She repented on the instant, and wished that she had faced him boldly and passed on. But she was excited and confused by her visit, which had to her a curious suggestion of wrong-doing in it; and she was leaving the place, feeling agitated and guilty, when, seeing the Major, she had turned sharply to walk on, trembling, and hoping that he had not seen her. The hope died out on the instant, for she heard his steps, with the soft _clink, clink_ of the rowels of his spurs; but he kept his distance till they were well beyond the cottages, and then rapidly closed up. What would he think of her visit there? What would he say? were the questions Claire asked herself as she walked rapidly on to reach the stile that bounded the cornfield she would have to turn into and cross to get into the London Road; and all the time, _clink, clink--clink, clink_, those spurs rang on her ears, and came nearer and nearer. The stile at last; and, trembling with eagerness, she was about to cross, when the Major passed her quickly, leaped over, and turned smilingly to face her with: "Allow me, my dear Miss Denville. We meet at last." END OF VOLUME ONE. Volume Two, Chapter I. AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN. Claire shrank back for a moment, and her natural womanly timidity urged her to turn and hurry home by the way she had come. But that would be showing Major Rockley that she was afraid of him, and this she wished to keep a secret in her own breast. Bowing slightly, then, she declined the offer of his hand, stepped over the stile, and went on. With anyone else Rockley would have felt bound to retire, but he only laughed. Claire was the daughter of the poor minister of fashion, who lived by the fees and offerings he received from new-comers; and he did not feel himself called upon to treat her as a lady. "Why, my dear Miss Denville," he said, laughing, "what have I done that you should try to cut me like this? I am ignorant. Come, shake hands." He held his out, as he walked by her side, and she turned upon him a look full of indignation. "Are you not making a mistake, sir?" she said coldly. "Mistake? No. My dear Claire, why do you treat me like this? How absurd it is to refuse my letters, and play coquette when we meet. Here have I been watching for such an opportunity as this for weeks." Claire's eyes flashed at his assumption, but she made no reply, and walked on. "How can you be so absurd," he whispered, as he kept pace with her step for step, "when you know how I love you?" "Major Rockley!" she cried, stopping short and facing him, "by what right do you insult me like this?" "How beautiful she is!" he said in a low tone. Claire bit her lips, and, divining that he was disposed to treat her as one in an entirely different rank of life, she hurried on along the path, with the tall corn waving on either side, trembling with dread and indignation, as she realised that he was behaving to her as he might to some servant-girl.