"And to get rid of the sense of romance about her?" said Maud with
a smile; "you will soon come to the end of me."

"I will take my chance of that," said Howard. "At present I feel on
the other side of the wall."

"But I don't," said Maud, laughing; "I can't think how you slip in
and fit in as you do, and disentangle all our little puzzles as you
have done. I thought I should be terrified of you--and now I feel
as if I had known you ever so long. You are like Cousin Anne, you
know."

"Perhaps I am, a little," said Howard, "but you are not very much
like Jack! Show me Mrs. Darby's house, by the way. I wonder how
things are going."

"There it is," said Maud, pointing to a house not far from the
Vicarage, "and there is Dr. Grierson's dogcart. I am afraid I had
not been thinking about her; but I do hope it's all right. I think
she will get over this. Don't you always have an idea, when people
are ill, whether they will get well or not?"

"Yes," said Howard, "I do; but it doesn't always come right!"

They lingered long on the hill, and at last Maud said that she must
return for tea. "Papa will be sure to bring Dr. Grierson in."

They went down the hill, talking lightly and easily; and to Howard
it was more delightful than anything he had known to have a peep
into the girl's frank and ingenuous mind. She was full of talk--