He saw her eyes travel to--not to his face; they stopped short at his throat, and a white look of terror came into them. 'Yes,' he said, reading her thoughts--her transparent thoughts--'she would have covered up this, but it would have broken her heart.' He drew his collar up round his throat as he spoke and Lucy's eyes filled with tears. 'It is all over and past,' she said bravely; 'there will be no need to "break her heart" now. You will fulfil all her expectations; you will make her happy and proud--oh, so proud! If men who are tempted to do silly, selfish things would only pause and think of the people who love them!' Edgell drew her nearer to him. Maria Stubbs was not looking that way; she really was a most sensible girl, she was entirely absorbed in the pictures. 'I will think of you, then,' he said in a low voice that vibrated with passion, 'when--when I am tempted; but I must be sure of your love, Lucy, or it will be no good; there must be no mistake about it. It must be the real thing; a make-believe, a sham, would never save a man! Tell me if--if at such a time, darling, I may think of you?' He put the question solemnly, though his lips were smiling, but his eyes were looking down into hers as if they would read her soul. Lucy's face grew pale and troubled; she knew exactly what his question meant; she felt limp and frightened, dreadfully frightened. Anyone might come into the gallery at any moment, and he was holding her in a grasp of iron and reading her little transparent soul through and through. She could not escape from him. She had no alternative. 'Yes,' she murmured almost inaudibly; 'you may think of me if--if it will help you.' He took her in his arms for one brief moment--he forgot all about Maria Stubbs--and kissed her lips and her eyes. 'My darling!' he murmured--'my darling!' Lovers have such a limited vocabulary, they are obliged to have recourse to unmeaning repetitions. Miss Stubbs had behaved beautifully till now--no Newnham girl could have behaved better; but there is a limit to all human endurance, and the limit of Maria's endurance had been reached. 'I hope you are nearly ready,' she said in a most unpleasant voice; 'because if not I must go.' 'I am quite ready, dear,' said Lucy, nearly crying. 'I have been ready a long time.' She could have blessed Miss Stubbs for taking her away. She was dreadfully frightened, but it was with a strange, delicious terror that stirred her pulses like a tumult of joy. CHAPTER XVIII. CAPABILITY STUBBS. It was clearly Lucy's duty not to go back to Newnham, whatever Maria Stubbs' hurry might be, until she had told her Cousin Mary what had passed between her and Wyatt Edgell in the gallery. It is not usual, even at Cambridge, where there have been so many social revolutions of late, for young women to receive the visits of gentlemen, and exchange the privileged amenities of engaged persons, without acquainting the elders of their household.