WYLDER'S HAjXD.
321
— yours and mine — and we'll forget it; and I could not
bear to lose your friendship — you'll be my friend still —
won't you. Good-bye."
"God bless you, Rachel!" And he hurriedly kissed
the hand she had placed in his, and without a word more,
or looking back, he walked swiftly down the wooded road,
towards Gylingden.
So then, it had come and gone — gone for ever.
"Margery, bring the basket in; I think a shower ia
coming."
And she picked up her trowel and other implements,
and placed them in the porch, and glanced up towards the
clouds, as if she saw them, and had nothing to think of
but her gardening and the weather, and as if her heart
was not breaking.
CHAPTER LII.
THE VICAR'S COMPLICATIONS, WHICH LIVELY PEOPLE HAD
BETTER NOT READ.
William Wylder's reversion was very tempting. But
Lawyer Larkin knew the value of the precious metals,
and waited for more data. The more he thought over his
foreign correspondence, and his interview with Lake, the
'more steadily returned upon his mind the old conviction
that the gallant Captain was deep in the secret, whatever
it might be.
Whatever his motive — and he always had a distinct
motive, though sometimes not easily discoverable — he
was a good deal addicted now to commenting, in his confi-
14*