It was a tortured kind of delight for Howard to feel the girl beside him; but she showed no wish to talk intimately or emotionally.  She asked many questions, and he could see that she drank in eagerly the beauty of the place, understanding its charm in a moment.  They went in to see Monica, who was in a mood of dry equanimity, and rallied Howard on the success of his visit to Windlow.  “I hear you entered on the scene like a fairy prince,” she said, “and charmed an estate out of Cousin Anne in the course of a few hours.  Isn’t he magnificent, Maud?  You mustn’t think he is a typical Don:  he is quite one of our brightest flowers.”

“When am I to come again to Windlow?” she added; “I suppose I must ask Howard’s leave now?  He told me, you know,” she said to Maud, “that he wanted a change—­he was bored with his work; so I abandoned Aunt Anne to him; and he set up his flag in a moment.  There are no diplomatists like these cultured and unworldly men, Maud!  It was noble of me to do as I did.  If I had exercised my persuasion on Aunt Anne, and kept Howard away, I believe she would have turned over Windlow to me, and I would have tried a social experiment there.  It’s just the place for an inebriate home; no public-houses, and plenty of fine spring water.”

Maud was immensely amused by Monica.  Howard contented himself by saying that he was much misinterpreted; and presently they went off to King’s together.

Maud was not prepared for King’s Chapel, and indeed the tame, rather clumsy exterior gives very little hint of the wonders within.

When they passed the swing-door, and saw the fine soaring lines leading to the exquisite intricacies of the roof, the whole air full of rich colour; the dark carved screen, with the gleaming golden trumpets of the angels on the organ, Howard could see her catch her breath, and grow pale for an instant at the crowded splendour of the place.

They sat in the nave; and when the thin bell died down, and the footsteps passed softly by, and the organ uttered its melodious voice as the white-robed procession moved slowly in, Howard could see that the girl was almost overcome by the scene.  She looked at him once with a strange smile, a smile which he could not interpret; and as the service slowly proceeded—­to Howard little more than a draught of sweet sensation—­he could see that Maud was praying earnestly, deeply, for some consecration of hope and strength which he could not divine or guess at.

As they came away, she hardly spoke—­she seemed tired and almost rapt out of herself.  She just said, “Ah, I am glad I came here with you.  I shall never forget this as long as I live—­it is quite beyond words.”