He had to listen to a good deal of wonderment about the length of his
absence, and was fain to confess to an accidental encounter with Captain
Sedgewick, which had necessitated his going into the cottage.
"Why, what could have taken you that way, Gilbert?"
"A truant fancy, I suppose, my dear. It is as good a way as any other."
Mrs. Lister sighed, and shook her head doubtfully. "What fools you men
are," she said, "about a pretty face!" "Including Martin, Belle, when he
fell in love with your fair self?"
"Martin did not stare me out of countenance in church, sir. But you have
almost kept us waiting for prayers."
The servants came filing in. Martin Lister woke with a start, and Gilbert
Fenton knelt down among his sister's household to make his evening
orisons. But his thoughts were not easily to be fixed that night. They
wandered very wide of that simple family prayer, and made themselves into
a vision of the future, in which he saw his life changed and brightened
by the companionship of a fair young wife.
CHAPTER II.
MARIAN'S STORY.
The days passed, and there was no more dulness or emptiness for Gilbert
Fenton in his life at Lidford. He went every day to the white-walled
cottage on the green. It was easy enough to find some fresh excuse for
each visit--a book or a piece of music which he had recommended to Miss
Nowell, and had procured from London for her, or something of an equally
frivolous character.
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