CHAPTER XXIV.
DOWN BY THE POOL The heaven Of thy mild brows hath given Grace to all things I see; And in thy life I live, and lose myself in thee.
-- J.

Addington Symonds I would love infinitely, and be loved.
-- Browning Malcolm was no hot-headed boy to be moved by mere impulse, nevertheless the day came when all his prudent resolutions were forgotten, when silence and self-repression were absolute torture to him, when he felt he must speak or for ever hold his peace.
It was Elizabeth's birthday; he only heard that afterwards, or he would have brought her some choice offering in the shape of flowers or books, in honour of his patron Saint's fete-day; but happily Elizabeth was unconscious of this.
"I am thirty-one to-day," she said to him gaily; "is not that a great age?
Oh, no wonder Cedric calls me an old maid." And then she laughed with an air of enjoyment, as though her new title amused her.

"Old maids can be very nice, can they not, Mr.Herrick ?" They were sitting down by the Pool, and Dinah had just left them at Elizabeth's suggestion to tell the servants that they would have tea there, and to answer a business note.

The afternoon was sultry, more like August than September; but down by the Pool there was a pleasant shade and coolness.

As usual, all the dogs were grouped round them; and Elizabeth, in spite of her thirty-one years, looked quite youthful in her white gown.