there's no bread in nine loaves.'

The discussion now dropped, and as it was getting late, Stephen
bade his parents farewell for the evening, his mother none the
less warmly for their sparring; for although Mrs. Smith and
Stephen were always contending, they were never at enmity.

'And possibly,' said Stephen, 'I may leave here altogether to-
morrow; I don't know. So that if I shouldn't call again before
returning to London, don't be alarmed, will you?'

'But didn't you come for a fortnight?' said his mother. 'And
haven't you a month's holiday altogether? They are going to turn
you out, then?'

'Not at all. I may stay longer; I may go. If I go, you had
better say nothing about my having been here, for her sake. At
what time of the morning does the carrier pass Endelstow lane?'

'Seven o'clock.'

And then he left them. His thoughts were, that should the vicar
permit him to become engaged, to hope for an engagement, or in any
way to think of his beloved Elfride, he might stay longer. Should
he be forbidden to think of any such thing, he resolved to go at
once. And the latter, even to young hopefulness, seemed the more
probable alternative.

Stephen walked back to the vicarage through the meadows, as he had
come, surrounded by the soft musical purl of the water through