It was, perhaps, more flattering that she should betray a marked disposition to prefer solitude in his society.

But this idea illumined him only near the moment of parting.

Then he saw it; then he groaned in soul, and besought Evan to have one more promenade, saying, with characteristic cleverness in the masking of his real thoughts: 'It gives us an appetite, you know.' In Evan's face and Juliana's there was not much sign that any protraction of their walk together would aid this beneficent process of nature.

He took her hand gently, and when he quitted it, it dropped.
'The Rose, the Rose of Beckley Court!' Raikes sang aloud.

'Why, this is a day of meetings.