Louis Moore's doubts respecting the evacuation of Fieldhead by Mr. Sympson turned out to be well founded. The very next day after the grand quarrel about Sir Philip Nunnely a sort of was patched up between uncle and niece. Shirley, who could never find it in her heart to be or to seem inhospitable (except in the single instance of Mr. Donne), begged the whole party to stay a little longer. She begged in such earnest it was evident she wished it for some reason. They took her at her word. Indeed, the uncle could not bring himself to leave her quite unwatched—at full liberty to marry Robert Moore as soon as that gentleman should be able (Mr. Sympson prayed this might never be the case) to reassert his supposed to her hand. They all stayed.  
In his first rage against all the house of Moore, Mr. Sympson had so conducted himself towards Mr. Louis that that gentleman—patient of labour or suffering, but intolerant of coarse —had resigned his post, and could now be induced to resume and retain it only till such time as the family should quit Yorkshire. Mrs. Sympson's prevailed with him thus far; his own to his pupil constituted an additional for ; and probably he had a third motive, stronger than either of the other two. Probably he would have found it very hard indeed to leave Fieldhead just now.
 
Things went on for some time pretty . Miss Keeldar's health was re-established; her spirits resumed their flow. Moore had found means to relieve her from every nervous ; and, indeed, from the moment of giving him her confidence, every fear seemed to have taken wing. Her heart became as lightsome, her manner as careless, as those of a little child, that, thoughtless of its own life or death, trusts all responsibility to its parents. He535 and William Farren—through whose medium he made concerning the state of Phœbe—agreed in asserting that the dog was not mad, that it was only ill-usage which had driven her from home; for it was proved that her master was in the frequent habit of her violently. Their assertion might or might not be true. The and gamekeeper affirmed to the contrary—both asserting that, if hers was not a clear case of hydrophobia, there was no such disease. But to this evidence Louis Moore turned an incredulous ear. He reported to Shirley only what was encouraging. She believed him; and, right or wrong, it is certain that in her case the bite proved innocuous.
 
November passed; December came. The Sympsons were now really departing. It was on them to be at home by Christmas. Their packages were preparing; they were to leave in a few days. One winter evening, during the last week of their stay, Louis Moore again took out his little blank book, and with it as follows:—
 
"She is lovelier than ever. Since that little cloud was all the temporary waste and have vanished. It was marvellous to see how soon the magical energy of youth raised her and revived her blooming.
 
"After breakfast this morning, when I had seen her, and listened to her, and, so to speak, felt her, in every atom of my frame, I passed from her sunny presence into the chill drawing-room. Taking up a little volume, I found it to contain a selection of . I read a poem or two; whether the spell was in me or in the verse I know not, but my heart filled , my pulse rose. I glowed, notwithstanding the frost air. I, too, am young as yet. Though she said she never considered me young, I am barely thirty. There are moments when life, for no other reason than my own youth, beams with sweet upon me.
 
"It was time to go to the schoolroom. I went. That same schoolroom is rather pleasant in a morning. The sun then shines through the low lattice; the books are in order; there are no papers strewn about; the fire is clear and clean; no have fallen, no ashes accumulated. I found Henry there, and he had brought with him Miss Keeldar. They were together.
 
"I said she was lovelier than ever. She is. A fine536 rose, not deep but delicate, opens on her cheek. Her eye, always dark, clear, and speaking, utters now a language I cannot render; it is the , seen not heard, through which angels must have communed when there was 'silence in heaven.' Her hair was always dusk as night and fine as silk, her neck was always fair, flexible, polished; but both have now a new charm. The tresses are soft as shadow, the shoulders they fall on wear a goddess grace. Once I only saw her beauty, now I feel it.
 
"Henry was repeating his lesson to her before bringing it to me. One of her hands was occupied with the book; he held the other. That boy gets more than his share of privileges; he dares and is . What indulgence and she shows him! Too much. If this went on, Henry in a few years, when his soul was formed, would offer it on her altar, as I have offered mine.
 
"I saw her flitter when I came in, but she did not look up; now she hardly ever gives me a glance. She seems to grow silent too; to me she rarely speaks, and when I am present, she says little to others. In my gloomy moments I attribute this change to , aversion, what not? In my sunny I give it another meaning. I say, were I her equal, I could find in this shyness coyness, and in that coyness love. As it is, dare I look for it? What could I do with it if found?
 
"This morning I dared at least an hour's communion for her and me; I dared not only wish but will an interview with her. I dared summon to guard us. Very decidedly I called Henry to the door. Without I said, 'Go where you will, my boy; but, till I call you, return not here.'
 
