Shall we stay in the garden, as the sun is so bright ?" They strolled hither and thither.

Constance had a glow in her checks, and spoke with agreeable animation.

For a few minutes they talked of the mill, and Dyce repeated the manager's remark about Miss Bride's influence; he saw that it pleased her, but she affected to put it carelessly aside.
"How long have you known Lady Ogram ?" he inquired.
"A good many years.

My father was once a friend of hers--long ago, when he was a curate at Hollingford." The circumstances of that friendship, and how it came to an end, were but vaguely known to Constance.

She remembered that, when she was still a child, her mother often took her to Rivenoak, where she enjoyed herself in the gardens or the park, and received presents from Lady Ogram, the return journey being often made in their hostess's carriage.
In those days the baronet's wife was a vigorous adherent of the Church of England, wherein she saw the hope of the country and of mankind.