After that they all rode, and the afternoon went by pleasantly.  It was the last day indeed, but Lily had determined that she would not be sad.  She had told him that he might go now, and that she would not be discontented at his going.  She knew that the morrow would be very blank to her; but she struggled to live up to the spirit of her promise, and she succeeded.  They all dined at the Great House, even Mrs Dale doing so upon this occasion.  When they had come in from the garden in the evening, Crosbie talked more to Mrs Dale than he did even to Lily, while Lily sat a little distant, listening with all her ears, sometimes saying a low-toned word, and happy beyond expression in the feeling that her mother and her lover should understand each other.  And it must be understood that Crosbie at this time was fully determined to conquer the difficulties of which he had thought so much, and to fix the earliest day which might be possible for his marriage.  The solemnity of that meeting in the field still hung about him, and gave to his present feelings a manliness and a truth of purpose which were too generally wanting to them.  If only those feelings would last!  But now he talked to Mrs Dale about her daughter, and about their future prospects, in a tone which he could not have used had not his mind for the time been true to her.  He had never spoken so freely to Lily’s mother, and at no time had Mrs Dale felt for him so much of a mother’s love.  He apologised for the necessity of some delay, arguing that he could not endure to see his young wife without the comfort of a home of her own, and that he was now, as he always had been, afraid of incurring debt.  Mrs Dale disliked waiting engagements,—­as do all mothers,—­but she could not answer unkindly to such pleading as this.

“Lily is so very young,” she said, “that she may well wait for a year or so.”

“For seven years,” said Lily, jumping up and whispering into her mother’s ear.  “I shall hardly be six-and-twenty then, which is not at all too old.”

And so the evening passed away very pleasantly.

“God bless you, Adolphus!” Mrs Dale said to him, as she parted with him at her own door.  It was the first time that she had called him by his Christian name.  “I hope you understand how much we are trusting to you.”

“I do,—­I do,” said he, as he pressed her hand.  Then as he walked back alone, he swore to himself, binding himself to the oath with all his heart, that he would be true to those women,—­both to the daughter and to the mother; for the solemnity of the morning was still upon him.

He was to start the next morning before eight, Bernard having undertaken to drive him over to the railway at Guestwick.  The breakfast was on the table shortly after seven; and just as the two men had come down, Lily entered the room, with her hat and shawl.  “I said I would be in to pour out your tea,” said she; and then she sat herself down over against the teapot.