As soon as he had walked in and perceived that Grace was not in the

room, he seemed to have a misgiving. Nothing less than her actual

presence could long keep him to the level of this impassioned

enterprise, and that lacking he appeared as one who wished to retrace

his steps.

He mechanically talked at what he considered a woodland matron's level

of thought till a rustling was heard on the stairs, and Grace came in.

Fitzpiers was for once as agitated as she. Over and above the genuine

emotion which she raised in his heart there hung the sense that he was

casting a die by impulse which he might not have thrown by judgment.

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Mr. Melbury was not in the room. Having to attend to matters in the

yard, he had delayed putting on his afternoon coat and waistcoat till

the doctor's appearance, when, not wishing to be backward in receiving

him, he entered the parlor hastily buttoning up those garments.

Grace's fastidiousness was a little distressed that Fitzpiers should

see by this action the strain his visit was putting upon her father;

and to make matters worse for her just then, old Grammer seemed to have

a passion for incessantly pumping in the back kitchen, leaving the

doors open so that the banging and splashing were distinct above the

parlor conversation.

Whenever the chat over the tea sank into pleasant desultoriness Mr.

Melbury broke in with speeches of labored precision on very remote

topics, as if he feared to let Fitzpiers's mind dwell critically on the

subject nearest the hearts of all. In truth a constrained manner was

natural enough in Melbury just now, for the greatest interest of his

life was reaching its crisis. Could the real have been beheld instead

of the corporeal merely, the corner of the room in which he sat would

have been filled with a form typical of anxious suspense, large-eyed,

tight-lipped, awaiting the issue. That paternal hopes and fears so

intense should be bound up in the person of one child so peculiarly

circumstanced, and not have dispersed themselves over the larger field

of a whole family, involved dangerous risks to future happiness.

Fitzpiers did not stay more than an hour, but that time had apparently

advanced his sentiments towards Grace, once and for all, from a vaguely

liquescent to an organic shape. She would not have accompanied him to

the door in response to his whispered "Come!" if her mother had not

said in a matter-of-fact way, "Of course, Grace; go to the door with

Mr. Fitzpiers." Accordingly Grace went, both her parents remaining in

the room. When the young pair were in the great brick-floored hall the

lover took the girl's hand in his, drew it under his arm, and thus led

her on to the door, where he stealthily kissed her.




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