There was in her eyes, however, an unquiet sadness; she had abstracted moments when her mind seemed fixed on some vexing problem.

Such a mood suddenly came upon her now.

The pen lay by the paper untouched, her hands folded in her lap, and a long silence fell upon them, broken only by the twanging of the strips of cane in Soolsby's hands.

At last, however, even this sound ceased; and the two scarce moved as the sun drew towards the middle afternoon.

At last they were roused by the sound of a horn, and, looking down, they saw a four-in-hand drawing smartly down the road to the village over the gorse-spread common, till it stopped at the Cloistered House.