"It was so kind of you," she commenced rather confusedly, "to help me as you did just now. I could not tell you about it while Seymour was here, for you know very well how he laughs at religion, and says it is all done for show, and that there is no heart in it at all. I don't mean that I should have told you if Seymour had not been here, for I wouldn't have mentioned it if he had not--" "Never mind about that," interrupted Archie, impatiently, "proceed with the story--or," he hastily interrupted himself, "not if it bothers you to talk about it. I don't mind much, you know." Minnie smiled, knowing well how much he did mind, and assured him that it would not bother her at all to tell him, as she knew he would listen patiently, and not ridicule anything she might say. She then proceeded to tell him in as few words as possible, what had taken place at Hollowmell on Saturday night, and how it came about that Mabel happened to be there at such a late hour. "Why," exclaimed Archie, when he had listened with an interest, which surprised himself as entirely as it surprised Minnie; for though of an unusually curious disposition, he invariably found his interest flag after drinking in the first few details of anything. "Why, if you aren't a party of complete 'bricks--' Seymour called you a saint, but I say a 'brick,' and if you aren't content with that, I don't know what _will_ content you." And he stared at her with an expression of intense approval that was irresistible. "But what I want to know is this," he continued in a tone of confidential deliberation, when her amusement had subsided. "However did you manage to get Charlie into such a pie? He and Seymour go together in these affairs; I should have considered Ned a more suitable subject for a purpose of that kind." "O, I hadn't time to think, I suppose, I was in too great a hurry to get away--and besides I wasn't sure whether Ned was in or not. I'm glad now it was Charlie, for I don't think he'll look on these things with the same eyes now, as he used to, after what he saw of their value and necessity when nothing else could avail." "Ah, well, I don't know much about it myself, but I suppose we must attend to them some time, though there's no particular hurry at present for any of _us_ that I can see." "Oh, but there is!" cried Minnie anxiously, "don't you see that the end may come any day, and that though we are young, we haven't any guarantee that we will live even one day more--there are so many ways we may die, and just consider that one of them might overtake us within an hour." "O, yes, of course, it _might_," was his light reply, "but that's very unlikely. It's a rather dull sort of subject this--I think I'll run round to Jack Durnard's for a map I lent him yesterday." He walked out unconcernedly, and Minnie made no effort to stop him, knowing how useless further remonstrance on this point would be.