Then Mary asked Mr. Hope so many questions with such eager affection that he had no time to ask her any, and then she volunteered the home news, especially of Colonel Clifford’s condition, and then she blushed and asked him if he had said anything to her father about Walter Clifford.

“Not much,” said Mr. Hope.  “You are very young, Mary, and it’s not for me to interfere, and I won’t interfere.  But if you want my opinion, why, I admire the young man extremely.  I always liked him; he is a straightforward, upright, manly, good-hearted chap, and has lots of plain good sense—­Heaven knows where he got it!”

This eulogy was interrupted by Mary putting a white hand and a perfect nose upon Hope’s shoulder, and kissing the cloth thereon.

“What,” said Hope, tenderly, and yet half sadly—­for he knew that all middle-aged men must now be second—­“have I found the way to your heart?”

“You always knew that, Mr. Hope,” said Mary, softly; “especially since my escapade in that horrid brook.”

Their affectionate chat was interrupted by a stout servant laying a snowy cloth, and after her sailed in Mrs. Gilbert, with a red face, and pride unconcealed and justifiable, carrying a grand dish of smoking hot boiled beef, set in a very flower bed, so to speak, of carrots, turnips, and suet dumplings; the servant followed with a brown basin, almost as big as a ewer, filled with mealy potatoes, whose jackets hung by a thread.  Around this feast the whole party soon collected, and none of them sighed for Russian soups or French ragouts; for the fact is that under the title of boiled beef there exist two things, one of which, without any great impropriety, might be called junk; but this was the powdered beef of our ancestors, a huge piece just slightly salted in the house itself, so that the generous juice remained in it, but the piquant slices, with the mealy potatoes, made a delightful combination.  The glasses were filled with home-brewed ale, sparkling and clear and golden as the finest Madeira.  They all ate manfully, stimulated by the genial hostess.  Even Mary outshone all her former efforts, and although she couldn’t satisfy Mrs. Gilbert, she declared she had never eaten so much in all her life.  This set good Mrs. Gilbert’s cheeks all aglow with simple, honest satisfaction.

Hope drove Mary home in the dog-cart.  He was a happy man, but she could hardly be called a happy woman.  She was warm and cold by turns.  She had got her friend back, and that was a comfort, but she was not treating him with confidence; indeed, she was passively deceiving him, and that chilled her; but then it would not be for long, and that comforted her, and yet even when the day should come for the great doors of Clifford Hall to fly open to her, would not a sad, reproachful look from dear Mr. Hope somewhat imbitter her cup of happiness?  Deceit, and even reticence, did not come so natural to her as they do to many women:  she was not weak, and she was frank, though very modest.