What a pity it was that the eyes were so quickly dropped! If she had only met those which were seeking hers, and read in them the gladness which their owner felt at this speedy realization of his hopes, surely doubts must have been scattered to the winds, Mrs. Manning's little talk would have gone after them, as if it had never taken place, and Elsie's own heart searchings would have awakened only a smile at the mistake she had made in ever cherishing a doubt. But she did not see the look which no true heart could have mistaken, and so, when Douglass, brimming over with pleasure, took her hand, Elsie's manner was shy and constrained, and the poor little commonplaces she uttered were so unlike the old manner that Douglass shrank within himself and became constrained in turn. He did not join her and her companion, though invited to do so by Mr. Mitchelson, for there was no seconding glance from Elsie, no lifting of the fringed eyelids, or a look from under them which said, "Come, and I, too, shall be glad." So he seated himself by Uncle Edward, saying that he was rather tired with his journey, but would visit the tents by degrees, and talk over the respective merits of the exhibits with his old Rathbury friends a little later on. Then the rector appeared on the scene, and after cordial greetings to his young lieutenant, he took off Uncle Edward; and then the malignant Fates approached Mr. Gilmour, represented by Miss Chatterton. "So you are back again," she said, "and before the appointed time. What little bird of the air carried a message over the seas which hastened your coming?" "Are you sorry to see me, Miss Chatterton? If so, I shall feel bound to go away again; I am sadly disappointed, for I quite expected a welcome and a little pat for having come back to my work somewhat earlier than was needful." "Confess, now, it was the little bird's message which brought you!" said Miss Chatterton, wagging a warning finger, and trying to look jocose. "The message was to my fellow-traveller, and was not of a cheery character, I regret to say; it came by the usual prosaic medium of the post. I did not care to linger behind and return alone, so here I am, quite ready for work again." Miss Chatterton gave a little shake of the head, thus politely intimating that she should believe as much as she chose, then said— "We have got our great man back again, you see; he is burning with zeal and brimming over with good intentions towards Rathbury, and, I suppose, means to cram three years' good doing into one, in order to make amends for neglect and absence." "I believe Mr. Mitchelson has never neglected to furnish the means for helping his poor neighbours, though Mr. Harvey has been the channel for conveying it to them."