The next day was Sunday, and she provokingly missed Edmund three times, in the walks to and from church, he being monopolized by "some stupid person," who had far less right to him than she had; but at last, when she had been completely worried and vexed with her succession of disappointments, and had come into what Lionel would have emphatically called "a state of mind," Edmund contrived to come to her before going in doors, and asked if she could not take a few turns with him on the terrace. She came gladly, and yet hardly with full delight, for the irritation of the continually recurring disappointments through the whole day, still had its influence on her spirits, and she did not at first speak. "Where is Gerald?" asked Edmund. "I don't know; somewhere with the boys," said Marian, disconsolately. "Well, why not?" said Edmund laughing. "I don't know," said Marian. "That is a meditative 'I don't know,' which conveys more than meets the ear." "I don't know whether----; I mean I don't think it does Gerald any good." "It?--what?" "I don't know," repeated Marian in a tone which to any one else would have appeared sullen. "I should like to arrive at your meaning, Marian. Are you not happy about Gerald!" "I don't know," said Marian; but Edmund, convinced that all was not right, was resolved to penetrate these determined professions of ignorance. "Is Gerald under Miss Morley?" he asked. "Yes, during most of the day. They all say he is very good." "And does not that satisfy you?" "I don't know." Edmund perceived that the subject of her brother was too near her heart to be easily approached, and resolved to change his tone. "How have you been getting on?" he asked. "Does learning flourish under the present dynasty?" "I don't know," replied Marian for the seventh time, but she did not as usual stop there, and continued, "they think one knows nothing unless one has learnt all manner of dates, and latitudes, and such things. Not one of them knew Orion when they saw him in the sky, and yet even Clara thought me dreadfully stupid because I could not find out on the globe the altitude of Beta in Serpentarius, at New Orleans, at three o'clock in the morning." Edmund could not help laughing at her half-complaining, half-humorous tone, and this encouraged her to proceed. "In history they don't care whether a man is good or bad; they only care when he lived. O Edmund, the lists of names and dates, kings and Roman emperors----." "Metals, semi-metals, and distinguished philosophers," said Edmund; and Marian, who in days of old had read "Mansfield Park," laughed as she used to do at home.