"Henry, I could see, did not like his dismissal. That boy is young, but a thinker; his eye shines on me strangely sometimes. He half feels what links me to Shirley; he half guesses that there is a dearer delight in the reserve with which I am treated than in all the he is allowed. The young, , half-grown lion would at me now and then, because I have tamed his lioness and am her keeper, did not the habit of discipline and the instinct of affection hold him . Go, Henry; you must learn to take your share of the bitter of life with all of Adam's race that have gone before or will come after you. Your destiny can be no exception to the common lot; be grateful that your love is overlooked537 thus early, before it can claim any to passion. An hour's , a of envy, suffice to express what you feel. hot as the sun above the line, rage destructive as the tropic storm, the clime of your sensations ignores—as yet.
 
"I took my usual seat at the desk, quite in my usual way. I am blessed in that power to cover all inward ebullition with outward calm. No one who looks at my slow face can guess the vortex sometimes whirling in my heart, and thought and . Pleasant is it to have the gift to proceed peacefully and powerfully in your course without alarming by one eccentric movement. It was not my present intention to utter one word of love to her, or to reveal one glimpse of the fire in which I wasted. I never have been; presumptuous I never will be. Rather than even seem selfish and interested, I would rise, gird my loins, part and leave her, and seek, on the other side of the globe, a new life, cold and barren as the rock the salt tide daily washes. My design this morning was to take of her a near scrutiny—to read a line in the page of her heart. Before I left I to know what I was leaving.
 
"I had some to make into pens. Most men's hands would have trembled when their hearts were so stirred; mine went to work , and my voice, when I called it into exercise, was firm.
 
"'This day week you will be alone at Fieldhead, Miss Keeldar.'
 
"'Yes: I rather think my uncle's intention to go is a settled one now.'
 
"'He leaves you dissatisfied.'
 
"'He is not pleased with me.'
 
"'He departs as he came—no better for his journey. This is .'
 
"'I trust the failure of his plans will take from him all to lay new ones.'
 
"'In his way Mr. Sympson honestly wished you well. All he has done or intended to do he believed to be for the best.'
 
"'You are kind to undertake the defence of a man who has permitted himself to treat you with so much insolence.'
 
"'I never feel shocked at, or bear for, what is spoken in character; and most perfectly in character538 was that vulgar and violent against me, when he had quitted you worsted.'
 
"'You cease now to be Henry's tutor?'
 
"'I shall be parted from Henry for a while (if he and I live we shall meet again somehow, for we love each other) and be from the of the Sympson family for ever. Happily this change does not leave me ; it but hurries into execution designs long formed.'
 
"'No change finds you off your guard. I was sure, in your calm way, you would be prepared for sudden . I always think you stand in the world like a but , thoughtful in a wood. And the quiver on your shoulder holds more arrows than one; your bow is provided with a second string. Such too is your brother's . You two might go homeless hunters to the loneliest western wilds; all would be well with you. The hewn tree would make you a hut, the cleared forest yield you fields from its stripped bosom, the would feel your rifle-shot, and with lowered horns and hump pay at your feet.'
 
"'And any Indian tribe of Blackfeet or Flatheads would afford us a bride, perhaps?'
 
"'No' (hesitating), 'I think not. The is . I think—that is, I hope—you would neither of you share your with that to which you could not give your heart.'
 
"'What suggested the wild West to your mind, Miss Keeldar? Have you been with me in spirit when I did not see you? Have you entered into my day-dreams, and my brain labouring at its scheme of a future?'
 
"She had separated a slip of paper for tapers—a spill, as it is called—into fragments. She threw by morsel into the fire, and stood watching them consume. She did not speak.
 
"'How did you learn what you seem to know about my intentions?'
 
"'I know nothing. I am only discovering them now. I at hazard.'
 
"'Your hazard sounds like . A tutor I will never be again; never take a pupil after Henry and yourself; not again will I sit at another man's table—no more be the of a family. I am now a man of thirty; I have never been free since I was a boy of ten. I have such a thirst for freedom, such a deep passion to539 know her and call her mine, such a day-desire and night-longing to win her and possess her, I will not refuse to cross the Atlantic for her sake; her I will follow deep into woods. Mine it shall not be to accept a savage girl as a slave—she could not be a wife. I know no white woman whom I love that would accompany me; but I am certain Liberty will await me, sitting under a pine. When I call her she will come to my loghouse, and she shall fill my arms.'
 
"She could not hear me speak so unmoved, and she was moved. It was right—I meant to move her. She could not answer me, nor could she look at me. I should have been sorry if she could have done either. Her cheek glowed as if a flower through whose the sun shone had cast its light upon it. On the white lid and dark of her downcast eye trembled all that is in the sense of half-painful, half-pleasing shame.
 
