a few inches of the vegetable growth produced by the spray of the water. There, rudely carved in the wood, was still the word LILY. When he cut those letters she had been almost a child. 'I wonder whether she will come here with me and let me show it to her,' he said to himself. Then he took out his knife and cleared the cuttings of the letters, and having done so, leaned upon the rail, and looked down upon the running water. How well things in the world had gone for him! How well! And yet what would it all be if Lily would not come to him? How well the world had gone for him! In those days when he stood there carving the girl's name everybody had seemed to regard him as a heavy burden, and he had so regarded himself. Now he was envied by many, respected by many, taken by the hand as a friend by those high in the world's esteem. When he had come near the Guestwick Mansion in his old walks,—always, however, keeping at a great distance lest the grumpy old lord should be down upon him and scold him,—he had little dreamed that he and the grumpy old lord would ever be together on such familiar terms, that he would tell to that lord more of his private thoughts than to any other living being; yet it had come to that. The grumpy old lord had now told him that that gift of money was to be his whether Lily Dale accepted him or no. 'Indeed, the thing's done,' said the grumpy lord, pulling out from his pocket certain papers, 'and you've got to receive the dividends as they become due.' Then, when Johnny had expostulated,—as, indeed, the circumstances had left him no alternative but to expostulate,—the earl had roughly bade him hold his tongue, telling him that he would have to fetch Sir Raffle's boots directly he got back to London. So the conversation had quickly turned itself away to Sir Raffle, whom they had both ridiculed with much satisfaction. 'If he finds his way down here in September, Master Johnny, or in any other month either, you may fit my head with a foolscap. Not remember, indeed! Is it not wonderful that any man should make himself so mean a fool?' All this was thought over again, as Eames leaned upon the bridge. He remembered every word, and remembered many other words,—earlier words, spoken years ago, filling him with desolation as to the prospects of his life. It had seemed that his friends had united in prophesying that the outlook into the world for him was hopeless, and that the earning of bread must be for ever beyond his power. And now his lines had fallen to him in very pleasant places, and he was among those whom the world had determined to caress. And yet, what would it all be if Lily would not share his happiness? When he had carved that name on the rail, his love for Lily had been an idea. It had now become a reality which might probably be full of pain. If it were so,—if such should be the result, of his wooing,—would not those old dreamy days have been better than these—the days of his success?
It was one o'clock by the time that he reached his mother's house, and he found her and his sister in a troubled and embarrassed state. 'Of course you know, John,' said his mother, as soon as their first embraces were over, 'that we are going to dine at the Manor this evening?' But he did not know it, neither the earl nor Lady Julia having said anything on the subject. 'Of course we are going,' said Mrs Eames, 'and it was so very kind. But I've never been out to such a house for so many years, John, and I do feel in such a twitter. I dined there once, soon after we were married; but I never have been there since that.'
'It's not the earl I mind, but Lady Julia,' said Mary Eames.
'She's the most good-natured woman in the world,' said Johnny.
'Oh, dear; people say she is so cross!'
'That's because people don't know her. If I was asked who is the kindest-hearted woman I know in the world, I think I should say Lady Julia De Guest. I think I should.'
'Ah! but then they're so fond of you,' said the admiring mother. 'You saved his lordship's life,—under Providence.'
'That's all bosh, mother. You ask Dr Crofts. He knows them as well as I do.'
'Dr Crofts is going to marry Bell Dale,' said Mary; and then the conversation was turned from the subject of Lady Julia's perfections, and the awe inspired by the earl.
'Crofts going to marry Bell!' exclaimed Eames, thinking almost with dismay of the doctor's luck in thus getting himself accepted all at once, while he had been suing with the constancy almost of a Jacob.
'Yes,' said Mary; 'and they say that she has refused her cousin Bernard, and that, therefore, the squire is taking away the house from them. You know they're all coming into Guestwick.'
'Yes, I know they are. But I don't believe that the squire is taking away the house.'
'Why should they come then? Why should they give up such a charming place as that?'
'Rent-free!' said Mrs Eames.
'I don't know why they should come away; but I can't believe the squire is turning them out; at any rate not for that reason.' The squire was prepared to advocate John's suit, and therefore John was bound to do battle on the squire's behalf.
'He is a very stern man,' said Mrs Eames, 'and they say that since
