye think to blind me still. I've fol-
lowed you, I tell you, step by step. You didn't reckon on
my staying powers perhaps. But I had sworn by the
heaven above me," lifting his hand — large and rough and
powerful — to the sky — " that I would have you, dead or
alive ! " He pauses. u When you left me, I thought at
first — that I had been too harsh to you. But I was wrong:
such as you require harshness." Again he grows silent.
" You ran to him, then, because you loved him ! Such as
you love easily — has it occurred to you, however, to ask
yourself how long he will love you ? "

" I — someone must have been telling you strange things.
All this is impossible," says the girl, pressing her hands
against his beating heart. " No one loves me ; no one."

"And you do not love anyone? Answer that," says
Moore.

" No. No — except " She hesitates miserably. She

had thought of Susan — she had meant to declare her love
for Susan as her sole love, but another form had suddenly
risen between her and Susan, and she loses herself.

" Another lie," says Moore, with a sneer. " Lies become
fine ladies, and you seem to be making yourself into one in
a hurry. But you'll find yerself out there " — (with all his
care he sometimes drops into his earlier form of speech, and
that " yerself" betrays him). " You're not built for a fine
lady. You — you," furiously , " who came out of the gutter !
Yet I can see you have been doing the fine lady very con-

382 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

siderably of late — so considerably that you can now lie-
like the best of them. But," with a touch of absolute
ferocity, " I tell you, your lies will be of little use to you
with me. I've dropped on the truth of your story — and
there shall be an end of it. To my dead wife your dead
mother left you — and from my dead wife, you have come to
me again. To me you belong — I am your guardian — you
are bound by law to follow me."

Ella makes a terrified gesture, then sinks back upon her
seat, pale and chilled to her heart's core.

" To follow you ? " The words came from between her
lips, whispered rather than uttered ; but he hears them.

" Ay — to follow me. You shall not stay in this home of
infamy another hour if I can prevent it. And prevent it I
shall."

His rugged, disagreeable face, so full of strength, lights
as he speaks these words of command.

" I cannot go," says the girl, faintly. She puts out her
hands again with that old childish movement, as if to ward
off something hateful to her. There is so much aversion
in this act that Moore's temper fails him.

" Hate me as much as you will. Still — come with me

you shall ! " says he. " Do you imagine " Here he

takes a step towards her, and catching her by the wrist

swings her to and fro with distinct brutality, then lets her

go. s li Do you think, having once found you, I shall let you

go? No — though — " He makes a pause, and standing

before her pours his words into her unwilling, nay, but

half understanding ears. " Though I so despise you

that I would now consider my name dishonored if joined

with yours even now when I know you not to be worth the

picking up — still I will not let you go. You are mine, and

with me you shall leave this old country and seek another.

I start for Australia to-morrow week, and you shall start

with me. Together we shall seek that land."

" I cannot go," repeats Ella, feebly. She looks magnet-
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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 383

ized. The old terror is full upon her, and it is Ivifc a dying
effort to resist him that she now makes. " I — I — " She
stops again, and then bursts out, " It would kill me.
Oh ! " holding out her hands wildly, " why do you want me to
go away ? Why do you want me to leave this place ? How "
— miserably — " can I be of any help to you ? Of any use ?
You know," in softest, most piteous accents, u that I hate
you — why then take me with you ? Why not let me stay
here in peace ? "

" In sin you mean," says Moore, his harsh voice now
filled with a new virulence. " Make an end of this, girl —
for come with me you shall. What," violently, " you
would not live with me, who would have honorably married
you ; but you would live with him, who will never marry
you."

" I do not desire that he should marry me," says the girl
drawing herself up. Even in this terrible moment, when
all her senses feel dulled — a look of pride grows upon her
beautiful face. " And he does not live here."

" Enough of that," gruffly. " You have told lies suffi-
cient for one morning. Get up, and come with me."

" Come with you ? "

" Aye— and at once 1 "

" But," she has risen, as if in strange unreasoning obe-
dience to his command, being fully beneath the spell, born
of her horror and fear of him — " but — I must have time-
to write — to leave a word. He has been so kind — so kind.
Give me" — her fece is deadly white now, her tone an-
guished. " Only one moment to go in and write a line of
good-bye to him."

" Not one ! " says Moore, sternly. " I shall not even
wait for you to take off those garments — the garments of
sin, that you are wearing. You shall come as you are —
and now."

He lays his hand upon her arm, and draws her towards
the gate ; still, as in a c|ream, she follows him. The bitter?

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384 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

ness of death is on her, yet she goes with him calmly —
quietly. Perhaps there is a hope in her heart that as she
had run away from him once, she might be able to do so
again. But could she? Would he not — having been
warned by her first escape take pains to guard against a
second. She knows that in her dreams, when he is not
here, she could defy him, elude him, but to defy him when
he was present would be too much for her ; and besides he
is her lawful guardian ; he has said so. Her own mother
had left her to him. He might call in the policeman in the
village, and so compel her in that way. But oh, to go
without saying good-bye to Mr. Wyndham 1

He had said he would come to-day ! But all hope of his
coming now is at an end. And Mrs. Denis 1 Not even to
see her — she might have helped her. And not to say one
word to her, or to Susan ! What — what will they all think
of her 1

At this moment they come to the hall door of the Cot-
tage, and she stops suddenly, and makes a little rush to-
wards it, but the clutch on her arm is strong.

" To say one word to Mrs. Denis," gasps she, implor-
ingly, damp breaking out upon her young forehead. " Oh I M
beating her hands with miserable agony upon her chest,
" think how it will be 1 They will for ever and ever re-
member me as ungrateful — unloving — a creature who had
taken their love, and abused it. They will be glad to for-
get me 1 "

"I hope so," says he, coldly — utterly unmoved — nay
knowing even pleasure in her grief. " The sooner they for-
get you, and you them, the better. They 1 " He repeats
the word. " Why don't you say * He ' and be done with
it," cries he furiously. " What a hypocrite you are."

He almost drags her to the gate. Ella, half feinting,
finds herself at it. It is the last step. In here lies safety
and happiness and peace — out there— —Moore turns the
key in the lock, and pulls at the handle of the door. Tee,

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 383

it is all over. The door opens. At this instant a long, low
passionate cry escapes from Ella.

Wyndham is standing in the roadway just outside the
gate.

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CHAPTER LII.

"Narrow minds think nothing right that is abore their own ca-
pacity."

" What is the meaning of this," says Wyndham. He
comes in quickly, locking the door, and putting the key in
his pocket. He has taken in the situation at a glance.

" It means that I have come here to take this girl out of
your hands," says Moore, who shows no fear, or anything
else, save a concentrated hatred of the man before him.

" Then you have come on an idle errand," says Wynd-
ham, haughtily. " I should advise you to amuse yourself
on Christmas Days in future, with something more likely to
prove amusing. This young lady," with strong emphasis,
" does not stir from this spot except at her own desire."

" She is coming for all that," says Moore, doggedly.
Wyndham glances from him to Ella, who now, white as a
sheet, is standing trembling, like a frightened creature, with
one small hand uplifted to her lips, as if to hide their trem-
bling. Her eyes are agonized, but in some way Wyndham
can see that though she fancies hope dead, still hope in him
has lit one small spark.

" Are you going ? " says Wyndham, addressing her
directly.

" No, no," breathes she, from between her frozen lips.
She takes a step forward. " Don't let me go," says she.

" Certainly I shan't let you go," says Wyndham, with
the utmost cheerfulness. " As a fact, indeed, I forbid you
to go. I have excellent authority for looking after you."

" What authority ? " asks Moore, who has now struck a
most aggressive attitude upon the gravel path. " I shall
question that, You to talk of authority. Why I tell yWr| (

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 387

that you, and such as you, cut a very bad figure in a court
of law."

" Never mind that, my man," says Wyndham. " I have
no time now for impromptu speeches. May I ask what
claim you have on this young lady f "

" I am her rightful guardian," says Moore. " And I
shall exercise my rights. Open that gate, or it will be the
worse for you. You talk of claims. What claim have you f
Is she your wife f or your "

Wyndham, who is now as white as Ella herself, turns to
her : " Go away," says he, quickly, " go at once."

" Hah ! you don't like her to hear it," cries Moore, now
in a frenzy, as Ella, only too glad to get back into the be-
loved house, runs quickly towards the Cottage. He would
have intercepted her flight, but Wyndham prevents him.

" But if not your wife, what is she t Your mistress ? "

" Hold your tongue you scoundrel," says Wynd-
ham, his eyes blazing.

" Hold yours," says Moore. u Is she your wife t Come,
answer that."

" No," says Wyndham. " But "

" No buts for me," says Moore. u I know the meaning of
your but ! Come, who's the scoundrel now f "

" You, beyond all doubt," says Wyndham. " Stand back,
man," as the other makes a lunge towards him, " and listen
to law if not to reason. You have as much claim on her as
the beggar in the street beyond, and you know it."

"I do not." Moore shows an air of open defiance.
" Her mother died in my wife's house and my wife died later
on and left her to me. That makes me her guardian, I
reckon. As for you," turning upon Wyndham, defiantly,
" I wonder you can look an honest man in the face after
what you've done to her."

" I can look an honester man than you in the face," says
Wyndham, quietly. " But let's come to business* You
wanted to marry her — eh ? "

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388 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

"She told you that?"

" Certainly she told me that."

