'I have enjoyed this so much. You don't know what a pleasure it is, after the grime and smoke and roar of London, to come to a place like this. Your sisters wanted me to go with them this afternoon, but I was a little tired, so came out here instead.' 'And are you fond of solitude?' inquired Captain Gates. 'Most girls are not, I fancy.' 'I like it--sometimes,' I replied slowly. 'This afternoon, for instance,' Kenneth said, with a laugh. 'But too much solitude is bad for the young, so we are breaking in upon it for a good purpose. It makes them morbid and self-engrossed.' I saw that his quick eyes had already noted my Bible, and was vexed to feel my cheeks flushing. 'Miss Thorn's appearance is certainly not morbid,' said Captain Gates good-naturedly; and as I looked up at him I met a frank, kindly glance from his dark eyes. 'No, I am not morbid,' I said; 'I am very happy.' 'Ah!' put in Kenneth with a mock sigh, 'you are looking out at life with inexperienced eyes at present, and everything has a roseate hue to you. Your experience has yet to come!' For some little time longer they stayed there with me laughing and talking, and then we all went back to the house together, and my quiet time was over. I liked Kenneth better than his brother Hugh, who seemed to me to be too sarcastic and supercilious for any one to be comfortable in his presence; but there was a look of mischief in Kenneth's eyes which puzzled me, as again and again this afternoon his glance met mine. At dinner I was enlightened. It was a merry home party that night. Captain Gates and another man, a Mr. Stroud by name, had come to stay for a few days' shooting, and they certainly proved lively additions to our gathering. In the midst of a buzz of conversation and laughter, there was, as so often happens, a sudden lull, and then Kenneth from the other side of the table suddenly broke the silence: 'Miss Thorn, Nell here wants to know the name of the book you were studying so deeply this afternoon in the corn-field?' My cheeks flushed a little; for one moment I hesitated, and every one seemed to be waiting for my answer; then I said in a tolerably steady voice, 'It was my Bible.' I felt, rather than saw, the astonishment depicted on the faces of those at the table. Nelly, who was always overflowing with fun, burst out laughing: 'You don't mean to say that you are religious?' she said; but her mother hushed her rather sharply, and changed the subject at once. I felt I had difficult times coming. Later on in the evening, when music was going on, Captain Gates came over to me as I sat looking out into the dusky garden by one of the long French windows, and said, 'I see you have no difficulty in showing your colours, Miss Thorn.' I looked up at him gravely. 'I ought to have no difficulty,' I said; 'it is nothing to be ashamed of.' He smiled, and leaning against the half-open window seemed to regard me with some amusement.