"I fear I must have seemed terribly rude when you first spoke to me, Mr. Meredith," she said, looking up into his face with a smile, as they proceeded along the path that skirted the field. "The truth is, I was afraid--that is, I thought you were--someone else," flushing with the consciousness that she was saying more than she had meant to say. He hastened to assure her that it had been quite evident no discourtesy was intended; mentally, the while, congratulating himself upon not being "someone else," then quietly changed the subject. "I have not seen your brother since we left Oxford, Miss Verschoyle. Your only brother, is he not?" "Yes; and I am his only sister. My mother, Laurence, and I live at the Priory." "Mrs. Verschoyle is well, I hope?" with suddenly developed interest in everything that concerned her. "My mother is not worse, I am glad to say, than she has been the last five years. She is always an invalid." Had not Laurence told him that much? [Illustration: "THERE IS THE PRIORY!"] "Was it anxiety about her mother's health that had brought that look to her face?" he was thinking. "No; it must be something more than, or at any rate different from, the kind of trouble which might spring from such a cause." He murmured a few words of sympathy; her clear eyes turned to meet his, with how different an expression from that he had first seen in them! There was even a little girlish fun in them, as she asked:-- "What kind of place do you imagine the Priory to be, Mr. Meredith?" "Well, one naturally attaches a little mediæval romance to the idea of a Priory"; adding, after a moment's reflection--there were certainly no signs of prosperity about her--"and it ought to be somewhat dilapidated, I suppose--in the picturesque stage of decay. It must be difficult to keep those old places in thorough repair." "Very," she replied, her face shadowing. Then, with a side glance at him and again attempting a jesting tone, she went on: "Difficult, too, as it crumbles away, to find room for ancient retainers, old pictures, heirlooms, and the rest of it. Now prepare your mind, Mr. Meredith, when we turn this next bend--There is the Priory!"