" She told you most things it seems to me," with a sneer,
that is full of trouble and jealousy. " Aren't you ashamed
to repeat them — to me ? " He pauses, and his face grows
positively livid. * 4 To me who would have married her fair
and square, whilst you — what have you done ? " He steps
forward, and makes as though he would have clutched at
Wyndham's collar, but the latter flings him backward.

" Well, what have I done? "

44 Ruined her body and soul."

44 You are wrong there," says Wyndham, who has re-
covered from his sudden temper, and is now quite calm.
14 You had better sit down, and let us talk it over. You
are wrong on all counts. I have done her no injury. You
are not her proper guardian. She is in a position to sup-
port herself."

44 She is not," says Moore, coarsely.

44 But she is, I assure you if," with elaborate politeness,
44 you will permit me to explain. Miss — what is her name y
by the way, Moore ? "

44 That," with a scowl, " is for you to find out."

44 True. Well, I shall find it out. In the meantime I
suppose you quite recognize the fact that all is at an end
about that idea of yours, that you have any power over
her."

44 It would take a good lawyer to oonvince me of that,"
says Moore, insolently.

44 A good lawyer," says Wyndham. u Well, name one."

44 Paul Wyndham for one." Moore laughs sardonically,
as he says it, and looks at his antagonist as if defying him
to question the power of the man he had named.

Wyndham smiles. After all what a compliment this man
has paid him. He dips his hand into his waistcoat pocket,
and brings out a leather card case and hands it to Moore.
The latter opens it

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There is a slight silence, then Moore gives him back the
case in silence.

" So you are Paul Wyndham f " says he. His face has
changed color, but still his bull dog courage sticks to him.
u Then you ought to be the more ashamed of yourself."

" I expect I'll make you very much ashamed of yourself,"
says Wyndham, " and that almost immediately. An abduc-
tion has a very unpleasant sound nowadays, and generally
means trouble to the principal actor in it. I'd advise you
to sit down, and let us talk sense. I know all your deal-
ings with this — this young lady, and they scarcely redound
to your credit. In fact I am pretty sure they would lead
you into mischief, and — six months' hard labor — if elo-
quently stated. That is the very least you would get — un-
less "

" Six months I I am going abroad on Thursday next."

" Are you t I wouldn't be too sure if I were you," says
Wyndham, grimly. " It's as bad a case of persecution as I
have ever gone into. And I may as well say at once, that
if you persist in your determination to carry off this poor
child against her will, I shall call in the village police, and
expose the whole matter."

Moore, who had been cowed by Wyndham's name, and
the stern air of the barrister, in spite of his show of defi-
ance, falters here, and the result of the long conversation
that ensues between the two men leaves all in Wyndham's
hands. At the end, seeing the game is up, Moore gives in
unconditionally.

He acknowledged that Ella's name was not Moore. It
was Haynes. She was no relation of his or his wife's — but
undoubtedly her mother had left the girl to their charge
when dying, and as she was useful and his wife was fond of
her, they kept her with them. Her father was dead. Mrs.
Haynes had always been very reticent. He was of opinion
that she had once been in better circumstances. Haynes
was not respectable — he, Moore had an idea that his father

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had cast him off. He was not at all sure that Haynes was
his real name. He had indeed reasons for thinking it
wasn't, but he had never been able to discover anything ;
and when the child was left to them, his wife had insisted
on calling her Moore. She had gone by that name ever
since.

All this information was not given until payment had
been demanded and acceded, and after that there had been a
final settlement by which all the small belongings of the
girl were to be delivered up to Wyndham ; over this part
of the transaction Moore had proved himself specially
shrewd. As the game was up he was determined to see
himself really well out of it ; and in the end he made so ex-
cellent a bargain that Wyndham found himself a good deal
out of pocket. The price he paid was certainly a heavy
one for two boxes, that might contain anything or nothing,
and, for an astute lawyer like Wyndham, bordered on the
absurd. Beyond doubt, if he went to law with the fellow,
Ella would have got her own, but then, there would be the

publicity, and . Anyway he paid it — not so much for

the boxes, however, as for the certainty that Moore would
go abroad and leave Ella free. It was for that he bought
and paid. But in spite of his better sense, that told him if
there were anything in the boxes worth having, Moore or
his wife would have traded on them long ago, still he looked
forward to the examining of them, with a strange anxiety.

When they came, they brought only disappointment with
them — one was a hideous trunk, absolutely empty — the
other a small dressing-case that had been costly when first
made, the clasps and fastenings being of silver. The bottles
inside had no doubt been made of silver, but they were all
gone. It was a melancholy relic, and Wyndham, looking
at it, told himself that probably Ella's mother had picked
it up for the sake of its outside beauty (the wood was Cor-
omandel, and very pretty) at some cheap sale. Inside it

as as empty of information as the trunk itself— a reel or

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THE PROFESSO&S EXPERIMENT. i<&

two of thread, a pair of old black silk gloves, and a little
bit of fancy work half done, being the only things to be
seen. No letters or clue of any sort. It looked like the
dressing-case of a young girl. On the lid was engraved the *
letters E. B. He was right then — of course Ella's mother
had bought it. What could E. B. have to do with Mrs.
Haynes. Unless her maiden name. But it seemed a com-
mon story scarce worth looking into any further. All that
was to be seen to now was Moore's departure. And this he
saw to effectually — getting up on a pouring morning to see
Moore off, and giving him half of the check agreed on, as
he left the outward bound ship, that took Moore with it.
The big trunk he got rid of through the means of Denis,
who burnt it, and the dressing-case he took down to Ella,
who regarded it with reverence, and made a little special
place for it on one of the small tables in the drawing-room
of the Cottage. It was all that remained to her, poor child
— all that she knew — of the woman who was her mother.

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THE PROFESSOR 8 EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER LIIL

41 Were my whole life to oome one heap of troubles
The pleasure of this moment would suffice,
And sweeten all my griefs with its remembrance."

Fob the twentieth time within the last hour Susan has
rushed tumultously to the window, under the mistaken
impression that she has heard the sound of wheels — and for
the twentieth time has walked back dejectedly to her seat
to the slow accompaniment of her aunt's voice.

" Impatience, Susan, never took a second off any hour 1 "
It sounds like a heading from a copy book.

But Susan after each disappointment feels her spirits rise
again, and with glad delight in her heart, trifles with the
work she is pretending to do. Betty and the boys are on
the top of the garden wall, and have promised to send her
instant tidings of the approach of the carriage. Susan felt
she could not watch from there the home coming of her
Bonnie. The workings of the human mind are strange, and
Susan, who had climbed many a wall in her time, and still
can climb them with the best, shrank with a sort of nervous
terror from being up there — on the top of that wall when
he came ! — she would have to climb down, you see, to meet
her little sweetheart, whereas here it will be so easy to run
out and catch him to her heart, and ask him if he has for*
gotten his Susan during all these long, long days.

But truly this sitting indoors is very trying. It would
be much better to go to the gate and wait there. Even
though those others on the garden wall will have the first
glimpse of him, still — at the gate she would have the first
kiss. Her father had gone to the station to meet him, bud
had forbidden the others to go with him. Susan had been

THE PRdFESSOB>S EXPERIMENT. 393

somehow glad of this command. But to go to the gate !
She had thought of this often, but had somehow recoiled
from it through a sense of nervousness, but now it grows
too much for her, and flinging down her work, she runs out
of the room and up to the gate, and there stands trembling
— listening. Waiting !

Waiting for what ? She hardly knows. Crosby's letters
of late have been very vague. They scarcely conveyed any-
thing. But that Bonnie is alive is certain, and that is all
that Susan dwells on now. God grant that he be not worse
than when he left her — that he is better there seems no real
reason for believing. But still he is coming back to her —
her little boy !

And in this fair spring weather too — so closely verging
on the warmer summer. That will be good for him. If
Mr. Crosby had not taken him away when he did — surely
those late winter frosts and colds would have chilled to
death the little life left in his precious body ... A
perfect passion of gratitude towards Crosby shakes her
soul, and brings the tears to her eyes. She will never for-
get that, never. And though, of course, he has failed in a
sense, and her little Bonnie will come back to her as he
went, on crutches that had always hurt so cruelly poor Su-
san's heart — still, he had done all he oould — and he is to be
reverenced and beloved for ever because of it. Who else in-
deed would have thought of the delicate child — or

Oh! what is that?

She strains forward. Now — now really the sound of
wheels are here. They are echoing through the village
street — and now . • • Now a shout has gone up from
the denizens on the top of the garden wall — and now a car-
riage has turned the corner.

It has stopped. Mr. Crosby springs out of it ; he looks
at Susan, but Susan after one swift glance does not look at
him ; her eyes have gone farther ; to a small, slim, beauti-
ful boy who gets out of the carriage by himself— and slowl;

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394 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

but without a crutch — goes to Susan, and precipitates him-
self upon her with a little loving cry.

" Susan 1 Susan 1 " says he.

" Oh, Bonnie 1 Oh, Bonnie ! " Her arms are round him.
They seem to hold him, as though she could never let him
go again. " Oh, Bonnie 1 you can walk by yourself."

Suddenly she bursts into a storm of tears ; and the child
clinging to her, cries too. " You can walk. You can walk
alone." She repeats this between her sobs, her face buried
in the boy's pretty locks. It seems, indeed, as if she had
nothing else to say — as if everything else is forgotten by
her. The injury she had done him has been wiped out. He
can walk without the aid of those terrible sticks.

