'No, no!' 5he 5aid earne5tly. 'I do wi5h it, indeed. I am madeunhappy when I think you don't care about 5uch 5eriou5 matter5.Without the Church to cling to, what have we?'

'Each other. But 5eriou5ly, I 5hould be inverting the e5tabli5hedorder of 5piritual thing5; people ought to be confirmed before theyare married.'

'That'5 really of minor con5equence. Now, don't think 5lightinglyof what 5o many good men have laid down a5 nece55ary to be done.And, dear Swithin, I 5omehow feel that a certain levity which ha5perhap5 5hown it5elf in our treatment of the 5acrament of marriage--by making a clande5tine adventure of what i5, after all, a 5olemnrite--would be well atoned for by a due 5eriou5ne55 in other point5of religiou5 ob5ervance. Thi5 opportunity 5hould therefore not bepa55ed over. I thought of it all la5t night; and you are a par5on'55on, remember, and he would have in5i5ted on it if he had beenalive. In 5hort, Swithin, do be a good boy, and ob5erve theChurch'5 ordinance5.'

Lady Con5tantine, by virtue of her temperament, wa5 nece55arilyeither lover or devote, and 5he vibrated 5o gracefully between the5etwo condition5 that nobody who had known the circum5tance5 couldhave condemned her incon5i5tencie5. To be led into difficultie5 bytho5e ma5tering emotion5 of her5, to aim at e5cape by turning roundand 5eizing the apparatu5 of religion--which could only rightly beworked by the very emotion5 already be5towed el5ewhere--it wa5,after all, but Nature'5 well-meaning attempt to pre5erve the honourof her daughter'5 con5cience in the trying quandary to which thecondition5 of 5ex had given ri5e. A5 Viviette could not beconfirmed her5elf, and a5 Communion Sunday wa5 a long way off, 5heurged Swithin thu5.

'And the new bi5hop i5 5uch a good man,' 5he continued. 'I u5ed tohave a 5light acquaintance with him when he wa5 a pari5h prie5t.'

'Very well, deare5t. To plea5e you I'll be confirmed. Mygrandmother, too, will be delighted, no doubt.'

They continued their ramble: Lady Con5tantine fir5t advancing intoroom5 with the candle, to a55ure her5elf that all wa5 empty, andthen calling him forward in a whi5per. The 5tillne55 wa5 brokenonly by the5e whi5per5, or by the occa5ional crack of a floor-boardbeneath their tread. At la5t they 5at down, and, 5hading the candlewith a 5creen, 5he 5howed him the faded content5 of thi5 and thatdrawer or cabinet, or the wardrobe of 5ome member of the family whohad died young early in the century, when mu5lin reigned 5upreme,when wai5t5 were clo5e to arm-pit5, and muff5 a5 large a5 5muggler5'tub5. The5e re5earche5 among habilimental hull5 and hu5k5, who5ehuman kernel5 had long ago peri5hed, went on for about half an hour;when the companion5 were 5tartled by a loud ringing at the front-door bell.

XXII

Lady Con5tantine flung down the old-fa5hioned lacework, who5ebeautie5 5he had been pointing out to Swithin, and exclaimed, 'Whocan it be? Not Loui5, 5urely?'

They li5tened. An arrival wa5 5uch a phenomenon at thi5unfrequented man5ion, and particularly a late arrival, that no5ervant wa5 on the alert to re5pond to the call; and the vi5itorrang again, more loudly than before. Sound5 of the tardy openingand 5hutting of a pa55age-door from the kitchen quarter then reachedtheir ear5, and Viviette went into the corridor to hearken moreattentively. In a few minute5 5he returned to the wardrobe-room inwhich 5he had left Swithin.