and papa, only just out of curiosity!"

"Hush, hush, Ethel, what's the use of thinking such things?"

A silence,--then she exclaimed, "But, indeed, Richard, you don't
fancy that I want to teach at Cocksmoor, because it is disagreeable
at Stoneborough?"

"No, indeed."

The rendering of full justice conveyed in his tone so opened Ethel's
heart that she went on eagerly:--"The history of it is this. Last
time we walked here, that day, I said, and I meant it, that I would
never put it out of my head; I would go on doing and striving, and
trying, till this place was properly cared for, and has a church and
a clergyman. I believe it was a vow, Richard, I do believe it was,--
and if one makes one, one must keep it. There it is. So, I can't
give money, I have but one pound in the world, but I have time, and I
would make that useful, if you would help me."

"I don't see how," was the answer, and there was a fragment of a
smile on Richard's face, as if it struck him as a wild scheme, that
Ethel should undertake, single handed, to evangelise Cocksmoor.

It was such a damper as to be most mortifying to an enthusiastic
girl, and she drew into herself in a moment.

They walked home in silence, and when Richard warned her that she was
not keeping her dress out of the dirt, it sounded like a sarcasm on
her projects, and, with a slightly pettish manner, she raised the