"Not at all," replied Horatia petulantly, half laughing. "I have not said this to Papa, because it might make him conceited; but I will tell _you_ that I am delighted to be home again." And she added, still more confidentially, "Tristram, the newly-married bore me extremely! I shall not visit Emilia Strangeways again for seven years at least."
Tristram Hungerford laughed. "All the better for us! It is dull enough without you."
"O, what stories!" exclaimed Horatia. "You have not been dull. You have had Mr. Dormer with you!" There was mockery in her eyes. "I know all about it. Tell me the truth now! How long did he stay?"
"A week, Horatia, only a week, and since then it has been duller than ever."
"That I can believe," retorted Miss Grenville; "but it has been dull because Mr. Dormer has left you, and not because I have been away. You have no one now to exult with over the increasing circulation of the _Christian Year_, and no one to melt you with the sufferings of the Non-Jurors--which _I_ think they brought on themselves. However, I must not jest about Mr. Dormer, I know; he is sacrosanct. Tell me any news. Tell me something interesting."
The life, the vitality that responded to hers, dropped suddenly out of Tristram Hungerford's face.
"I have got some news," he said hesitatingly, "but I am not sure that you will find it interesting. I have made up my mind at last, quite definitely, to take Orders--that is, if the Bishop will have me."
And at that Miss Grenville's face changed too, and after a moment's pause she said, very seriously, "Why?"
"Because," returned the young man almost guiltily, "I think that I may be able to serve the Church better that way, and the time is coming when we shall have to fight for her."
Horatia did not try to conceal her feelings. "I thought you were getting views of that sort," she said gloomily; "and I was afraid that it would end in your taking Orders--in fact, I said so to Papa the other day. Of course, in my opinion you are made for it; but I wish that you were not." She sighed, and added inconsequently, "It must make a difference."
Tristram flushed and leant forward. "But, Horatia, what do you mean? I shall never be any different--I never could be so to you!" The feeling in his voice was almost ardour--and it was not the ardour of a friend. Whether Miss Grenville were fully aware of this or no she pursued her own thoughts aloud.