'No; I never wish to see them again! I cannot help feeling that your

putting them on was ominous.' 'Nothing is ominous in serene philosophy,' he said, kissing her.

'Things are either causes, or they are not causes. When can you see me again?' In such wise the hour passed away. The evening was typical of others

which followed it at irregular intervals through the winter. And during

the intenser months of the season frequent falls of snow lengthened, even

more than other difficulties had done, the periods of isolation between

the pair. Swithin adhered with all the more strictness to the letter of

his promise not to intrude into the house, from his sense of her

powerlessness to compel him to keep out should he choose to rebel. A

student of the greatest forces in nature, he had, like many others of his

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sort, no personal force to speak of in a social point of view, mainly

because he took no interest in human ranks and formulas; and hence he was

as docile as a child in her hands wherever matters of that kind were

concerned.

Her brother wintered at Welland; but whether because his experience of

tropic climes had unfitted him for the brumal rigours of Britain, or for

some other reason, he seldom showed himself out of doors, and Swithin

caught but passing glimpses of him. Now and then Viviette's impulsive

affection would overcome her sense of risk, and she would press Swithin

to call on her at all costs. This he would by no means do. It was

obvious to his more logical mind that the secrecy to which they had bound

themselves must be kept in its fulness, or might as well be abandoned

altogether.

He was now sadly exercised on the subject of his uncle's will. There had

as yet been no pressing reasons for a full and candid reply to the

solicitor who had communicated with him, owing to the fact that the

payments were not to begin till Swithin was one-and-twenty; but time was

going on, and something definite would have to be done soon. To own to

his marriage and consequent disqualification for the bequest was easy in

itself; but it involved telling at least one man what both Viviette and

himself had great reluctance in telling anybody. Moreover he wished

Viviette to know nothing of his loss in making her his wife. All he

could think of doing for the present was to write a postponing letter to

his uncle's lawyer, and wait events.

The one comfort of this dreary winter-time was his perception of a

returning ability to work with the regularity and much of the spirit of

earlier days.




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