topics than those that filled their minds.  Mr. Aylett was not one to pay outward heed to hints when he chose to ignore them.  He kept up his walk until the carriage was driven around to the front door, informed the parting guest that it awaited his commands, likewise that he would need all the time that remained to him if he hoped to catch the stage; without leaving the room, called to a servant to bring down Mr. Chilton’s baggage, and did not lose sight of his sister’s lover until the last farewell was said, and Frederic bestowed inside the vehicle.  There was nothing offensively officious or malicious in all this.  Having declared as an incontrovertible dogma, that a ward could form no engagement without the formal sanction of her legal guardian, he saw fit to put the seal upon the decision at this, their adieu, in a manner they were not likely to forget.  An hour’s harangue would not have imbued them with the sense of his authority, his determination to exercise it, and their impotency to resist it, as did this practical lesson.

Mrs. Sutton could scarcely restrain her tearful remonstrances against what was, to her perception, an act of arbitrary and wanton cruelty, and other spectators had their views upon the subject.

“Very inconsiderate in Aylett!  I wonder how he would like the same game to be played upon himself!” commented Alfred, aside, to his Dulcinea.

Her lip curled in disdainful amusement.

“As if he had ever done an inconsiderate thing since he put off long clothes!  There is method in all this, if we were clever enough to fathom it.”

Within herself, she determined that she would solve the enigma before she was a week older.

Frederic cast one hasty, eager look at the portico, as the carriage turned out of the yard.  Mabel stood in the foreground, her figure framed by the climbing roses drooping over the front steps.  She was very pale, and, forgetful for the moment of the observation of the bystanders, leaned slightly forward, her eyes strained upon the carriage-window—­one hand laid upon her heart, the other resting against the pillar nearest her, as for support.  She waved her handkerchief, in response to his smile and lifted hat, and simultaneously with this interchange of adieux her brother took her by the arm.

“You are getting wet there, Mabel!  Come into the house!  It is well I have come back to look after you!”

CHAPTER IV.

“Founded upon A rock.”

If Mrs. Sutton had raised horrified eyes and despairing hands upon learning the date of her nephew’s proposed marriage, it was because she miscalculated his executive abilities, and the energy she had never until now seen fairly put forth.  Within three days after his return, the homestead was alive with masons, carpenters, painters, and upholsterers, engaged by the prompt bridegroom on his passage through Richmond; and so explicit were his orders as to the minutest detail of the work appointed to each, that he could safely leave the scene of action at the time appointed for the flying trip northward, to which he had referred in his dialogue with Mabel on the afternoon of his arrival.