The child, thin still, and now very pale through his
emotion, yet wonderfully healthy in comparison with what
he had been, pats her with his little hands; and presently
he laughs — a laugh so free from pain, and so unlike the old
laugh that was more sad than many others' tears — that
Susan looks up.

" It is true then," says she ; " but walk for me again,
Bonnie ! Walk ! " Again Bonnie's laugh rings clear — how
sweet the music of it is — and stepping back from her, goes
to his father, who had followed him out of the carriage, and
from him to Crosby, and from that back again to Susan,
slowly, carefully, yet with a certain vigor that speaks of
perfect health in the near future.

Susan, who has looked as if on the point of fainting dur-
ing this little trial, catches him in her slender arms. She
is trembling visibly.

Crosby goes to her quickly.

" I should have given you a hint," says he remorsefully.
" I thought of only giving you a glad surprise ; but it has
been too much for you. I should have said a word or two."

" There is nothing, nothing you have left undone," says
Susan, looking at him over Bonnie's head, and speaking
with a gratitude that is almost fierce. " Nothing 1 "

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 395

The others have all got down off their wall by this time,
and are kissing and hugging Bonnie. After all, if they had
had the first view of the carriage, still Susan has certainly
had the best of the whole affair. Mr. Barry, with his hand-
some, gaunt face, radiant now, is endeavoring to hold them
back.

44 You will come in ? " says Susan to Crosby. " Auntie
is waiting for you, to thank you, as if" — her eyes slowly
filling again — " anyone could thank you."

" Oh, you can ! " says Crosby, laughing. " I was never
so thanked in all my life. Why, your eyes, Susan ! They
hold great worlds of gratitude. You'll have to stop being
thankful to me, or I shall run away once more. And," he
looks at her with a half laugh on his lips, but question in
his eyes, " you would not like to drive me into exile so soon
again, would you ? "

" No, no ! " says Susan. " You have been a very long
time away as it is."

44 You have missed me, I hope — by that."

" We have all missed you," says Susan, softly.

" That's a very general remark. Have you missed
me?"

44 Every hour of the day," says Susan, fervently. Too
fervently, too openly. Crosby laughs again, but there is a
tincture of disappointment in his mirth this time.

44 Faithful little friend 1 " returns he gaily. " No Susan,
I don't think I'll go in now ; but tell Miss Barry from me
that I shall come down to-morrow to see her and my little
charge. By-the-bye, I have kept my promise to you about
loving him. It was easy work ; I don't wonder now at
your love for him, I assure you I feel downright lonely at
the thought of leaving him behind me."

He presses her hand lightly, and goes towards Bonnie.

44 Well, good-bye old man ! " says he, catching the child
and drawing him towards him.

44 Oh, no. Oh 1 you won't go," says Bonnie, anxiously.

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396 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" For the present — I must. And mind you go to bed
early and sleep well, or there will be a regular row on when
next we meet."

" Ton will come this evening f " says the child, hardly
listening to him.

" No," he shakes his head.

" To-morrow, then ? " entreats the child, clinging to
him.

" To-morrow, yes." He whispers something in his ear,
and the boy, flinging his arm round his neck, kisses him
warmly. Crosby smiles at Susan.

44 See what chums we are, 9 ' says he.

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TEE PROFESSOR* 8 EXPERIMENT. 807

CHAPTER LIV.

u What Zal said once to Rustnm, dost thou know?
'Think none contemptible who is thy foe.' "

To-morrow brings him, faithful to his word. It brings,
too, a great many gifts with him. Is there one child of the
house forgotten f Not one. And even Miss Barry is re-
membered.

" Oh 1 how good, how kind of you,' 9 says Susan. " Fancy
remembering every one of us."

" I don't believe I was ever called good before," says
Crosby. " It makes me feel like the bachelor uncle." As
he says this he thinks again of the kiss that Susan had once
given him. " And old, quite hopelessly old ! "

" Nonsense," says Susan. " Youf" — looking at him —
" You are not old."

" Go to ! flatterer. You really shouldn't, Susan 1 Flat-
tery is so bad for people generally, and for me in particular.
I'm very open to it."

" I don't flatter," says Susan. She laughs and runs away
to answer a call from her aunt, who is evidently struggling
with an idea, in one of the rooms within.

" Who's that on the tennis ground?" asks Crosby of
Betty as they are standing on the hall doorsteps.

" Oh ! don't you know f That's James. He came back a
week ago. Of course, now I think of it," airily, " you
couldn't know, as we were unable to write to you for the
past week. But it's James. Your remember hearing
about him f " Crosby does. u Well, he's home on leave
now. But," says Betty, giving way to suppressed mirth,

398 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" I think bis wits have gone astray, and he believes his
home is here. Anyway, we can always find him somewhere,
round any corner, from ten to eight. And — " She grows
convulsed with silent mirth again. " He's just as spooney
on Susan as ever ! "

44 Yes ? " says Crosby.

44 He's perfectly ridiculous. He is here morning, noon,
and night. And when she lets him, he sits in her pocket
by the hour. Of course it bores her, but Susan is so ab-
surdly good-natured that she puts up with everything.
Come down and have a game of tennis. Do ! n

Betty, who is 44 bon camarade," with Crosby, slips her
hand into his arm and leads him tennis-wards.

So, this is James ! Crosby gives direct attention to the
young man on the tennis ground below him. A young man
got up in irreproachable flannels, and with a sufficiently
well-bred air about him. Crosby gives him all his good
points without stint. He is well got up, and well-groomed,
and decently shaved — and confoundedly ugly. He laughs
as he tells himself this. There is solace in the thought. In
fact, James Mcllveagh with his big nose and little eyes,
and the rather heavy jaw, and the general look of dogged-
ness about him, could hardly be considered a beauty except
by a deluded mother.

He is playing a set with Carew, against Dom and Jacky ,
who is by no means to be despised as a server. It occurs
to Crosby, watching him, that he is playing rather wildly,
and giving more attention to the hall door in the distance,
than to his adversary. Game and set are called for Dom
and Jacky. It is with an open sense of joy upon his ugly
face that Mr. Mcllveagh flings down his racket and
balls; and indeed presently, when he goes straight to-
wards

Towards whom f

Crosby, curious, follows the young man's going — and
then sees Susan.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 399

Susan, with Bonnie I A Bonnie who now trots happily
beside her, and is evidently quite her slave ; a pretty un-
doing of the old days, when she was always his. Tommy,
full of toys brought by Crosby — a white rabbit, a perform-
ing elephant, an awful bear, and various other delightful
things tucked under his fat arms — is following them.

And now Mcllveagh has reached her. He is speaking to
her. Crosby, with a grim sense of amusement at his own
frame of mind, wonders what on earth that idiot can be say-
ing.

Presently Susan, smiling sweetly, and shaking her head
as if giving a very soft refusal to some proposal on the part
of James, comes this way. Tommy has caught hold of
Bonnie's hand — the new Bonnie, who can now run about
with him — and is dragging him towards the little wood, and
Susan is protesting. But now Bonnie is protesting too.
" I can go, Susan. I have walked a great deal farther than
that I have really." Crosby, watching still, as if infatu-
ated, can see that Susan is studying Bonnie silently, as if
in great amazement.

This little, well Bonnie, seems almost impossible to her.
Bonnie ! going for a run — alone into the wood.

Crosby comes up to her.

" I hardly realize it," she says gently — her eyes still upon
the retreating form of the child.

" A great many things are hard to realize," says he.
" For my part I find it very hard to see myself supplanted."

"Supplanted?"

"Decidedly. And by the redoubtable James. By the
way, Susan, I think you gave me a distinctly wrong im-
pression of that hero in the beginning of our acquaintance.
He doesn't look half so wild as you represented him."

" As for that," indifferently, "I suppose they have drilled
him."

" He's quite presentable," glancing at the young soldier
, in question, who, a few yards off, is looking as

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400 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

impressionist could desire, and sulky into the bargain. He
can see that Susan is sitting with a stranger, and evidently
quite content — and — who the deuce is that fellow, anyway f

44 What did you expect him to be ? " asks Susan.

" Unpresentable, of course. I 'ye been immensely taken
in. And by you, Susan I You quite led me to expect some-
thing interesting — a rare specimen — and here he is, as like
one of the rest of us as two peas."

44 Did you expect him to have two heads 7 " asks Susan,
with a rather ungrateful levity, considering James is an old
friend of hers.

44 1 hardly hoped for so much ! " says Crosby. li I'm not
greedy ! As a rule I am thankful for small mercies, per-
haps," with a thoughtfhl glance at her, " because big ones
don't come my way. And I don't think you need be so
very angry with me, Susan, because I think the excellent
James less ugly than," with a reproachful air, " I had been
led to believe ! "

44 1 think him hideous," says Susan, promptly, and with
no attempt at softening of any sort.

44 Alas ! Poor James ! But do you t Really ? n

44 Very really," says Susan, laughing. u Just look at his
profile."

44 It's a good honest one," says Crosby. 44 If a trifle "

" Well, I suppose it's the trifle," says Susan*

" I have seen worse."

44 Oh 1 you can think him an Apollo if you like," says Su-
san, with a little shrug. Shrugs from Susan are so unex-
pected that Crosby regards her with interest. The unex-
pected is often very delightful, and certainly Susan, at this
moment, with her little new petulant mood upon her, is as
sweet as sunshine. It seems all at once to Crosby that he
is seeing her now again for the first time, with a fresh idea
of her. What a little slender maiden — and how beautiful,
even in her thin " uneducated" frock, that has so often seen
the tub, and is of a fashion of five years ago. And yet in

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 401

a way, that old frock is kind to her — (who would not be
kind to her ?) It stands to her, in spite of its age. It
throws out all the beauties of her delicately-built, but
healthy young figure.

