to put him in shadow.  And she would not always refuse a lesson, or a ride, or a talk,—­it was not in her nature to be ungraceful or rough in any way; only it could not be said that she took pleasure in them, as a certain thing.  They broke up the intolerable loneliness of her life just then, but otherwise were not always a success.  Constantly now expecting to be drawn back, or ordered back, as she phrased it; expecting forbidden things at every turn; she did not want to be alone with Mr. Rollo, nor to go with other people where he might come.  In fact, she did not quite understand herself; and she grew more and more restless and eager to get away.

‘Why should we not go on Monday?’ she asked Mr. Falkirk.

‘Go?’ echoed her guardian.  ’Are we to take up our travels again, my dear?’

’Did you suppose yourself settled for the winter, sir?  I expect to go to town, like other people.’

‘What are we to do when we get there?’

’Keep house, sir.  You can take one-half the bricks, and I the other.  Or any proportions that may suit your views,’ said Miss Hazel compliantly.

Now Mr. Falkirk did not, it is true, understand the course things had taken for the last few weeks; he was only a man; and though Wych Hazel’s guardian for many years might be supposed to hold a clue to her moods, this was what Mr. Falkirk failed to do in the present instance.  But using his wits as well as he was able, he had come to the conclusion, not without some secret gratification, that Miss Hazel preferred the society of her old guardian to that of her new one.  Certainly he was in no mind to cross her wish to go to the city, if she had such a wish.  However, mindful of his duty, he mentioned her desire to Rollo, and asked if he had any objection to it.  Rollo was silent a minute, and then gave a frank ‘No.’  And Mr. Falkirk wrote to make arrangements, and even went himself to perfect them.  And he lost no time; by the end of October the change was made, and Wych Hazel established in a snug little house in one of the best streets on Murray Hill.

If Mr. Falkirk was misled before, his mind was not likely to clear up as the weeks went on.  Whatever had come over his ward, she was unmistakably changed from her old self; as now, living in the house with her again, Mr. Falkirk could not fail to perceive.  Quiet steps, a gentle voice that quite ignored its old bursts of singing; brown eyes that looked softly through things and people at something else; with a mood docile because it did not care:  but that he did not know.  Apparently she had not come to town for stir,—­her going out was of the quietest kind.  Sometimes a specially fine concert would tempt her; once in a while she made one of her radiant toilettes and went to a state dinner party, now and then to a lunch or a kettle-drum; but balls and evening parties of every sort were invariably declined.  Instead, she plunged into study,—­went at German as if her life depended on it, took up her Italian again, and began to perfect herself in French.  Read history, knit her brows over science, and sat and drew by the hour.