'I perceive, madam,' said he, 'you are a reader.'

'I am more than that,' she answered, with a sigh. 'I am a girl

condemned to thoughts beyond her age; and so untoward is my fate,

that this walk upon the arm of a stranger is like an interlude of

peace.'

They had come by this time to the neighbourhood of the Victoria

Station and here, at a street corner, the young lady paused,

withdrew her arm from Challoner's, and looked up and down as though

in pain or indecision. Then, with a lovely change of countenance,

and laying her gloved hand upon his arm -

'What you already think of me,' she said, 'I tremble to conceive;

yet I must here condemn myself still further. Here I must leave

you, and here I beseech you to wait for my return. Do not attempt

to follow me or spy upon my actions. Suspend yet awhile your

judgment of a girl as innocent as your own sister; and do not,

above all, desert me. Stranger as you are, I have none else to

look to. You see me in sorrow and great fear; you are a gentleman,

courteous and kind: and when I beg for a few minutes' patience, I

make sure beforehand you will not deny me.'

Challoner grudgingly promised; and the young lady, with a grateful

eye-shot, vanished round the corner. But the force of her appeal

had been a little blunted; for the young man was not only destitute

of sisters, but of any female relative nearer than a great-aunt in

Wales. Now he was alone, besides, the spell that he had hitherto

obeyed began to weaken; he considered his behaviour with a sneer;

and plucking up the spirit of revolt, he started in pursuit. The

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