Susan here, in this primitive gown, is Susan ! Susan got
up in silks and laces and satins, and all the fripperies of
fashion, what would she be like?

It is a question quickly answered. Why she would be
Susan, too ! Nothing could change that gentle, tender heart.
He feels quite sure of that. It would only be Susan glorified I
A Susan that would probably reduce to envy half the so-
called society beauties of the season.

Here he breaks through his thoughts, and comes back to
the moment.

" I don't like your tone," says he, reproachfully. " It
savors of unkindness. And considering how long it is
since last we met "

Here Susan interrupts him, remorse tearing at her soul.

" I know ! Seven months I "

" Tou must have found it long," says Crosby. " I make
it only twenty-two hours, and," consulting his watch, " six*
teen minutes."

" Oh ! if you are alluding to yesterday ! " says Susan,
with dignity that has a sort of disgust in it

"Of course-"

" I thought you were alluding to your being away in Ger-
many. And as to finding it long," resentfully, " I think
you must have found it very much longer, if you can count
to a mfnute like that."

Was there ever such a child f Crosby roars with laughter,
though something in his laughter amounts to passionate
tenderness.

" Forgive me, Susan ! " He leans forward, and takes her
hand. As he feels it within his — close clasped, and not
withdrawn— and with Susan's earnest eyes looking into his
— words spring to his lips, " Susan, once you took me under

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402 TEE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

your protection. Do you remember that old garden, and

»»

Whatever he was going to say is here rudely broken in
upon by the advance of James, who, though distinctly ugly,
looks no longer dull. He seems now dreadfully wide-awake.
Susan draws her hand quickly away, and Crosby, who be-
lieves she has done this lest James should see the too
friendly attitude, is still further mortified by her manner.

41 1 think I told you you were not to speak of that — that
hateful day again," says she — and turning from him as if
eternally offended seats herself on a rug quite far awaj T from
him, and in such a position that James can find a resting-
place at her feet — a fact he is very swift to see.

The others have all come up now, and Dom, who is ter-
ribly conversational, opens the ball.

44 What are you now, James ? " asks he. 44 General ? "

44 Not quite," responds James, gruffly — who naturally ob-
jects to being chaffed in the presence of the beloved one.

"Colonel? Eh?"

44 Don't be stupid, Dom," says Susan suddenly. 4i He is
a lieutenant, but soon he'll be a captain. Won't you,
James ? Come up here, and take part of my rug."

44 Oh, no I No I " says James, in a nervous flurried tone
that is filled with absolute adoration. 4< I like being here."

« But "

44 My dear Susan, why interfere with his mad joy?" says
Dom in a whisper, that is meant to be perfectly audible, and
is so to all around. 4i He'll catch cold to a moral ; and he's
frightfully uncomfortable. But to sit at your feet : What
comfort could compare with that ? "

44 Several," says Susan calmly. " Come here, James. I
want to talk to you."

And indeed from this moment she devotes herself to the
devoted James. Crosby she ignores completely, and when
at last he rises to go, she says u Good-bye" to him with a
very conventional air.

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44 Are you really going — and so soon ? " The others have
moved a little away from them.

44 What is the good of my staying when you won't even
look at me?"

" I am looking at you," says Susan, flushing scarlet, but
compelling her eyes to rest on his — for a moment only, how-
ever. 44 But — you know I don't like you to allude to that
day!"

" It was a very small allusion. It gave you," slowly,
u your chance, however."

« My chance?"

"To amuse yourself with the man of war."

44 You think that I "

" I think a good deal at times," he laughs lightly, if a
little anxiously. " I am thinking even now."

"Of me?"

44 Naturally," smiling. " Am I not always thinking of
you."

44 But what — what ? " demands she imperiously — tapping
her slender foot upon the ground.

44 That you do not believe the martial James so hideous
after all."

44 Then you are wrong — quite wrong ! " vehemently.

44 Yes ? Well then— I think now "

44 Now ? "

44 That you are a very dangerous little coquette."

Susan's color fades. A frown wrinkles her lovely brow.

44 1 am not I " says she coldly. " If all your thinking has
only come to that — I — despise your thoughts."

It is the nearest approach to a quarrel he has ever had
with her ; but instead of depressing him, it seems to exalt
him, and he goes on his way, apparently rejoicing.

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404 TEE FBOFESSO&& EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER LV.

"There has fallen a splendid tear
From the passion flower at the gate,
She is coming, my love, my dear,
She is coming, my life, my fate."

To-day the sun is out, and all the walks at the Cottage
are glittering in its rays. Sparks like diamonds come from
the small white stones in the gravel, and the grassy edges
close to them — clean shaven by Denis — who is down again
on a penitential visit to his wife — are sweet and fresh, and
6uggestive of a desire to make to-day's work a work again
for to-morrow — so quickly the spring blades grow and
prosper.

Wyndham, as he walks from the station to this pretty
spot, had taken great note of Nature. Lately the loveli-
ness — the charm of it I — the desire that the heart grows for
it, has come to him : has sunk into his soul. As he goes
life seems everywhere, and with it such calm

And here in this old home, what a place

it is I A veritable treasury of old-world delights.

41 Dewy pastures, dewy trees,
Softer than sleep— all things in order stored,
A haunt of ancient peace."

As he walks from the gate to the Cottage, a slim figure
darting sideways brings him to a standstill. After her
bounds a huge dog. Wyndham restrains the cry upon his
lips that would have called the dog to him ; and standing
still, watches the pretty pair.

He has come down to-day with the intention avowed and
open to his heart, of asking this girl to many him. That
the deed will mean ruin to him socially, he knows, but he

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has faced the idea. That she will probably accept him
seems clear, bat that it will not be for love seems even
clearer. She has always treated him as one who had given
her a helping hand out of her slough of despond, but no
more.

Many days have led to his decision of to-day — and many
thoughts — and many sleepless nights. But he has con-
quered all fears save that supreme one, that she does not
love him.

This marriage, if he can persuade her to it, will offend
his uncle, Lord Shangarry. Not a farthing will that old
Irish aristocrat leave him if he knows he has wedded him-
self to a girl outside his own world : a mere waif and stray
—disreputable, as many would call her.

Disreputable 1

It was when this thought of what his friends' view of
his marriage would be first came to him, and with it a mad
longing to seize the throats of those hideous scandal
mongers, that Wyndham knew that he loved the girl he
had saved and protected — and most honorably loved.

And to-day — well, he has come down to ask her to marry
him. Shangarry '8 money may go — and all things else that
the old lord can keep from him ; the title will still be his —
and hers — and with his profession, and the talent that they
say is his — and the money left him by his dead mother
(Oh 1 if she had lived and seen Ella I) he may still be able
to keep up the old name — if not in its old splendor, at all
events, with a sort of decency

Ella is now running towards him, as he stands in the
shelter of the rhododendrons — the dog running after her,
jumping about her, with soft velvety paws, and a wagging
tail Suddenly he springs upon her and threatens the
daintiness of her frock. " Down now. Down now. Down 1 "
cries she, laughing. She catches the handsome brute round
the neck, and looks into his eyes.

" Does he love his own missis then ? Then down. It is

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406 THE PBOFESSOB'S EXPERIMENT.

really down now, sir. Not another jump. See," glancing
ruefully at her pretty white serge dress — " the stains you
have made here already."

How soft, how delicate is her voice, how full of affectioi:
for the dog. Surely,

" There's nothing ill can dwell in such a temple."

Wyndham comes forward very casually from amongst
the bushes.

" Oh, you," cries she, coloring delightfully, but showing
no embarrassment — he would have liked a little embarrass-
ment. He tells himself that the want of it quite proves
his theory that she regards him merely as a good friend —
no morel

" Yes, I have run down for an hour or so. You " — look-
ing round him — "have been quite a good fairy to my
flowers, I see."

14 Oh, your flowers ! " says she gaily, yet shyly too. Her
air is of the happiest. She has, indeed, been a different
creature since Wyndham had assured her a few months
ago, of Moore's actual arrival in Australia. " Why, they
are mine now, aren't they ? You have given them to me
with this." She threw out her arms in a little appropria-
te way towards the garden.

44 In a way — yes." He pauses. Passion is rising within
him. " Come in," says he, abruptly. " There is something
I must say to you."

The pretty drawing-room is bright with flowers, and there
is a certain air of daintiness — a charm — about the whole
place, that tells of the refinement of its owner. It is not
Miss Manning who has given this delicate coziness to it —
Miss Manning, good soul, who is now in the kitchen, very
proud in the fond belief that she is helping Mrs. Denis to
make marmalade. No I In every cluster of early roses, in
every bunch of sweet smelling daffodils, in the pushing of
the chairs here, and the screens there, Wyndham can see
the touch of Ella's hand.

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In the far off window, on a little table, stands the dress-
ing-case that he had sent her, after his interview with
Moore. It is open, and some of the contents — what re-
mains of them — with their silver tops, are shining in the
rays of the sun. The girl's glance catches them, and all at
once the merry touch upon her lips dies away, and gloom
settles on her brow. The lost bottles — the battered and
dismantled case, seem to Wyndham but the broken links
of a broken life, and a thrill of pity urges him to instant
speech.

