shrewd guess at what they were talking about. Meanwhile, she took in hand, with some success, the task of smoothing down Cuthbert, and she had almost persuaded that honest young man that her intentions were good, if her tactics were equivocal, when Nigel and the priest drew near. Nigel was pale, and his eyes looked even larger than usual. It was with a rather forced smile that he said to his friend:

"I suppose you don't want to finish your holiday by coming out to Tyrol with me, do you?"

"I certainly do not," answered Cuthbert, quite taken aback. "Tyrol in the autumn!-what for? And how about the partridges ?"

"You will be able to increase your personal bag by bringing down the partridges that I should have missed," answered the other. "Of course you will shoot over my land as often as you please; I'll give orders about it. As for me, I have always wished to see the Tyrolese Alps, and I haven't any particular duties to keep me at home just now. So, as the season is getting rather advanced, I shall be off at once."

Cuthbert stared at the priest, whose countenance was blandly expressionless, and then at Miss Dallison, to see how she was taking this abrupt announcement. She was taking it, so far as he could judge, with amused equanimity. She must of course understand that Nigel was running away from her. Was that what she wanted him to do, and did she perhaps assume that he was running away from Monica also? They all now moved towards the house, and, as Miss Dallison was the first to enter, followed by Nigel, Cuthbert made so bold as to pluck the priest's sleeve.

"I say," he whispered, "do you advocate this?"

"Nigel's run abroad, do you mean?" returned Monsignor Nolan, meeting his questioner's eyes with

goodhumoured innocence. "Indeed I do; he has been here a long time now, and a little change is good for everybody."

"Oh, I don't want to meddle; probably I'm not altogether in his confidence, and you, no doubt, are. But he can't be going away to admire the scenery, you know."

"Why not? There are worse things than scenery to admire, as you may find out some fine day, Mr. Gretton," returned Monsignor Nolan, laughing. “If you mean that his going abroad is a bad compliment to Miss Ferrand, I'm not with you. Their engagement isn't a formal one, you must remember, and it's as well for them both to be put to the test of separation every now and then."

It was evident that Nigel's spiritual adviser knew more than he chose to say; so Cuthbert desisted from further attempts to draw him.

ΟΝ

CHAPTER XIII

THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM

Na dull afternoon in the month of October a young Englishman of distinguished appearance might have been seen making his way up the rue de Moscou, which he had only discovered by dint of repeated inquiries. Nigel Scarth's acquaintance with Paris was but slight, while his acquaintance with the rue de Moscou ought, as he was well aware, to have been non-existent; yet there he was, and not without exultation did he say to himself "Here I am at last!"

It had taken him a matter of six or seven weeks to reach his destination by a circuitous route which had embraced several provinces of the Austro-Hungarian empire; but it had been certain from the outset (although he himself would have vehemently denied the truth of such a statement) that he would end by visiting Paris, not to mention the somewhat unattractive street which he was now ascending. Had he been given to casuistry, he might have justified the step that he was about to take upon the plea that Miss Dallison's conversion was, after all, a possible event and that he, who had sown the good seed, was entitled, if not bound, to ascertain for himself whether it had germinated or not; but Nigel, whatever may have been his failings, was not a casuist; so he owned to his heart (which was beating

with more rapid pulsations than his pace warranted) that he was reverting to an evaded peril for the simple and sufficient, if deplorable, reason that he could not resist so doing. It had been wise to run away; he himself had recognised the wisdom of that course, as had also Monsignor Nolan, whose brisk, goodhumoured injunction of "Be off with you out of the country, you silly fellow, until you come to your senses again!" he had conscientiously endeavoured to obey. But he had not, unfortunately, come to his senses after the fashion contemplated by his adviser, nor had absence and a continuous mental struggle in any way lessened the strange fascination which a woman whom he disliked and dreaded had for him. He therefore felt, with a sort of fierce glee, that there was not the slightest excuse for him, although he had a conventional one ready in the shape of a wish expressed by Monica, who in her last letter to him had written, "Do go and look up Ethel as you pass through Paris. I am sure she will be so glad to see you again." Unsuspecting Monica, who had not at all minded his leaving her, who punctually corresponded with him at stated intervals and whose implicit faith in him it seemed a peculiarly base proceeding to abuse!

As he turned in under the archway of the house of which he was in search an elderly gentleman, who had just descended from a fiacre, lurched up against him and apologised. This was Major Dallison in his usual postmeridian condition. He preceded Nigel up the stairs, stumbling heavily at the top of the first flight and ludicrously pawing the air in a premature attempt to ascend the second.

"Desp❜rately short-sighted," he remarked, in affable explanation to the stranger. "Englishman, I see," he went on. "Looking for my quarters, p'rhaps? Dallison,

my name is. Third floor, sorry to say, but-but we'll get there in time."

Nigel, trying not to look as disgusted as he felt, mentioned his own name and was proceeding to state that he had had the pleasure of making Miss Dallison's acquaintance in Yorkshire when the other effusively cut him short.

"My dear sir, no int'ruption-interduction, I meannecess'ry! Know all about you!-d'lighted to see you! Any friend of my friend Lord Lannowe's-only too charmed!

It really was not often that Major Dallison was so far gone as this by daylight; but the weather had suddenly become cold, and the measures which he had taken to counteract an incipient chill had been rather too radical. He seized his visitor's arm, with the double object of evincing friendliness and steadying his own gait; the result of which was that Nigel ultimately entered the presence of Mrs. and Miss Dallison at a species of undignified canter. He was much confused, and he looked so; but the two ladies, after exchanging rapid glances, maintained a creditable equanimity.

"Most kind of you to come, Mr. Scarth," said the elder, when he had stammered out something about Miss Ferrand's wish and his personal desire to renew an agreeable acquaintance; "I hope you bring good news of our friends in Yorkshire."

"Hasn't come from Yorkshire, bless you!" chuckled the Major, whom Nigel had shaken off, and who had dropped in a heap upon a chair. "Been abroad for the last don't know how long-heard all about that from Ethel, y' know." He turned to Nigel and added, with a slow, carefully executed wink, "Given 'em the slip, eh? Out on a bit of a bust to wind up with-what? All right! we won't give you away; we're safe!"