sorry I can't stay any longer. I've twenty or thirty letters to get
written before post-time.'

Adela rose as he did.

'If there's ever anything I can do to help you,' she said modestly,
'you will not fail to ask me?'

'That I won't What I want you to do now is to read what I've marked
in those books. You mustn't tire your eyes, you know; there's plenty
of time.'

'I will read all you wish me to, and think over it as much as I
can.'

'Then you're a right-down good girl, and if I don't think myself a
lucky man, I ought to.'

He left her trembling with a strange new emotion, the begin fling of
a self-conscious zeal, an enthusiasm forced into being like a
hothouse flower. It made her cheeks burn; she could not rest till
her study had commenced.

Richard had written to his sister, saying that he wanted her, that
she must come at once. To Alice his thoughts had been long turning;
now that the time for action had arrived, it was to her that he
trusted for aid. Things he would find it impossible to do himself,
Alice might do for him. He did not doubt his power of persuading
her. With Alice principle would stand second to his advantage. He
had hard things to ask of her, but the case was a desperate one, and