11 Don't look like that, Ella." And then with a burst of
passion and grief: u My darling I what does it matter?"
And then again, almost without a stop, " Ella, will you
marry me ? "

For a moment she looks at him as if not understanding.
Then a most wonderful light springs into her eyes. But
when he would have gone to her and taken her in his arms,
she puts out hers and almost imperiously forbids him.

" No," says she, clearly — if a little wildly, perhaps.

" But, why — why ! Oh, this is nonsense ! You know —
you must have known — for a long time that I love you."

" I did not know," says she, faintly. " I — Even now it
seems impossible. Don't I" as he makes a movement to-
wards her. " Don't misunderstand me. I know now," her
voice breaking a little, " that it might have been. But
what is impossible," her young voice growing rounder,
fuller, and unutterably wretched — " is that I should marry
you."

" You think because " But she sweeps his words

aside.

" It is useless," says she, with a strength strange in one
so few miles advanced upon life's roadway, until one re-
members how sad and eventful those few miles she has
trodden have been — how full of miserable knowledge — how
full of the cruel lesson — how to bear I "lam nobody, less
than nobody. And you— are somebody. Do you think I

406 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

would consent to ruin your life — the life of the only one,
who has — who has ever stood my friend ! "

"This gratitude is absurd 1" he breaks in, eagerly.
" What have I done for you ? Let you the Cottage at a
fair rental ! "

"Ah, no!" There is irrepressible sadness in her air.
She struggles with herself, holding her hands against her
eyes for a little while — pressing them hard as if to keep
down her emotion. " I won't — I can't go into it," says she,
brokenly. "But when I forget — Mr. Wyndham." She
turns upon him, passionately. " Never ask me that ques-
tion again. Nothing on earth would induce me to link my
name with yours — " She pauses, and a hot blush covers
her ffcce. " My name ! " she repeats her words with deter-
mination, though he can see how the determination hurts
her. " I have no name."

" That is all the more reason why you should take mine,"
breaks he in, hotly.

" And so — destroy it ; I shall not indeed," says the girl,
firmly. Her firmness is costing her a good deal. It causes
Wyndham absolute physical suffering to see the pallor of
her face — the trembling of her slight form. But that he
can shake her decision seems improbable. Something in
her face takes him back to that terrible hour in which he
first saw her, when with pale face, and undaunted spirit,
she accepted, the chance of death. Her voice, even in this
,hour of renunciation of all that she holds dearest rings
clear. " Do you think I would requite all your kindness to
me, by being the cause of your disinheritance by your
uncle. Do you think Lord Shangarry would ever forgive
your marriage with a woman, of whom no one knows any-
thing — not even her parentage."

" I am willing to risk all that — "

" But I," slowly, " am not."

" Ella — if you loved me."

" Ah 1 " a cry breaks from her— a cry that betrays her

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THE PROFESSORS EXPERIMENT. 409

secret, and convinces him of her love for him. It is full of
exquisite pain, and seems to wound her. Is it not because
she loves him that — a Well, then," says she, miserably ;
u say I do not. Think I do not."

44 1 will not think it," cries he, vehemently, " until you
say it. Ella, my beloved, what has this old man's wealth
to do with you or me. What has the world to do with us ?
Come now, look into it with me. Here are you, and here
am I, and what else is there in all the wide world for us
two, Ella ; " and now he breaks into earnest, most manly
entreaties, and wooes her with all his soul, and at last — as a
true lover should — upon his knees.

But she resists him, pushing his clasping hands away.

44 1 will not I I will not ! " repeats she, steadfastly.

44 Oh, you are cold ; you do not care," cries he, suddenly.
He springs to his feet, angry, yet filled with an admiration
for her — that has, if not increased his love — made it more
open to him. A strong man himself, and hard to move, he
can see the splendid strength of this poor girl, who because
of her love for him, refuses his love for her.

His sudden movement has upset the small table on which
the dressing-case is standing, and brings it heavily to the
ground.

There is a crash, a breaking asunder of the sides of the
case, and here on the carpet before their astonished gaze
lies a small sheaf of letters, and a faded photograph.
Where had they come from? Had there been a secret
drawer? Wyndham stooping picks them up. A name
catches his eye. Why, this thing surely is a certificate of
marriage.

As he reads, hurriedly, breathlessly, going from one let-
ter to another and back again, from the few pages of a small
disconnected diary, to the marriage certificate in his other
hand, his face grows slowly, white as death.

44 Oh, what is it ?" cries Ella, at last.

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410 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 Give me time." His tone is full of ill-repressed agita-
tion.

Again he reads : —

The girl drops on her knees beside him, her face no less
white than his. What does it all mean ? What secret do
these old letters hold? The photograph is lying still upon
the floor, and her eyes riveting themselves upon it, feel at
once as though they were looking at someone — someone re-
membered — loved! She stares more eagerly. Surely it
reminds her too of . • . of — she leans closer over it.
. . . of someone — feared — and hated ! Oh 1 how could
that gentle face be feared — or hated — and yet — was there
not someone — who —

" Oh ! I know it," cries she, suddenly, violently. She
springs to her feet as if stung, and turns a ghastly face on
Wyndham. " Look at it," cries she gasping, pointing to
the photograph at her feet. " It is like your aunt, Mrs.
Prior."

" Like your aunt 1 " says Wyndham slowly — emphatic-
ally. The hand with the letters in it has dropped to his
tiide, but he is holding those old documents as if in q, vice.

14 Mine — Mrs. Prior — oh, no — oh, no," says Ella, making
a gesture of fear and horror.

44 Yes, yours and mine, Ella ! " There is passionate de-
light and triumph in his whole air. u A moment ago you
said you had no name — now — now " striking the papers in
his hand, 44 you have one I These are gepuine, I swear they
are, and they prove you to be the granddaughter of Sir
John Burke, and of— strangest of all things — the Pro-
fessor."

44 1 — how can I understand — What is it?" asks she,
feintly.

He explains it to her, and it is, indeed, all that he has

said. The breaking up of that queer old dressing-case that

afterwards Mrs. Prior had most unwillingly to admit, be-

onged to Ella's mother — the lost Eleanor Burke — brought

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 411

all things to a conclusion. There was the diary in it that
proved the writer to be Eleanor Burke beyond all doubt
and the heiress of her dead father, Sir John ; and there was
the marriage certificate that proved poor Eleanor's marriage
to as big a scamp as could be found in Europe, which is
saying a good deal ; and there were many other letters be-
sides — to show that the scamp who called himself Haynes
to evade the law (and his father) was the son of Professor
Hennessy. That Ella had forgotten the other name her
poor mother bore " Haynes," and had let her identity be
lost in the word Moore, had, of course, much to do with the
unhappy mystery that had so long surrounded her. After
Sir John's death — that left Eleanor his eldest girl his heir,
or failing her, her children, much search had been made for
Eleanor under the name of Haynes — but naturally to small
avail. Anyway the whole thing had gradually sunk out of
sight, Eleanor was accepted as dead, and her fortune lapsing
to Mrs. Prior, she reigned in her stead.

" Yon see how it'is," says Wyndham, who from a rather
prematurely old self-contained man, has developed into an
ordinary person, full of enthusiasm. " You are now Miss
Hennessy — a hideous name, I allow. But you were," with
a flick of humor, " so very anxious for a name of any sort,
that perhaps you will forgive the ugliness. And yon are
heir to a good deal of money on both sides. Mrs. Prior
will have to hand out a considerable amount of her capital,
and as for me. ... I feel nothing less than a defrander.
You know your grandfather, the Professor, left me the bulk
of his fortune — not knowing you were so much as in the

world at the time he made his will Of course, that

too Are you listening, Ella ? "

The fact that the girl is not listening to him has evoked
this remark. Whatever " grey grief " had to do with her
a few minutes ago before the breaking of her mother's

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412 THE PROFESSO&S EXPERIMENT.

dressing case, it has nothing to do with her now. All the
splendor of youth has come back to her face— and all the
happiness ; yet still it is quite plain to him that her mind
is not set on the money that fate has cast upon her path —
or on the high chances of gaining a place in society — but
on —

44 No," says she, slowly — simply — and with a touch of
trouble, as if bringing her mind with difficulty back to
something far away.

" You must give me your attention for a moment," says
he sharply. Ever since he discovered that she was not only
the possessor of a very good name in spite of its ugliness,
but also the heiress of a very considerable sum of money,
all passion has died out of his tone. If he thought, how-
ever, by this to deceive her with regard to his honest feel-
ing for her, he is entirely mistaken. " There are things to
which you will have to listen — to which you ought to wish
to listen. And if," with a frown, " you will not think of
your good fortune, of what will you think ? "

There is a long silence. And then —

There is a little rush towards him, and two arms are
flung round this neck.

" I am thinking," cries she softly! clinging to him, " that
now I can marry you."

Heavenly moments on this side of the sky are few and
1 far between. It is Ella, so strangely unlike a woman, who
breaks into the delicious silence.

" That night ! I wish now "

" Wish nothing so far as that is concerned. That night I
saw you first, gave you to me."

" But "

" That sounds like fright," interrupts he, laughing. " But
you are not easily frightened, are you. That night — you
see I insist upon going back to it," catching her hands and

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 413

drawing her to him — " no, you shall not be ashamed of it.
That night in which we both met for the first time you were
not frightened. You walked towards death without a
qualm."

" Ah I I was too wretched then to be frightened of any-
thing," says she.

She looks at him, a smile parts her lips, and slowly,
slowly she leans towards him until her cheek is resting
against his.

44 1 should be frightened now," says she, softly, tenderly.

