And with some difficulty--half laughing--she described the scene with
Hubert, her rush home, her meeting with old Scarsbrook.

"I tell you," she insisted at the end, "there is good in that boy
somewhere--there _is_!"

Helbeck said nothing.

"But you always saw the worst," she added, looking up.

"I am afraid I only saw what there was," he said dryly. "Dear, it gets
cold, and that white frock is very thin."

They walked on. In truth, he could hardly bear that she should take
Mason's name upon her lips at all. The thoughts and comments of
ill-natured persons, of some of his own friends--the sort of misgiving
that had found expression in the Bishop's talk with his sister--he was
perfectly aware of them all, impossible as it would have been for
Augustina or anyone else to say a word to him on the subject. The dignity
no less than the passion of a strong man was deeply concerned. He
repented and humbled himself every day for his own passing doubts; but
his resolution only stiffened the more. There was no room, there should
never be any room in Laura's future life, for any further contact with
the Mason family.

And, indeed, the Mason family itself seemed to have arrived at very
similar conclusions! All that Helbeck knew of them since the Froswick day
might have been summed up in a few sentences. On the Sunday morning
Mason, in a wild state, with wet clothes and bloodshot eyes, had
presented himself at the Wilsons' cottage, asking for news of Miss