"Soon she controlled her emotion, and took all her feelings under command. I saw she had felt insurrection, and was waking to empire. She sat down. There was that in her face which I could read. It said, I see the line which is my limit; nothing shall make me pass it. I feel—I know how far I may reveal my feelings, and when I must clasp the volume. I have advanced to a certain distance, as far as the true and sovereign and undegraded nature of my kind permits; now here I stand rooted. My heart may break if it is baffled; let it break. It shall never me; it shall never dishonour my sisterhood in me. Suffering before ! death before treachery!
 
"I, for my part, said, 'If she were poor, I would be at her feet; if she were lowly, I would take her in my arms. Her gold and her station are two griffins that guard her on each side. Love looks and longs, and dares not; Passion round, and is kept at bay; Truth and Devotion are scared. There is nothing to lose in winning her, no sacrifice to make. It is all clear gain, and therefore unimaginably difficult.'
 
"Difficult or not, something must be done, something must be said. I could not, and would not, sit silent with all that beauty modestly mute in my presence. I spoke thus, and still I spoke with calm. Quiet as my words were, I could hear they fell in a tone distinct, round, and deep.
 
"'Still, I know I shall be strangely placed with that mountain nymph Liberty. She is, I suspect, to that Solitude which I once wooed, and from which I now seek540 a divorce. These Oreads are . They come upon you with an unearthly charm, like some starlight evening; they inspire a wild but not warm delight; their beauty is the beauty of spirits; their grace is not the grace of life, but of seasons or scenes in nature. Theirs is the dewy bloom of morning, the languid flush of evening, the peace of the moon, the changefulness of clouds. I want and will have something different. This elfish splendour looks chill to my vision, and feels frozen to my touch. I am not a poet; I cannot live with abstractions. You, Miss Keeldar, have sometimes, in your laughing , called me a material philosopher, and implied that I live for the substantial. Certainly I feel material from head to foot; and glorious as Nature is, and deeply as I worship her with the solid powers of a solid heart, I would rather her through the soft human eyes of a loved and lovely wife than through the wild of the highest goddess of Olympus.'
 
"'Juno could not cook a buffalo steak as you like it,' said she.
 
"'She could not; but I will tell you who could—some young, penniless, friendless girl. I wish I could find such a one—pretty enough for me to love, with something of the mind and heart suited to my taste; not uneducated—honest and modest. I care nothing for , but I would fain have the germ of those sweet natural powers which nothing acquired can rival; any temper Fate wills—I can manage the hottest. To such a creature as this I should like to be first tutor and then husband. I would teach her my language, my habits and my principles, and then I would reward her with my love.'
 
"'Reward her, lord of the creation—reward her!'" ejaculated she, with a curled lip.
 
"'And be repaid a thousandfold.'
 
"'If she willed it, monseigneur.'
 
"'And she should will it.'
 
"'You have for any temper Fate wills. Compulsion is flint and a blow to the metal of some souls.'
 
"'And love the spark it .'
 
"'Who cares for the love that is but a spark—seen, flown upward, and gone?'
 
"'I must find my orphan girl. Tell me how, Miss Keeldar.'
 
"'Advertise; and be sure you add, when you describe the qualifications, she must be a good plain cook.'
 
541"'I must find her; and when I do find her I shall marry her.'
 
"'Not you!' and her voice took a sudden accent of peculiar scorn.
 
"I liked this. I had roused her from the mood in which I had first found her. I would stir her further.
 
"'Why doubt it?'
 
"'You marry!'
 
"'Yes, of course; nothing more evident than that I can and shall.'
 
"'The contrary is evident, Mr. Moore.'
 
"She charmed me in this mood—waxing disdainful, half insulting; pride, temper, derision, blent in her large fine eye, that had just now the look of a merlin's.
 
"'Favour me with your reasons for such an opinion, Miss Keeldar.'
 
"'How will you manage to marry, I wonder?'
 
"'I shall manage it with ease and speed when I find the proper person.'
 
"'Accept !' (and she made a gesture with her hand as if she gave me something) 'take it as your !'
 
"'No; you cannot give what I already have. Celibacy has been mine for thirty years. If you wish to offer me a gift, a parting present, a keepsake, you must change the .'
 
"'Take worse, then!'
 
"'How—what?'
 
"I now felt, and looked, and spoke eagerly. I was unwise to quit my sheet-anchor of calm even for an instant; it deprived me of an advantage and transferred it to her. The little spark of temper dissolved in , and over her in the of a mocking smile.
 
