 eddying in the chalk-pit as the breeze ruffled it; the
smoking team with the waggon of old hay, stopping to breathe on the hill-top,
and shaking their bells musically; the whitened slopes and sweeps of Down-land
lying against the dark sky, as if they were drawn on a huge slate!
    I found Agnes alone. The little girls had gone to their own homes now, and
she was alone by the fire, reading. She put down her book on seeing me come in;
and having welcomed me as usual, took her work-basket and sat in one of the
old-fashioned windows.
    I sat beside her on the window-seat, and we talked of what I was doing, and
when it would be done, and of the progress I had made since my last visit. Agnes
was very cheerful; and laughingly predicted that I should soon become too famous
to be talked to, on such subjects.
    »So I make the most of the present time, you see,« said Agnes, »and talk to
you while I may.«
    As I looked at her beautiful face, observant of her work, she raised her
mild clear eyes, and saw that I was looking at her.
    »You are thoughtful to-day, Trotwood!«
    »Agnes, shall I tell you what about? I came to tell you.«
    She put aside her work, as she was used to do when we were seriously
discussing anything; and gave me her whole attention.
    »My dear Agnes, do you doubt my being true to you?«
    »No!« she answered, with a look of astonishment.
    »Do you doubt my being what I always have been to you?«
    »No!« she answered, as before.
    »Do you remember that I tried to tell you, when I came home, what a debt of
gratitude I owed you, dearest Agnes, and how fervently I felt towards you?«
    »I remember it,« she said, gently, »very well.«
    »You have a secret,« said I. »Let me share it, Agnes.«
    She cast down her eyes, and trembled.
    »I could hardly fail to know, even if I had not heard - but from other lips
than yours, Agnes, which seems strange - that there is some one upon whom you
have bestowed the treasure of your love. Do not shut me out of what concerns
your happiness so nearly! If you can trust me as you say you can, and as I