His arms close round her. He clasps her to his heart.

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414 THE £RQFESS0&8 KXPFMMRNT.

CHAPTER LVL

1 u Your heart is never away,

But ever with mine, for ever,

Forever, without endeavor,
To-morrow love as to-day,
Two blent hearts never astray,

Two souls no power may sever,

Together, O my love, for ever ! "

There was a deal of trouble over it for a while, but
when that faded photograph and the certificate and the
diary were brought into a larger light things smoothed
down. Shangarry saw at once how it must end, and ac-
cepted the situation gracefully, but Mrs. Prior was a little
hard to manage until Ella (who refused point blank to meet
her) declared her determination not to take more than half
the money that had been left to her by Sir John Burke, her
grandfather. It was quite astonishing how Mrs. Prior
softened towards her after that. But Ella stood firm and
would not see her.

Later on she might consent to meet — at Lord Shangarry's,
perhaps (who had fallen in love with the pretty, gentle girl
who had endured so much), or at Lady Forster's house this
season ; Lady Forster had written a very charming note —
but not just now. Gentle as Ella was she could not forgive
too readily. Yes, Lady Forster's would be the best place.
They would be in town after their honeymoon, and there
they could see Mrs. Prior, and break the ice as it were.

But to-day no ice has to be broken. Ella, who has ar-
ranged with Wyndham to meet him in the old rectory
garden, has gone over quite early to be petted and made
much of by all there — Carew excepted. That unhappy

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 415

youth, his first grand passion having been ruthlessly laid in
the dust, and with yet another new trouble that had arrived
by the post some days ago, upon his shoulders, has carried
himself and his injured affections far, far away, to a distant
trout stream.

Wyndham is staying with Crosby, who is most honestly
glad of his friend's successful exit from a difficult situation.
He has indeed been highly sympathetic all through, aston-
ishingly so for so determined a bachelor, as he seems to
Wyndham, who six months ago had seemed quite as deter-
mined a bachelor to Crosby. Only to-day, at luncheon, he
had told Wyndham not to mind about leaving him when
the u rectory " called. He (Crosby) might walk down there
later on. But he advised Wyndham to hurry up, to start
as early as he liked, not to wait for him, and so forth.
Wyndham took him at his word, decided not to wait, and
was therefore naturally a little surprised to find Crosby on
the doorsteps not only ready to go with him but distinctly
impatient. This seemed such devotion to the cause, such
honest friendliness towards him and Ella, that Wyndham
felt quite grateful to him.

" How happy they look ! " says Miss Barry to Susan,
finding herself alone with her niece for a moment. She is
looking at Wyndham and Ella who indeed seem to have
reached their pinnacle of bliss. " And no wonder," with a
sigh. " He is a most excellent match. Not only money,
but a title — in the distance. I can't help wishing, Susan,"
sighing again, and more heavily this time, " that it had been
you."

" Me ! I wouldn't marry him for anything," says Susan,
indignantly.

44 That's what girls always say," says Miss Barry, mourn-
fully, " until they are asked." Perhaps she herself had
said it many times. " But I assure you, Susan, money is a

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416 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

good thing — and your poor father just now, with the loss
of this four hundred pounds that he had laid aside for
Carew."

" Oh 1 I know," says Susan, miserably. " It is dreadful
Poor, poor father — and poor Carew too. I suppose he can't
go in for his exam, now."

" No, I'm afraid not, unless some miraculous thing should
occur. Susan ! " Miss Barry looks wistfully at her niece.
" James now, he will be well off— and he could help us. If
you could "

" Could what ? " Susan's eyes are almost menacing.

" Think of him — in that way. He is well off, my dear,
and "

" I shall not marry James," says Susan, distinctly. " I
wonder how you could suggest it to me."

" Certainly he is very ugly," says Miss Barry, who has
grown, poor soul, very meek of late ; the smashing of the
bank that had held the four hundred pounds, the savings
of years, that the Rector had laid by with the hope of put-
ting his eldest boy into the army, has lowered her spirit.
Poverty seems to pursue them. And the sight of the
Rector crushed and more gaunt than usual has gone to her
old heart. If only Susan, any of them could be provided
for I How happy that girl Ella is ; how rich the man is
who has chosen her, and yet is she to be so much as com-
pared with Susan. Miss Barry's soul swells within her
with the injustice of it all.

If only Susan could be induced to think of James Mcll-
veagh. But no, Susan is not like that. She looks up sud-
denly, and there before her eyes are James and Susan stroll-
ing leisurely, in quite a loverlike way, towards the little
shrubbery. Could the girl have taken her hint to heart.
A glow of hope radiates her mind for a moment. But then
come other thoughts, and fear, and trouble, and a keen,
strange disappointment.

No, no, Susan I Susan to be worldly ! Her pretty girl !

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 417

God grant she has not been the means of driving her to
belie her better — her own — self.

" Good gracious 1 If Susan comes back and tells her she
has engaged herself to James because of her father's
trouble — because of Carew's trouble— what shall she dof
Miss Barry, who is hardly equal to emergencies so great as
this, looks with a certain wildness round her. Who can
help her ? That foolish girl must be sent for : brought back
from that shrubbery where Miss Barry, in her panic, feels
now assured James is once again for the hundreth timt pro-
posing to her, and being (no doubt to his everlasting aston-
ishment) accepted. The last words can't have been said as
yet : there may still be time to drag Susan out of the fire.

Wyndham and Ella and Miss Manning are coming towards
her. Ella is gone home; it is nearly seven o'clock and
Wyndham will have barely time to see her to the Cottage
and catch his train to Dublin. Miss Barry bids him a
rather hurried good-bye, and then looks round for Betty.
Betty is always useful — when she can be found I But un-
fortunately Betty and Dom have gone off to eat green
gooseberries in the vegetable garden, a fearsome occupation,
of which they are both disgracefully fond, and that seems
to affect their stomachs in no wise. Betty, therefore, is not
to be had, but Miss Barry's troubled eye wandering round
sees Crosby, who is sitting with Bonnie on his knee, and
with courage born of desperation she beckons him to come
to her.

" Mr. Crosby , I want Betty. Where is she f "

" I think she went into the garden a moment ago with
Dom."

" Do you mind — would you be so good as to tell her I
want her, and at once."

" Certainly," says Crosby, laughing, " though she and
Dom, or both, bring down all the anathemas in the world
on my head."

He starts on his quest. A little glad, indeed, to get

418 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

away from the others. Early in the afternoon he had had a
little tiff with Susan— just a small thing, a mere breeze, and
certainly of his own creating. He had said something
about James — why the deuce can't he leave James alone f
But it seems he can't of late ; and Susan had been a little,
just a little — what was itf — offended f Well, put out in
some way at all events. Perhaps after all she does care for
James. Like to like you know — and youth to youth ; and
there can be but a year or two between him and Susan.

At this moment there is a quick movement of the
branches on his left ; someone is pushing the laurel bushes
aside with an angry impatient touch, and now

Susan has stepped into view. A new Susan; angry,
pale, hurried. Her soft eyes are dark and frowning, but as
she sees Crosby they lighten again, and grow suddenly thick
with tears. Then, as though in him lies comfort and pro-
tection, she runs to him, holding out her hands.

He catches them, and saying nothing, draws her down
the bank and into a little leafy recess that leads to a small
wood beyond. The touch of her hands is good to him ! She
has forgiven then, that late little conflict. She can be
angry with James, too, it seems. Confound that fool!
What has he been saying to her I

"Well?" says he.

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 419

CHAPTER LVIL

44 My lady is so fair and dear

That all my heart to her is given ;
One word she whispered in my ear
And earth for me was changed to heaven.

He has held one of her hands all the time, but now she
releases it. She has recovered herself marvellously, but
there is still a good deal of nervousness in the laugh that
breaks from her as she seats herself in the old rustic seat in
the corner.

" Well — what f " She is evidently prepared to carry it
off boldly.

" You don't mean to tell me there was no reason for that
look in your eyes just now f "

There is a very obstinate look in his own eyes just now
at all events I

"What look?"

11 Susan," says Crosby, with a solemn shake of his head,
" you might as well give it up at once. You were never
made for this sort of thing. You wouldn't take in a new-
born infant. Come, get it off your mind. Make your con-
fession. What has the immaculate James been doing f "

" James ! " She tries to look surprised, but breaks down
ignominiously. " Oh ! Nothing," hurriedly. " Nothing
. . . Nothing at all really I Only — he's so stupid."

"He's been stupid very often of late, hasn't he? Look
here I" severely, " you are suppressing something; either
you or he (and you for choice, I should say, judging by the
obvious guilt upon your countenance) have been doing
something of which you are thoroughly ashamed. Even

420 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. '

such small signs of grace are to be welcomed, but in the
meantime I think a fuller confession would make for the
good of your souL Come, what have you been doing? "

44 It was James a moment ago," says she slowly.

44 Was it ? " quickly. 44 1 thought as much. But what
was he doing a moment ago?"

44 Nonsense I " flushing hotly, 44 you know what I mean ;
that it was James you were accusing a moment ago."

44 True ! And it should have been you. I am in fault
this time, then. That makes a third."

44 No, indeed, because I am not in fault at all."

44 Then it was the immaculate one I What of him ? Has
he been at his old game again. Chasing you round the
garden to "

44 Mr. Crosby ! " There is indignant protest in her tone,
but the rich color that rises to her cheek tells him that his
guess has been at least partly accurate.