"'Take a wife that has paid you court to save your , and thrust herself upon you to spare your .'
 
"'Only show me where.'
 
"'Any widow that has had a few husbands already, and can manage these things.'
 
"'She must not be rich, then. Oh these riches!'
 
"'Never would you have gathered the produce of the gold-bearing garden. You have not courage to confront the dragon; you have not craft to borrow the aid of .'
 
"'You look hot and .'
 
542"'And you far . Yours is the pride which .'
 
"'I am a ; I know my place.'
 
"'I am a woman; I know mine.'
 
"'I am poor; I must be proud.'
 
"'I have received , and own obligations as yours.'
 
"We had reached a critical point now, and we halted and looked at each other. She would not give in, I felt. Beyond this I neither felt nor saw. A few moments yet were mine. The end was coming—I heard its rush—but not come. I would , wait, talk, and when impulse urged I would act. I am never in a hurry; I never was in a hurry in my whole life. Hasty people drink the nectar of existence scalding hot; I taste it cool as dew. I proceeded: ', Miss Keeldar, you are as little likely to marry as myself. I know you have refused three—nay, four—advantageous offers, and, I believe, a fifth. Have you rejected Sir Philip Nunnely?'
 
"I put this question suddenly and promptly.
 
"'Did you think I should take him?'
 
"'I thought you might.'
 
"'On what grounds, may I ask?'
 
"' of rank, age, pleasing contrast of temper—for he is mild and —harmony of intellectual tastes.'
 
"'A beautiful sentence! Let us take it to pieces. "Conformity of rank." He is quite above me. Compare my grange with his palace, if you please. I am by his kith and . "Suitability of age." We were born in the same year; consequently he is still a boy, while I am a woman—ten years his senior to all intents and purposes. "Contrast of temper." Mild and amiable, is he; I—what? Tell me.'
 
"'Sister of the , bright, quick, .'
 
"'And you would mate me with a kid—the being yet millions of centuries from mankind; being yet, indeed, an archangel high in the seventh heaven, uncommissioned to ? Unjust ! "Harmony of intellectual tastes." He is fond of poetry, and I hate it——'
 
"'Do you? That is news.'
 
"'I absolutely at the sight of metre or at the sound of rhyme whenever I am at the priory or Sir Philip543 at Fieldhead. Harmony, indeed! When did I whip up syllabub or string fragile as fragments of glass? and when did I betray a belief that those penny-beads were genuine brilliants?'
 
"'You might have the satisfaction of leading him to a higher standard, of improving his tastes.'
 
"'Leading and improving! teaching and tutoring! bearing and forbearing! Pah! my husband is not to be my baby. I am not to set him his daily lesson and see that he learns it, and give him a sugar-plum if he is good, and a patient, pensive, pathetic lecture if he is bad. But it is like a tutor to talk of the "satisfaction of teaching." I suppose you think it the finest employment in the world. I don't. I reject it. Improving a husband! No. I shall insist upon my husband improving me, or else we part.'
 
"'God knows it is needed!'
 
"'What do you mean by that, Mr. Moore?'
 
"'What I say. Improvement is needed.'
 
"'If you were a woman you would school monsieur, votre mari, charmingly. It would just suit you; is your .'
 
"'May I ask whether, in your present just and gentle mood, you mean to me with being a tutor?'
 
"'Yes, bitterly; and with anything else you please—any defect of which you are painfully conscious.'
 
"'With being poor, for instance?'
 
"'Of course; that will sting you. You are sore about your poverty; you brood over that.'
 
"'With having nothing but a very plain person to offer the woman who may master my heart?'
 
"'Exactly. You have a habit of calling yourself plain. You are sensitive about the cut of your features because they are not quite on an Apollo pattern. You them more than is needful, in the faint hope that others may say a word in their behalf—which won't happen. Your face is nothing to boast of, certainly—not a pretty line nor a pretty to be found therein.'
 
"'Compare it with your own.'
 
"'It looks like a god of Egypt—a great sand-buried stone head; or rather I will compare it to nothing so lofty. It looks like Tartar. You are my mastiff's cousin. I think you as much like him as a man can be like a dog.'
 
"'Tartar is your dear companion. In summer, when544 you rise early, and run out into the fields to wet your feet with the dew, and freshen your cheek and uncurl your hair with the breeze, you always call him to follow you. You call him sometimes with a whistle that you learned from me. In the solitude of your wood, when you think nobody but Tartar is listening, you whistle the very you imitated from my lips, or sing the very songs you have caught up by ear from my voice. I do ............