Year: 1879

I | had made no use before came on me like the

 revelation of state where peace and quiet l could be found to refresh and strengthen me

 for the labour before me. thought to myself

 thst, sitting in the silence of that cool barbour.

 the work to be done, which seemed SO irksome

 and repulsive in my London chambers, would

 become easy again as it used to be in the

 months gone by, before had fallen into list

 less and yet restless habits; and experienced

 all the agreeable sense of expectation while

 partaking of Wyatts hospitality for the night

 in his little lodgings at Stainham. AS we sat l on bench in front of the house on the river | bank after our light dinner, while he smoked 1 his pipe and looked out on the tranquil river,

 I felt how far pleasanter and more wholesome

 in my present state would ce this mode of life

 than stopping in London, and that the quiet 1 of my new tenement would be pleasanter and

 more soothing still. For even of Stainham the l laughter of some of the town-folks--shop-hoy

 and their sweethearts, suppose, out after the

 days work-as their boats passed up and down till late into the night, harsh and noisy

 as it sounded, jared on my nerves. 1 won- 1 dered it did not annoy Wyatt as it did me; {; 1 but he retorted that it would not bother me

 more than it did him if would only take to

 smoking.

 We returned next morning to town, and I hastened to call on the agents for the cottage, | WlfOSC dluIcSS Adu DccH gwen tuC HiiI- 1 Ter. The member of the firm into whose room l I was shown, made but little objection to the

 proposed terms. Evidently they would take

 almost anything to get the house let. The | lease, it appeared, was still held by the late

 occupant it had come into the hands of the 1 firm as bad debt ''Whe was the late occu

 pant p asked, as I rose to go. Well, he was

 believed to be a person of independent means.

 ''Why did he leave. and where was he now ?"

 That was just what they would like to know.

 Was he a married man with young wife ?"

 We'll. Mir. Perkins believed he was ''Then," :"

 said l, Il suppose those are their ikenesses

 which saw in the drawing room" Mir. Per-

 kins believed they would be, but added that

 he really knew very little about the matter.

 They both left the place quite suddenly, for l some reason unknown, and he had never heard | from them since.

 The rest of the day and the succeeding one

 went speedily in the necessary preparations tor

 my country housekeeping; and in the after

 noon of the latter, Wyatt and again set off together, and by the same train as before. For

 It had been arranged that he should spend a

 lew oaye with me at the cottage, to sec me started, as he called it. must confess that

 would almost have preferred to make the be- | ginning by myself, possessed as was with | perhaps morbid craving to be alone; and if 1 Wyatts good spirits could be appreciated at l l CTS. But of course 1 could not refuse the of

 fer of his company, and trust he did not de-

 tect any ungracionsness in my manner of re- | spending to it.

 We stopped as formerly at Maddeley whith- | CT Wyatt had this time sent his boat on in ad-

 vance, and he rowed me as before up from there to our new quarters where we arrived | while the long summer evening wasstill young. | The fine weather continued and in this return

 to the river 1 experienced revival of spirits and calmness of mood to which had for long

 been stranger, and l began to look forward

 with keen sense of anticipatory pleasure to heightened stay here. Arrived before the

 lawn, and making fast the boat to the bank, l We walked up to the cottage and found Mrs. l Bond, my house keeper, who had come down

 by train direct at midday to the station at the l village about a mile and half from the river, at the back of the cottage, busily engaged in l getting things into order, and preparing our 1 supper My books had been unpacked and, with a few other articles which had been | brought down, they gave already hone-like and comfortable aspect to the dining room. I l may here mention that difficulty had occur l red in the instance about service for Mrs. I Bond was supplemented in my chambers by | charwoman. who came in daily to help, and | who was irremovabe, and alone she would not suffice for the work of the cottage butt diff 1 iculty had been snrmOunted by Bond volun- teerIng to bring down with her d niece, now out of service, and staying with her father in 1 town, and who would be glad of this easy | place under her aunt for few weeks. This l girl, whom 1 had not seen, had gone, Bond said, to the village to make some necessary purchases. Eggs, too it appeared, were diff ticulty: the miller's daughters, who had been | there great part of the afternoon, had prom ised to bring some, but had not returned with them and set off in the boat, while lay down on the bank pleasantly occupied in doing noth

 Ing knew that I could not go to bed till I had completed my prescribed portion of work, or at least spent the time had prescribed for myself in pretending to make the attempt but put off the hour for setting down to it till af- ter supper.

 I was lying thus, lazilv looking at the lawn and cottage before me, now overcast by the shades of evening. for the sun had set, and in this shady spot it was already dusk, when saw the figure of a female issuing from the mill, and going towards the house. I am rath- CT short, sighted, nor was it light enough for

 any ono to see very clearly, but the woman, who was evidently tall, and from her figure young, appeared to have a scarf or hood of dark material over her head which she held with one hand. and which corrcr1iua- ts,e-eaoa She passed with quick but even step along the little lawn, and entered the cottage by the open door. The miller's daughter with the eggs, thought-Wyatt will have had his pull for nothing. The young woman might, how ever, have gone in by the back door. I sup pose she has been so accustomed to the empty house that she has forgotten her manners. But 1 was too lazy to go and intercept Wyatt who, 1 indeed, presently appeared coming through i the eel-pots, and displayed basnet of eggs 1 deposited on the floor of the boat It was 1 lucky he went for them, he observed, as he | came up and joined me on the bank; the young lady at the mill said It was too late to | go back that evening as her sister was away, l and she would have had to come alone and but for him we should have gone without our omlet Then it must have been Bonds niece whom I saw just now, II thought-a fine young woman apparently, and with graceful carri- ] age for maid-servant.

 | It was late when we had our supper, served | by Bond herself; through the open deer, we could hear her niece employed upon the plates and dishes in the kitchen Supper ended, my companion smoked his pipe awhile, and then declared for bed. 1 felt inclined to follow his example; for although in the habit of keeping late hours, having lest the power of sleeping in the early night, the exercise and

 the unusual spell of fresh air had made me

 both tired and sleepy. But I had done no work for the last two days; the enjoyment of the holiday would be lost if I was perpetually oppressed with a weight of arrears pressing on

 me :; let make beginning of steady industry tonight, and the effort to work would be all

 the less next day. So when Wyatt took him. self off to bed, moved the candles to the

 writing table before the .window-we had for

 gotten to bring down any lamps-and drew

 out my manuscript from the drawer The

 pencl-note marking the date of last leaving off

 was more thana week old really must waste

 no more time; let me get fresh start made tonight, and I should be able to go on all the

 more vigorously tomorrow. Wyatt remon-

 strated. I should lose all the good to be got

 by coming down here, he said, if did not

 keep rational hours. Brain more active at

 night, was it? That was just the pity An

 active brain meant sleepless night. How

 could I expect to be fresh in the morning if I

 dld not give myself fair chance? It was

 odd did not see myself what everybody else

 could see-that my nerves were not in state

 for me to take liberties with myself

 must have expressed myself with unrea- EIo U, d. ,-Il.