Happy! Why? Laura felt a fresh prick of irritation as he paused. Was she never to escape--not even here, in the April sun, beside the river bank! For, of course, what all this meant was that the really virtuous and admirable woman does not roam the world in search of art and friendship; she makes herself happy at home with religion and rheumatic gout. But Helbeck resumed. And instantly it struck her that he had dropped a sentence, and was taking up the thread further on. "But there was no priest in the house then, for the Society could not spare us one; and very few services in the chapel. Through all her young days nothing could be poorer or raggeder than English Catholicism. There was no church at Whinthorpe. Sunday after Sunday my father used to read the prayers in the chapel, which was half a lumber-room. I often think no Dissent could have been barer; but we heard Mass when we could, and that was enough for us. One of the priests from Stonyhurst came when she died. This is her little missal." He raised it from the grass--a small volume bound in faded morocco--but he did not offer to show it to Miss Fountain, and she felt no inclination to ask for it. "Why did they live so much alone?" she asked him, with a little frown. "I suppose there were always neighbours?" He shook his head. "A difference that has law and education besides religion behind it, goes deep. Times are changed, but it goes deep still." There was a pause. Then she looked at him with a whimsical lifting of her brows. "Bannisdale was not amusing?" she said. He laughed good-humouredly. "Not for a woman, certainly. For a man, yes. There was plenty of rough sport and card-playing, and a good deal of drinking. The men were full of character, often full of ability. But there was no outlet--and a wretched education. My great-grandfather might have been saved by a commission in the army. But the law forbade it him. So they lived to themselves and by themselves; they didn't choose to live with their Protestant neighbours--who had made them outlaws and inferiors! And, of course, they sank in manners and refinement. You may see the results in all the minor Catholic families to this day--that is, the old families. The few great houses that remained faithful escaped many of the drawbacks of the position. The smaller ones suffered, and succumbed. But they had their compensations!" As he spoke he rose from the grass, and the dogs, springing up, barked joyously about him. "Augustina will be waiting dinner for us, I think." Laura, who had meant to stay behind, saw that she was expected to walk home with him. She rose unwillingly, and moved on beside him.