red house.




VII


SINCE her reinstatement in Miss Hatchard's favour Charity had not dared
to curtail by a moment her hours of attendance at the library. She
even made a point of arriving before the time, and showed a laudable
indignation when the youngest Targatt girl, who had been engaged to help
in the cleaning and rearranging of the books, came trailing in late
and neglected her task to peer through the window at the Sollas boy.
Nevertheless, "library days" seemed more than ever irksome to Charity
after her vivid hours of liberty; and she would have found it hard to
set a good example to her subordinate if Lucius Harney had not been
commissioned, before Miss Hatchard's departure, to examine with the
local carpenter the best means of ventilating the "Memorial."

He was careful to prosecute this inquiry on the days when the library
was open to the public; and Charity was therefore sure of spending part
of the afternoon in his company. The Targatt girl's presence, and the
risk of being interrupted by some passer-by suddenly smitten with a
thirst for letters, restricted their intercourse to the exchange of
commonplaces; but there was a fascination to Charity in the contrast
between these public civilities and their secret intimacy.

The day after their drive to the brown house was "library day," and
she sat at her desk working at the revised catalogue, while the Targatt