But Catherine was angry, in season and out of season, with the wrong as well as the right person. For how did this staunch champion treat Oliver the next time she met him, limping slowly down Friarton High Street? She passed him quickly with the slightest and coldest bow that any of his defamers had yet administered to him. Mrs. Hilliard could no more have bowed in that fashion than she could have taken up a stone and thrown it at the culprit. It was the next thing to a cut direct, and it did cut Oliver to the heart, with the lively impression that Catherine Hilliard had listened to and believed the worst of the idle, senseless, shameful lies told of him. As for Catherine, she was saying to herself in a fever of perverse, reproachful wrath and mortification. ‘What right had he who was so manly, courageous and steadfast to cast his pearls before swine till they turned and rent him: to spend himself in a manner and for a cause unworthy of the gift: to act so recklessly that he could be thus monstrously misjudged and maligned?’ END OF THE SECOND VOLUME. _Spottiswoode & Co., Printers, New-street Square, London._ ILLUSTRATED EDITIONS OF POPULAR WORKS. Handsomely bound in cloth gilt, each volume containing Four Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._ THE SMALL HOUSE AT ALLINGTON. By ANTHONY TROLLOPE. FRAMLEY PARSONAGE. By ANTHONY TROLLOPE. THE CLAVERINGS. By ANTHONY TROLLOPE. TRANSFORMATION: a Romance. By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. ROMANTIC TALES. By the Author of ‘John Halifax.’ DOMESTIC STORIES. By the Author of ‘John Halifax,’ NO NAME. By WILKIE COLLINS. ARMADALE. By WILKIE COLLINS. AFTER DARK. By WILKIE COLLINS. MAUD TALBOT. By HOLME LEE. THE MOORS AND THE FENS. By Mrs. J.H. RIDDELL. PUT YOURSELF IN HIS PLACE. By CHARLES READE. WIVES AND DAUGHTERS. By Mrs. GASKELL. NORTH AND SOUTH. By Mrs. GASKELL. SYLVIA’S LOVERS. By Mrs. GASKELL. CRANFORD; and other Stories. By Mrs. GASKELL. MARY BARTON; and other Stories. By Mrs. GASKELL. RUTH—THE GREY WOMAN; and other Stories. By Mrs. GASKELL. LIZZIE LEIGH—A DARK NIGHT’S WORK; and other Stories. By Mrs. GASKELL. London: SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 15 Waterloo Place. POPULAR NOVELS. _Each Work complete in One Volume, price Six Shillings._ FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD. By THOMAS HARDY. With 6 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6_s._ THE HAND OF ETHELBERTA. By THOMAS HARDY. With 6 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6_s._ WITHIN THE PRECINCTS. By Mrs. OLIPHANT, Author of ‘Chronicles of Carlingford’ &c. With Eight Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6_s._ CARITÀ. By Mrs. OLIPHANT, Author of ‘Chronicles of Carlingford’ &c. 8 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6_s._ FOR PERCIVAL. By MARGARET VELEY. With 8 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 6_s._