A Mere Accident

the spectre of his conscience rose and with menacing finger threatened him with flames and demons. And his love was a source of continual suffering. How often d

ually strict business habits. He had appointments with his solicitor. He consulted with him, he went into compl

be madness to object.... A rich Catholic family at Henfield-nearly four thousand a-year-must not be allowed to become extinct. Thornby Place was the link between the Duke of Norfolk and the So and So's. If those dreadful cousins came in for the prope

e played one off against the other. The Jesuits were nettled at having lost him, but it was agreeable to learn that the Carmelites had been no less unfortunate than they. The Oratorians on the whole thought he was

ple. He considered the question from many points of view, but in the meantime Mrs Norton continued to deluge Kitty with presents, and to talk t

to start early in the morning, and having spent a long day with Kitty, to return home across the downs. The lofty, lonely landscape, with its lengthy hills defined upon the flushes of July, came in happy contrast with the noisy hours of tennis and girls; and standing on the gently ascending slopes, rising almost from the wicket gate of the rectory, he would wave farewells to Kitty and the Austins. And in the glittering mor

three great ricks are Mr Austin's; the sunlight is upon them, and through the long shadows the cart horses are moving with the drays

verandah smoking, Kitty

father, I haven't a moment. There is such a lot to do. You know the Miss Austins are coming here to e

elp you t

but I am not

y the iron railing that separated Little Leywood from Leywood, the Squire's house. They passed through a small wooden gate into a bit of thick wood, and so gained the drive. Mr Austin took John to see the horses, Kitty ran to see the girls who were in their room dressing. How they chattered as they came down stairs, and with what lightness and laughter they went to Little Leywood. Their interests were centre

Norton; but aren't you tired? Seven miles

d the whole da

Let's all walk a little

er to be home for dinner. The one sure way of getting into his black

said Kitty, "I shall w

marshes, the long spine of the skeleton bridge was black, and there, by that low shore, the sea was full of mist, and sea and shore and sky were lost in opal and grey. Old Shoreham, with its air of commerce, of stagnant commerce, stood by the sea. The tide was out, the sea gates were dry, only a few pools flashed silver amid the ooze; and the masts of the tall vessels,-tall vessels aground in that strange canal or

s were flying about. Looking over the plain you saw Southwick,-a gleam of gables, a gleam of walls,-sk

they were going next month on their honeymoon. The turnip and corn lands were as inconceivable widths of green and yellow satin rolling through the rich light of the crests into the richer shadow of the valleys. And there there was a farm-house surrounded b

with vapour, spotted with gold fields, level as a landscape by Hobbema; Chanctonbury Ring stands

kling of the bell-wether; if you look you see a solitary rabbit. A stunted hawthorn stands by the circle of stone, and by it the lovers were sitting. He was talking to her of Italy, of cathedrals and stat

ss of the evening was in her blood and brain, and the architectural beauty of the landscape-the elliptical arches of the hills-swam before her. But she had not

opper or two for a p

ghtened. "No, I haven't, I

. "Now, don't run so fast, Missie, wo

ve no

e; what about th

parasol across his face, he laughed hoarsely. She saw his savage beast-like eyes fixed h

reat her. Her frock is spoilt; they will ask her where she has been to, and how she got herself into such a state. Mechanically she brushed herself, and mechanically, very mechanically she picked bits of furze from her dress. She held each away from her and let it drop in a silly vacant way, all the while running the phrases over in her mind: "What a horrible man ... he threw me down and ill-treated me; my frock is ruined, utterly ruined, what a state it is in! I had a narrow escape of being murdered. I will tell them that ... that wi

ling in great waves towards the sea. Would it precipitate itself into the sea, and would she be engulphed in the universal ruin? O! the sea, how implacably serene, how remorselessly beautiful; green along the shore, purple along the horiz

rob her, and of what?... of her watch; where was it? It was gone. The happiness of a dying saint when he opens arms to heaven descended upon her. The watch was gone ... but, had she lost it? Should she go back and see if she could find it? Oh! impossible; see the place again-impossible! search among the gorse-impossible! Horror! She would die. O to die on the lonely hills, to

ces. And now with her eyes fixed on the world that awaited her, she stood on the hillside. There was Brighton far away, sparkling in the dying light; nearer, Southwick showed amid woods, winding about the foot of the hills; in front Shoreham rose out of the massy trees of Leywood

trove to collect her thoughts, and failing to do so, she walked on hurriedly, she almost ran as if in the motion to force out of sight the thoughts that for a moment threatened to define themselves in her mind. Suddenly she stopped; there were some children playing by the farm gate. They did not know that she was by, and she listened to their childish prattle unsuspected. To listen was an infinite assuagement, one that was overpoweringly sweet, and for some moments she