had, and had made the suggestion to him.

He was immeasurably surprised, no doubt, but he gave no sign of it.
After a silence of two or three instants, during which, I think, he was
occupied in trying to find a way to decline, he assented very sedately.

Charlotte Benson and her friend, who were behind us, were enraged at
this proceeding. During the week they had all been in the house
together, they had never gone beyond speaking terms with the tutor, and
this they had agreed was the best way to keep things, and it seemed to
be his wish no less than theirs. Here was this saucy girl, in want of
amusement, upsetting all their plans. They shortly declined to go to
walk with us: and so Mary Leighton, Mr. Langenau, and I started alone
toward the river.

It must be confessed, Miss Leighton was not rewarded for her effort, for
a stiffer and more uncomfortable companion could not be imagined. He
entirely declined to respond to her coquetry, and she very soon found
she must abandon this role; but she was nothing if not coquettish, and
the conversation flagged uncomfortably. Before we reached home she was
quite impatient, and ran up the steps, when we got there, as if it were
a great relief. The tutor raised his hat when he left us at the door,
turned back, and disappeared for the rest of the evening.

The next morning, coming down-stairs half an hour before breakfast, I
went into the library (a little room at the right of the front door),
for a book I had left there. I threw myself into an easy-chair, and
opened it, when I caught sight of the tutor, reading at the window. I
half started to my feet, and then sank back again in confusion; for what
was there to go away for?