Until then"-- she held out her hand--"wait patiently, and be kind to Sophia." Mr.Moggridge started as though stung by a snake; but, recollecting himself, imprinted a kiss upon the proffered fingers.

Again Mrs.
Goodwyn-Sandys laughed with unaffected mirth, and again the hidden witness saw that curious gleam of scorn--only now, as the young man bent his head, it was not dissembled.
They were gone.

Mr.Fogo sank back against the bushes, drew a long breath, and passed his hand nervously over his eyes; but though the scene had passed as a dream, the laugh still rang in his ears.
"It is a judgment on me!" muttered the poor man--"a judgment! They are all alike." Curiously enough, his next reflection appeared to contradict this view of the sex.
"An extraordinary woman! But every fresh person I meet in this place is more eccentric than the last.

Let me see," he continued, checking off the list on his fingers; "there's Caleb, and that astounding Admiral, and the Twins, and Tamsin--" Mr.Fogo stared very hard at the water for some seconds.
"And Tamsin," he repeated slowly.

"Hullo! my feet seem to be in the water--and, bless my soul! what has become of the boat ?" He might well ask.