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steady grasp of a manā ā€”her dark eyes glitteredā ā€”her brown complexion flushed deepā ā€”the force and energy of her face glowed and grew beautiful with the pure inner light of her generosity and her pity.

ā€œI will trust youā ā€”if ever the time comes I will trust you as my friend and her friend, as my brother and her brother.ā€ She stopped, drew me nearer to herā ā€”the fearless, noble creatureā ā€”touched my forehead, sister-like, with her lips, and called me by my Christian name. ā€œGod bless you, Walter!ā€ she said. ā€œWait here alone and compose yourselfā ā€”I had better not stay for both our sakesā ā€”I had better see you go from the balcony upstairs.ā€

She left the room. I turned away towards the window, where nothing faced me but the lonely autumn landscapeā ā€”I turned away to master myself, before I too left the room in my turn, and left it forever.

A minute passedā ā€”it could hardly have been moreā ā€”when I heard the door open again softly, and the rustling of a womanā€™s dress on the carpet moved towards me. My heart beat violently as I turned round. Miss Fairlie was approaching me from the farther end of the room.

She stopped and hesitated when our eyes met, and when she saw that we were alone. Then, with that courage which women lose so often in the small emergency, and so seldom in the great, she came on nearer to me, strangely pale and strangely quiet, drawing one hand after her along the table by which she walked, and holding something at her side in the other, which was hidden by the folds of her dress.

ā€œI only went into the drawing-room,ā€ she said, ā€œto look for this. It may remind you of your visit here, and of the friends you leave behind you. You told me I had improved very much when I did it, and I thought you might likeā ā€”ā€

She turned her head away, and offered me a little sketch, drawn throughout by her own pencil, of the summerhouse in which we had first met. The paper trembled in her hand as she held it out to meā ā€”trembled in mine as I took it from her.

I was afraid to say what I feltā ā€”I only answered, ā€œIt shall never leave meā ā€”all my life long it shall be the treasure that I prize most. I am very grateful for itā ā€”very grateful to you, for not letting me go away without bidding you goodbye.ā€

ā€œOh!ā€ she said innocently, ā€œhow could I let you go, after we have passed so many happy days together!ā€

ā€œThose days may never return, Miss Fairlieā ā€”my way of life and yours are very far apart. But if a time should come, when the devotion of my whole heart and soul and strength will give you a momentā€™s happiness, or spare you a momentā€™s sorrow, will you try to remember the poor drawing-master who has taught you? Miss Halcombe has promised to trust meā ā€”will you promise too?ā€

The farewell sadness in the kind blue eyes shone dimly through her gathering tears.

ā€œI promise it,ā€ she said in broken tones. ā€œOh, donā€™t look at me like that! I promise it with all my heart.ā€

I ventured a little nearer to her, and held out my hand.

ā€œYou have many friends who love you, Miss Fairlie. Your happy future is the dear object of many hopes. May I say, at parting, that it is the dear object of my hopes too?ā€

The tears flowed fast down her cheeks. She rested one trembling hand on the table to steady herself while she gave me the other. I took it in mineā ā€”I held it fast. My head drooped over it, my tears fell on it, my lips pressed itā ā€”not in love; oh, not in love, at that last moment, but in the agony and the self-abandonment of despair.

ā€œFor Godā€™s sake, leave me!ā€ she said faintly.

The confession of her heartā€™s secret burst from her in those pleading words. I had no right to hear them, no right to answer themā ā€”they were the words that banished me, in the name of her sacred weakness, from the room. It was all over. I dropped her hand, I said no more. The blinding tears shut her out from my eyes, and I dashed them away to look at her for the last time. One look as she sank into a chair, as her arms fell on the table, as her fair head dropped on them wearily. One farewell look, and the door had closed upon herā ā€”the great gulf of separation had opened between usā ā€”the image of Laura Fairlie was a memory of the past already.

The Story Continued by Vincent Gilmore of Chancery Lane, Solicitor I

I write these lines at the request of my friend, Mr. Walter Hartright. They are intended to convey a description of certain events which seriously affected Miss Fairlieā€™s interests, and which took place after the period of Mr. Hartrightā€™s departure from Limmeridge House.

There is no need for me to say whether my own opinion does or does not sanction the disclosure of the remarkable family story, of which my narrative forms an important component part. Mr. Hartright has taken that responsibility on himself, and circumstances yet to be related will show that he has amply earned the right to do so, if he chooses to exercise it. The plan he has adopted for presenting the story to others, in the most truthful and most vivid manner, requires that it should be told, at each successive stage in the march of events, by the persons who were directly concerned in those events at the time of their occurrence. My appearance here, as narrator, is the necessary consequence of this arrangement. I was present during the sojourn of Sir Percival Glyde in Cumberland, and was personally concerned in one important result of his short residence under Mr. Fairlieā€™s roof. It is my duty, therefore, to add these new links to the chain of events, and to take up the chain itself at the point where, for the present only Mr. Hartright

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