44 Not that," says he. 44 Foolish James ! " Even as he
says these idle words he is cursing James up hill and down
dale for the abominable impertinence of him. No little
shred of allowance for James' honest love for this pretty
maiden enters into his heart.

44 Well — go on I That is only a negative statement — if it
is a statement at all."

44 There is nothing to tell. And " — she pauses — " And
anyway I won't tell it," says she.

Crosby suppresses a desire to laugh. Oh how sweet —
how sweet his little darling is.

44 Not even to me ? Your guide, philosopher, and friend ?

Susan " He is looking into her eyes, as if compelling

an answer, u he proposed to you again, didn't "he ? "

44 Oh, yes," says Susan, as if throwing a load off her mind.
14 And when I told him again that I couldn't and wouldn't
—he — he was horrid. And he wanted " She stops.

44 Yes," Crosby's voice id sharp now, "But you
didn't "

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 421

" No. No. But I hate him."

44 So do I with all my soul," says Crosby, more to him-
self however than for her hearing. He stands looking on
the ground for a bit, and then :

" So you have refused the gunner : Poor James I Ton
don't really care for him then? "

" I thought all the world knew that," says Susan.
" Why," with almost pathetic contempt, " can't he know it f
It is unkind of him, isn't it, to make me so unkind ? But I
can't love him ; I can't " — a little sigh escapes her.

The rose on the straggling bush above her is not sweeter
or more beautiful than Susan is now, with her pretty bent
head, and her flower-like face, and all the delicate beauty of
her soul shining through her earnest eyes.

A strange nervousness seizes on Crosby* He takes a
step towards her, however, and takes both her hands in his
strong clasp.

" Susan ! Am I too old ? " says he.

Susan turns her startled eyes upon him. Grows crimson,
and then deadly white. She pulls her hand out of his, and
turns away — but too late — too late to hide the rapture in
her eyes, that the heavy tears in vain are trying to drown.

"Susan! My darling! My own sweet little girl!
Susan ! " his arms are round her now. " Is it true f So
you do care for me I For me — such an old fellow next to
you — you," clasping her to him, and laughing, " are only
a baby, you know. But my baby now, ehf Oh, Susan, is
it true?"

Susan tightens her hand upon his arm, but answer makes
she none.

44 Afterwards you may be sorry — thirty-four and nineteen
—a great many milestones between us, you see."

44 Ah ! It is you who will be sorry," says Susan, lifting
her head a minute from the safe shelter of his breast to
look at him. It is a lovely look. Poor James I if he had
only seen it!

422 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

" Are you going to lead me such a life as that," says
Crosby, laughing. " I don't believe it."

" You know what I mean."

" I don't indeed. I don't even know if you love me yet."

" Oh, as for that ! " Suddenly she laughs too, and with
the sweetest tenderness slips one arm round his neck, and
draws his head down to hers. "And besides, I'm very
nearly twenty I " says she.

" Look here," says Crosby, presently. " Too much hap-
piness is bad for any man ! Now you sit over there," put-
ting her into a far corner of the old garden seat, " and I'll
sit here," seating himself with the sternest virtue at the
other end. " Don't come within a mile of me again for
a while, and let us be sensible and talk business. When
will you marry me ? Next week ? "

" Next week f " with a laugh. " Is that talking busi-
ness f "

" The best business! "

" Oh, nonsense ! "

" Where does the nonsense come in f I've been waiting
all my life for you, and what's the good of waiting any
longer — even a day ! See here now, Susan I In seven days
you could "

" I could not, indeed ! " She breaks off suddenly. " Tou
are coming nearer." •

" So I am," says he, sighing, and moving back to his
corner. " Good Susan ! Keep reminding me, will you f "

" I certainly shall," says Susan, who has perhaps been
only half understood up to this.

" Well — if not next week — next month f "

" Oh, no," says Susan. " In a year perhaps I——"

" How dare you make such a proposition t Come now,
Susan, you have heard the old adage beginning, * Life is
short.' "

" Yes, but I don't believe it I And besides No,

don't stir ! And besides — you are coming nearer I", b ^

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 423

" It is all your fault if I am. You are behaving so dis-
gracefully. The idea of your mentioning a year. I shall
appeal to your father."

"I am certain he won't hear of it at all. He. Oh. {
There you are coming closer again."

" Susan," says Crosby, sternly ; " enough of this. Ill
stand no more of it. You shan't keep me at arm's length
any longer."

" I f What had I to do with it f " says Susan, arching
her charming brows.

After which it takes only a moment to have the arm in
question round her again, and to haye her drawn into it — a
most willing captive.

" Do you remember when you made me promise I would
never steal anything again 1 " asks Crosby, after an elo-
quent pause.

" Yes."

" Well, I have broken that promise."

" You haven't, I hope."

" I have though. I," with disgraceful triumph, " have
stolen your heart."

" Not a bit of it," cries Susan, with a triumph that puts
his to shame. " I gave it to you. Deny that if you dare."

He evidently doesn't dare. He does something else, how-
ever, that is quite as effective*

" Well, it's a month, anyway, isn't it J " says he. " In a
month we'll get married, and we'll go away — away, all by
ourselves, Susan — just you and I to the heavenly places of
the earth. You shall see the world, and the world shall
see you — the loveliest thing that is in it."

" You mean that we shall go abroad t " says Susan. " To
Rome, perhaps ? "

" To Rome or any other spot your fency dictates, so long
as you take me with you." He draws her to him as he
says this, and — u Susan, will you answer me one word."

Susan's clear truthful eyes fasten upon his. by

424 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

44 What is it f " asks she, softly.

44 Am I the one man in all the world you would see the
world with ? "

The clear truthful eyes do not falter.

44 Why do you ask me that ? " says she. " Surely you
know it."

• ••••••

" Where is your father f " asks he, presently. " Let us
go and tell him."

" Tell father." Her tone has an ominous trembling in it.

" Why, of course," says Crosby, regarding her with some
surprise. It must be forgiven him, if he thinks Mr. Barry
will be decidedly glad to hear the news.

" Oh, I couldn't," says Susan, growing quite pale. " He'll
be very angry with me. He will keep on thinking of me
as a child, you know, and I can't get him out of it. When
I put on long frocks last year, I thought he'd see it then —
but he didn't — and even the doing up of my hair wasn't
of the slightest use."

" We might give him a third lesson," says Crosby.
" Come on, and let us get it over."

14 You I " Susan draws back, and her tone now is dis-
tinctly fearfhL " You couldn't go without me, could you?
By yourself, I mean t "

44 1 could, of course," says he. 44 But — "

44 Oh, then do," cries Susan,, giving him a little push-
there are unmistakable signs of cowardice about her. And
all at once to Crosby comes the thought — how pure at
heart all these people are— how 44 far from the madding
crowd" of self seekers. She has not realized that he is
what most of his town acquaintances call a 4( good match."
She is even afraid to announce her engagement to her father
lest he should think her too young to marry. It sounds in-
credible, but a glance at Susan, and a vision of the sad man,
sitting alone with his new sorrow and disappointment, in
his little study beyond, dissolves all suspicions.

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THE P&0PX8S0&8 EXPERtMStff. 426

"Yes — do go," says Susan. "To tell you the truth,
father is in rather a disturbed state of mind just now, and
I'm afraid he won't receive you very well. He may be
grumpy I He is unhappy I He has lost a great deal of
money lately."

"A great deal ?"

" A very great deal. Four hundred pounds I " Susan
looks tragic. " And it had been set aside to put Carew
into the army — so of course he feels it. The bank failed
you see."

" Banks will do these rude things at times," says Crosby.
" But what I fail to see is, why you can't come with me,
and get your blessing on the spot."

" Why, I've told you," reproachfully. " Father is in a

bad temper, and he " She pauses. " Oh, I can't go,"

says she. " But you can "

44 Alone t After the awful picture you have just drawn
of your father's wrath I Have you no regard for my life,
Susan f Is this your vaunted love for me f To abandon
me remorselessly to the foe I Is it safe, do you think?
Suppose I never come back ? "

" Tut ! " says Susan. " There— go on I But be sure you
say it isn't my fault I "

" That makes an end of it," says Crosby. " Tour fault.
Whose feult is it, if it isn't yours f Susan, I refuse to stir
a step without you. I feel it is your distinct duty to be
there— if only to see fair play — and be a witness at the in-
quest afterwards. Besides, I should like you to gather up
my remains. You might give a helping hand so far. Seri-
ously, darling," drawing her to him, " I think it would be
wise of you to come with me. He would understand so
much better if— if only you will look at me as you are look-
ing now."

" Well, I'll come," says Susan, sighing dejectedly, but
with another look that makes his heart sing aloud for joy.

"That's a darling, Susan! But now, before (

m T&E PBOP&SSOB'S JSXPESIMENT.

must put you through a strict cross-examination. To begin
with — you are positive you love me ? "

" Positive." Susan, laughing, lays her hands against his
shoulders, pressing him back.

" That doesn't look like it ! "

" It's true though ! " laughing.

" And it isn't out of pity ? "

" I'll certainly have to pity yon soon! Are you going
out of your mind ? "

44 No wonder if I were." He swiftly undoes that unkind
touch upon his shoulders, and takes her in his arms and
kisses her.

" I don't think that is cross-examination I " says she, re-
proachfully — who no doubt later on will be capable of de-
veloping a little wit of her own.

" Tou are right. To continue then. How much do yon
love me f "

" Better/' Susan's eyes, now sweeter than ever, raise
themselves to his for one shy moment, 4< than anyone."

