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These thoughts so engaged her that she fell into a gait hardly likely to carry her to church before the serardens to the wood-path beyond, so far forgot her intention as to sink into a rustic seat at a bend of the walk The spot was char, and Lily was not insensible to the charm, or to the fact that her presence enhanced it; but she was not accustomed to taste the joys of solitude except in coirl and a roood to be wasted No one, however, appeared to profit by the opportunity; and after a half hour of fruitless waiting she rose and wandered on She felt a stealing sense of fatigue as she walked; the sparkle had died out of her, and the taste of life was stale on her lips She hardly knehat she had been seeking, or why the failure to find it had so blotted the light froue sense of failure, of an inner isolation deeper than the loneliness about her

Her footsteps flagged, and she stood gazing listlessly ahead, digging the ferny edge of the path with the tip of her sunshade As she did so a step sounded behind her, and she saw Selden at her side

"How fast you walk!" he reht I should never catch up with you"

She answered gaily: "Youunder that tree for an hour"

"Waiting for h: "Well--waiting to see if you would come"

"I seize the distinction, but I don'tthe other But weren't you sure that I should coh--but you see I had only a liive to the experiment"

"Why lieo to church with Muriel and Hilda?"

"No; but to coht have known you were fully provided with alternatives And is the other person coain "That's just what I don't know; and to find out, it is et to church before the service is over"

"Exactly; and it isso; in which case the other person, piqued by your absence, will for back in the omnibus"