methods. It was a revelation to him now, in the woman he loved, and who
was his wife. He was not shocked so much as he was frightened.
"You shall have the dress to-morrow, Ellen," he said gently, "and
you can put away these gewgaws. You don't need to look like Tinkie
Clifford."
He did not see the look of triumph that lit up her eye, but added, "Go
on and play."
She sat down obediently to the instrument. He watched her for a few
moments from the toe of her kid slipper on the pedals to the swell
of her shoulders above the keyboard, with a strange, abstracted face.
Presently she stopped and came over to him.
"And when I've got these nice calico frocks, and you can't tell me from
Jane, and I'm a good housekeeper, and settle down to be a farmer's wife,
maybe I'll have a secret to tell you."
"A secret?" he repeated gravely. "Why not now?"
Her face was quite aglow with excitement and a certain timid mischief as
she laughed: "Not while you are so solemn. It can wait."
He looked at his watch. "I must give some orders to Jim about the stock
before he turns in," he said.
"He's gone to the stables already," said Mrs. Rylands.
"No matter; I can go there and find him."
"Shall I bring your boots?" she said quickly.
"I'll put them on when I pass through the kitchen. I won't be long away.
Now go to bed. You are looking tired," he said gently, as he gazed at
the drawn lines about her eyes and mouth. Her former pretty color
struck him also as having changed of late, and as being irregular and
inharmonious.
As Mrs. Rylands obediently ascended the stairs she heaved a faint sigh,
her only recognition of her husband's criticism. He turned and passed
quickly into the kitchen. He wanted to be alone to collect his thoughts.
But he was surprised to find Jane still there, sitting bolt upright in
a chair in the corner. Apparently she had been expecting him, for as he
entered she stood up, and wiped her cheek and mouth with one hand, as if
to compress her lips the more tightly.
"I reckoned," she began, "that unless you war for forgettin' everythin'
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