been denied to him. He had of late begun to perceive the fact
that those passages of Marian's writing which were printed just
as they came from her pen had merit of a kind quite distinct from
anything of which he himself was capable, and it began to be a
question with him whether it would not be advantageous to let the
girl sign these compositions. A matter of business, to be sure--
at all events in the first instance.

For a long time Marian had scarcely looked up from the desk, but
at this moment she found it necessary to refer to the invaluable
Larousse. As so often happened, the particular volume of which
she had need was not upon the shelf she turned away, and looked
about her with a gaze of weary disappointment. At a little
distance were standing two young men, engaged, as their faces
showed, in facetious colloquy; as soon as she observed them,
Marian's eyes fell, but the next moment she looked again in that
direction. Her face had wholly changed; she wore a look of timid
expectancy.

The men were moving towards her, still talking and laughing. She
turned to the shelves, and affected to search for a book. The
voices drew near, and one of them was well known to her; now she
could hear every word; now the speakers were gone by. Was it
possible that Mr Milvain had not recognised her? She followed him
with her eyes, and saw him take a seat not far off he must have
passed without even being aware of her.

She went back to her place and for some minutes sat trifling with
a pen. When she made a show of resuming work, it was evident that
she could no longer apply herself as before. Every now and then