You know how joyfully, gladly, proudly, I would have accepted it, under _other_ circumstances.

If I had real talent myself--but I feel more than doubtful about that.

I pray that I may not fall too low.

Can I trust you to overwhelm me with scorn, if I seem in danger of doing vulgar work ?" Bertha yielded to the temptations of a later summer rich in warmth and hue, and made little excursions by herself into the country, leaving home before her mother was up in the morning, and coming back after sunset.

Her sketching materials and a packet of sandwiches were but a light burden; she was a good walker; and the shilling or two spent on the railway, which formerly she could not have spared, no longer frightened her.
In this way, one morning of September, she went by early train as far as Epsom, walked through the streets, and came into that high-banked lane which leads up to the downs.