The rector's carriage and horses were accordingly housed in the stables attached to Markham Place; and Whittingham was desired to make Mr. Tracy's coachman and livery-servant as comfortable as possible—instructions with which the hospitable old butler did not fail to comply. Dinner was served up at five o'clock; and Reginald had the felicity of sitting next to Miss Monroe. The more he saw of this young lady, the more did he become enraptured with her,—not, however, experiencing a pure and chaste affection, but one whose ingredients were completely sensual. The evening passed rapidly away;—the rain continued to pour in torrents. As a matter of courtesy—indeed, of hospitality, for Richard's nature was generosity itself—the rector was pressed to stay the night at the Place; and, although he had a good close carriage to convey him home (and persons who have such equipages are seldom over careful of their servants), he accepted the invitation. There was something so pleasing—so intoxicating in the idea of passing the night under the same roof with Ellen! CHAPTER CXLVI. THE BATH.—THE HOUSEKEEPER. It was scarcely light when the rector of Saint David's rose from a couch where visions of a most voluptuous nature had filled his sleep. Having hastily dressed himself, he descended from his room with the intention of seeking the fine frosty air of the garden to cool his heated brain. But as he proceeded along a passage leading to the landing of the first flight of stairs, he heard a light step slowly descending the upper flight; and the next moment, the voice of Ellen speaking fondly to her child, fell upon his ear. For nurses and mothers will talk to babes of even a few months old—although the innocents comprehend them not! Reginald stepped into the recess formed by the door of one of the bed-chambers in that spacious mansion; and scarcely had he concealed himself there when he saw Ellen, with the child in her arms, pass across the landing at the end of the passage, and enter a room on the other side. She wore a loose dressing-gown of snowy whiteness, which was confined by a band round her delicate waist, and was fastened up to the throat: her little feet had been hastily thrust into a pair of buff morocco slippers; and her long shining hair flowed over her shoulders and down her back. The licentious eyes of the clergyman followed her from the foot of the stairs to the room which she entered; and even plunged with eager curiosity into that chamber during the moment that the door was open as she went in. That glance enabled him to perceive that there was a bath in the apartment to which Ellen had proceeded with her child.