" That is vague, Susan. Give it a voice. Better than
— Bonnie ? Oh no," quickly, " I shouldn't have asked that.
Don't answer it, my sweetheart," pressing her head against
his breast. " We'll take another. Tou love me better
than you thought you would ever love anyone — tell me that,
anyway."

" Oh much, much more," says she. She clings to him
for a moment, then steps back, and a little air of medita-
tion grows on her. " Do you know," says she in a low,
rather ashamed tone, " about this very thing I have lately
been very much surprised at myself."

It is irresistible! Crosby bursts out laughing. Such
happy laughter.

" What are you laughing at ? " asks Susan, a little
nervously.

" At you."

"At me?"

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TBE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 4M

" Yes — because you are just the sweetest angel, Susan !
What sort of rings do you like best ? "

Susan is silent for a moment, and now through all the
rose white of her skin, a warm flush rises.

" You are going to give me a ring f " says she. " Do
you know, I hadn't thought of that. A ring I I have
never had a ring I "

He draws her head softly down upon his breast.

" Your first will be a sacred one then I It will be our
engagement ring, my darling I "

" I should like a blue ring," says Susan, shyly, after a
little while.

" Like your own eyes. Sapphire then f So be it. It
will do for a first one. But you must have a keeper for it,
Susan, and you must leave that to me." He is silent a
moment. " Where are the best diamonds to be got J

" Now come," says he. " I think honestly we ought to
tackle your father together I "

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428 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT.

CHAPTER LVIII.

11 My heart is fall of joy to-day,
The air hath music in it"

Mr. Barry is Bitting at his shabby writing table, in his
very shabby study. His pale refined face seems paler than
usual, and there is a look of dejection in his sunken eyes
that goes to Crosby's heart. He has entered the room
without a word of warning — a very reluctant Susan at his
back, and has therefore caught that look on the Rector's
face, before he has had time to take it off,

"Mr. Barry," begins he quickly. "I — we — Susan,
where are you ? — we," with emphasis that devastates the
soul of the culprit next him, " have come to tell you, that
— Susan, this is mean," as Susan makes a base effort to
hide behind him once again. " That Susan and I," he
laughs a little here, partly through nervousness, and partly
because of an agonized, if unconscious pinch from Susan,
on his arm ; " want to get married."

Mr. Barry lays down the pen he has been holding since
their unexpected entrance, and stares at Crosby as though
he were the proud possessor of two heads, or else a decided
madman.

At last — a flush dyes the pallor of his face.

44 Sir," says he, with dignity. " If this is a jest "

44 Not a jest such as you think," breaks in Crosby,
quickly ; 44 though I hope our life together " — with a quick
glance back at Susan, who still declines to show herself;
14 will have a good deal of laughter in it. What I really
want you to know " — gently — 44 is that I have asked Susan
to marry me, and she has said 4 yes,' if " — with charming
courtesy — " you will give your consent."

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THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 429

Mr. Barry rises from his chair. If he could be paler
than he was a moment since, he is certainly so now.

" Do you mean to tell me that you want," he points at
the only part of the abashed Susan that he can see ; " that
you want that child for your wife ? "

There is a slight pause. It is long enough for Susan to
cast an eloquent glance at Crosby. " I told you so," is the
gist of it.

" She is nineteen," says Crosby. " And she says that
she—"

Here he comes to grief; it seems impossible to so true a
lover, to say out aloud that Susan has confessed her love
for him. He turns round.

( u I really think, Susan ! it is your turn now," whispers
he. " You might say something.")

Susan gives him an indignant glance hadn't she told

him how it would be. But dignity sweeps her into the
breach.

" It — is quite true, papa," says she, faltering, trembling.

" What is true ? " asks her father. She is not trembling
half so much outwardly as he is trembling inwardly.
" This thing, can it be true. And that baby — but is she a
baby. How many years is it since the other Susan — his
own Susan — died f "

" That — that I love him ! " says Susan, brokenly. When
she says this she covers her face with her hands as if dis-
tinctly ashamed of herself, and Crosby divining her
thoughts, lays his arms round her and presses both hands
and face out of sight against his breast.

Mr. Barry looks at him.

" She is only a little country girl," says he. As if dis-
liking the definition of her, Susan releases herself and
stands back from Crosby. " And you — have large posses-
sions—and a position that will enable you to choose a wife
anywhere. Susan — has nothing ! "

41 She has everything," says Crosby, hotly.

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430 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT,

look at her I know it is I who have nothing. What money,
what position, could compare with the wealth of her beauty.

. . . And now this gift of her love ! .... I am
only too proud. I think myself only too blest to be allowed
to lay at her feet all that I have."

! He turns to his pretty sweetheart and holds out his hand
to her frankly. And she comes to him. A little pale, a
little unnerved, but with earnest love in her shining eyes.
And as he bends to her — she gives him baok with honest
warmth the kiss that in her father's presence he gives
her.

It seems a seal upon the truth of their declaration. Mr.
Barry going to her, lays his hands upon her shoulders. He
is pale still, but the look of depression that almost amounted
to despair that marked his face as Crosby first came in is
now gone, and in its place is hope — and some other mean-
ing hard to place — but pride perhaps is the nearest to it.

" God bless you, Susan, always," says he solemnly. In
this moment, as he looks at her, for the first time it comes
to him that she is the very image of her dead mother. " It
is a great responsibility," says he — his words are slow and
difficult. " Try to be worthy of it 1 Be a good woman and
love your husband I "

" Oh, I will — I will, papa," says Susan, throwing her
arms round his neck. It seems such an easy request.
And all her fear of him seems gone. She clings to him.
And the father presses her closely to him, but nervously, as
if afraid of breaking down.

Crosby can see how it is, and touches Susan lightly on
the arm.

" Go into the garden," he whispers to her. " I will meet
you there presently."

There is a last quick embrace between father and daugh-
ter, and Susan, who is now crying softly, leaves the room.

" You will let me have her," says Crosby, turning to the
Rector. " And I thank you for the gift. I think," earn-

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honest

THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. 431

at mooer GBtty i " y° u know enough of me to understand bow I shall

rbeaotj! prise it."

j Mr. Barry comes back from the window.

» allowed " It is such a relief," says be, quickly, and with extraor-

dinary honesty. " It will be a weight off my mind. It is
, . . , such a prospect that I could never have dreamed of for her.

• They tell me," absently, "that she is very pretty, her

mother — at that age. . . ." He does not continue his
sentence. A heavy sigh escapes him. " I have had great
trouble lately," says he after a minute or two. " And this
' ° — coming unexpectedly, has unnerved me."

• " There shall be no more trouble that I can prevent ! "

„' says Crosby gently, calmly, yet with strength. "You

must think of me from to-day as your son." He pauses.
" By-the-bye, I hear that there is some little difficulty about
Carew's continuing his profession. That would be a pity
considering how far he has gone. We must not allow that."
" There is no * we ' in it," says Mr. Barry, his thin white
face now whiter. " I can do nothing in the matter. As
J]T you have heard so much you, of course, know that the

money that I had laid by for Carew's start in life has been
lost."

" That failure of a bank f Yes. But "

" You are giving a great deal to my daughter, Crosby,"
says the Rector quickly. " I cannot allow you to give to

wilted
> in is
Dean-
it

Id
mes

and
wd

her

st.

ID.

as

" My brother, sir ! Come, Mr. Barry do not make me
feel I am kept at arm's length by Susan's people. If a man
can't help his own brother who can he help? And after all,
if you come to think of it, have you any right to prevent
my helping him — to check his career like this f Besides,"
laughing, " you may as well give in, as I am going to see
him through, whether you will or not. If I didn't there
would be bad times for me with Susan."

There is something about him — something in his happy,
strong kindly manner, that precludes the idea of offence of

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432 THE PROFESSOR'S EXPERIMENT. j

any sort ; and Mr. Barry, after a straggle with his con-
science, gives in. That suggestion about his having any j
right to deny the boy his profession, had touched him. ;

"Well, that's settled, 7 ' says Crosby comfortably. And it
gives an idea of the charm of his character, that as he says
it, no feeling of chagrin, of smallness enters into the soul of
the man he has benefited. Mr. Barry, indeed, smiles a hap-
pier smile than his worn face has known for many a day.

" God bless you, Crosby ! " says he. And then, pausing
and coloring — the slow and painful color of age — " God
bless you, George. It is useless to speak. I cannot say
what I want to say. But this " — His tone,* nervous and
awkward always, now almost stammers. " This I must
say, that Susan ought to be a happy woman."

" Oh, as to that," says Crosby laughing again, a little j

nervously himself now, as he sees the other's suppressed
emotion, " I hope so. I'll see to it you know. But there's
one thing sure — that I'm going to be a happy man."

He looks towards the window. l

" I think she is waiting for me in the garden," says he. '

" Well, go to her." But as he walks to the door the Rec-
tor follows him, struggling in his silent way with some
thought ; and just as Crosby is disappearing through it the
struggle ends. Mr. Barry goes quickly after him and lays
his hand upon his shoulder.

" Oh, Crosby ! " says he, with sharp feeling. " It is good
to give happiness to others I It will stand to you all your
life, and on your deathbed, too. There, go to her ! She is
in the garden, you say."

And there indeed she is, waiting for him. He finds her
in the old summer-house watching shyly for him from be-
tween the soft green branches. And soon she is not only j
in the garden — but in his strong and loving arms. ij

THBBND.|Tr ir y £>. Zebley.

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