Two on a Tower - Page 111/147

'Fie, Tabitha!' 'I tell you it has not arrived!' she said, with some anger. 'I have not

got a lover, and everybody knows I haven't, and it's an insinuating thing

for you to say so!' Louis laughed, thinking how natural it was that a girl should so

emphatically deny circumstances that would not bear curious inquiry.

'Why, of course I meant myself,' he said soothingly. 'So, then, you will

not accept me?' 'I didn't know you meant yourself,' she replied. 'But I won't accept

you. And I think you ought not to jest on such subjects.' 'Well, perhaps not. However, don't let the Bishop see your bracelet, and all will be well. But mind, lovers are deceivers.' Tabitha laughed, and they parted, the girl entering the church. She had been feeling almost certain that, having accidentally found the bracelet somewhere, he had presented it in a whim to her as the first girl he met. Yet now she began to have momentary doubts whether he had not been

labouring under a mistake, and had imagined her to be the owner. The

bracelet was not valuable; it was, in fact, a mere toy,--the pair of

which this was one being a little present made to Lady Constantine by

Swithin on the day of their marriage; and she had not worn them with

sufficient frequency out of doors for Tabitha to recognize either as

positively her ladyship's. But when, out of sight of the blower, the

girl momentarily tried it on, in a corner by the organ, it seemed to her

that the ornament was possibly Lady Constantine's. Now that the pink

beads shone before her eyes on her own arm she remembered having seen a

bracelet with just such an effect gracing the wrist of Lady Constantine

upon one occasion. A temporary self-surrender to the sophism that if Mr.

Louis Glanville chose to give away anything belonging to his sister, she,

Tabitha, had a right to take it without question, was soon checked by a

resolve to carry the tempting strings of coral to her ladyship that

evening, and inquire the truth about them. This decided on she slipped

the bracelet into her pocket, and played her voluntaries with a light

heart.

* * * * *

Bishop Helmsdale did not tear himself away from Welland till about two

o'clock that afternoon, which was three hours later than he had intended

to leave. It was with a feeling of relief that Swithin, looking from the

top of the tower, saw the carriage drive out from the vicarage into the

turnpike road, and whirl the right reverend gentleman again towards

Warborne. The coast being now clear of him Swithin meditated how to see

Viviette, and explain what had happened. With this in view he waited

where he was till evening came on.