The father looked at his daughter as though for a moment he also suspected that matters had really been arranged between her and her future lover without his concurrence, and before his sanction had been obtained.  But if for a moment such a thought did cress his mind, it did not dwell there.  He trusted Belton; but as to his daughter, he knew that he might be sure of her.  It would be impossible with her to keep such a secret from him, even for half a day.  And yet, how odd it was!  Here was a man who in three days had fallen in love with his daughter; and here was his daughter apparently quite as ready to be in love with the man.  How could she, who was ordinarily circumspect, and almost cold in her demeanour towards strangers who was from circumstances and from her own disposition altogether hostile to flirting intimacies how could this Clara have changed her nature so speedily?  The squire did not understand it, but was prepared to believe that it was all for the best.  ‘I’ll call him Will, if you like it,’ said he.

’Do, papa, and then I can do so also.  He is such a good fellow, and I am so fond of him.’

On the next morning Mr Amedroz did, with much awkwardness, call his guest by his Christian name.  Clara caught her cousin’s eye and smiled, and he also smiled.  At that moment he was more in love than ever.  Could anything be more charming than this?  Immediately after breakfast he was going over to Redicote, to see a builder in a small way who lived there, and whom he proposed to employ in putting up the shed for the cattle; but he almost begrudged the time, so anxious was he to begin his suit.  But his plan had been laid out and he would follow it.  ’I think I shall be back by three o’clock,’ he said to Clara, ’and then we’ll have our walk.’

’I’ll be ready; and you can call for me at Mr Askerton’s.  I must go down there, and it will save you something in your walk to pick me up at the cottage.’  And so the arrangements for the day were made.

Clara had promised that she would soon call at the cottage, and was, indeed, rather anxious to see Mrs Askerton on her own account.  What she had heard from her cousin as to a certain Miss Vigo of old days had interested her, and also what she had heard of a certain Mr Berdmore.  It had been evident to her that her cousin had thought little about it.  The likeness of the lady he then saw to the lady he had before known. had at first struck him; but when he found that the two ladies were not represented by one and the same person, he was satisfied, and there was an end of the matter for him.  But it was not so with Clara.  Her feminine mind dwelt on the matter with more earnestness than he had cared to entertain, and her clearer intellect saw possibilities which did not occur to him.  But it was not till she found herself walking across the park to the cottage that she remembered that any inquiries as to her past life might be disagreeable to Mrs Askerton.  She