the paper was not forthcoming, and would set off himself to go for it, sometimes meeting the penitent breathless Ellinor in the long lane which led from Hamley to Mr. Wilkins’s house.  At first he used to receive her eager “Oh!  I am so sorry, Mr. Corbet, but papa has only just done with it,” rather gruffly.  After a time he had the grace to tell her it did not signify; and by-and-by he would turn back with her to give her some advice about her garden, or her plants—­for his mother and sisters were first-rate practical gardeners, and he himself was, as he expressed it, “a capital consulting physician for a sickly plant.”

All this time his voice, his step, never raised the child’s colour one shade the higher, never made her heart beat the least quicker, as the slightest sign of her father’s approach was wont to do.  She learnt to rely on Mr. Corbet for advice, for a little occasional sympathy, and for much condescending attention.  He also gave her more fault-finding than all the rest of the world put together; and, curiously enough, she was grateful to him for it, for she really was humble and wished to improve.  He liked the attitude of superiority which this implied and exercised right gave him.  They were very good friends at present.  Nothing more.

All this time I have spoken only of Mr. Wilkins’s life as he stood in relation to his daughter.  But there is far more to be said about it.  After his wife’s death, he withdrew himself from society for a year or two in a more positive and decided manner than is common with widowers.  It was during this retirement of his that he riveted his little daughter’s heart in such a way as to influence all her future life.

When he began to go out again, it might have been perceived—­had any one cared to notice—­how much the different characters of his father and wife had influenced him and kept him steady.  Not that he broke out into any immoral conduct, but he gave up time to pleasure, which both old Mr. Wilkins and Lettice would have quietly induced him to spend in the office, superintending his business.  His indulgence in hunting, and all field sports, had hitherto been only occasional; they now became habitual, as far as the seasons permitted.  He shared a moor in Scotland with one of the Holsters one year, persuading himself that the bracing air was good for Ellinor’s health.  But the year afterwards he took another, this time joining with a comparative stranger; and on this moor there was no house to which it was fit to bring a child and her attendants.  He persuaded himself that by frequent journeys he could make up for his absences from Hamley.  But journeys cost money; and he was often away from his office when important business required attending to.  There was some talk of a new attorney setting up in Hamley, to be supported by one or two of the more influential county families, who had found Wilkins not so attentive as his father.  Sir Frank Holster sent for his