to guess how it chanced that you never mentioned it to me.«
    »Why should it puzzle you?«
    »It seems odd. I cannot account for it. You talk a great deal, - you talk
freely. How was that circumstance never touched on?«
    »Because it never was,« and Shirley laughed.
    »You are a singular being!« observed her friend: »I thought I knew you quite
well: I begin to find myself mistaken. You were silent as the grave about Mrs.
Pryor; and now, again, here is another secret. But why you made it a secret is
the mystery to me.«
    »I never made it a secret: I had no reason for so doing. If you had asked me
who Henry's tutor was, I would have told you: besides, I thought you knew.«
    »I am puzzled about more things than one in this matter: you don't like poor
Louis, - why? Are you impatient at what you perhaps consider his servile
position? Do you wish that Robert's brother were more highly placed?«
    »Robert's brother, indeed!« was the exclamation, uttered in a tone like the
accents of scorn; and, with a movement of proud impatience, Shirley snatched a
rose from a branch peeping through the open lattice.
    »Yes,« repeated Caroline, with mild firmness; »Robert's brother. He is thus
closely related to Gérard Moore of the Hollow, though nature has not given him
features so handsome, or an air so noble as his kinsman; but his blood is as
good, and he is as much a gentleman, were he free.«
    »Wise, humble, pious Caroline!« exclaimed Shirley, ironically. »Men and
angels, hear her! We should not despise plain features, nor a laborious yet
honest occupation, should we? Look at the subject of your panegyric, - he is
there in the garden,« she continued, pointing through an aperture in the
clustering creepers; and by that aperture Louis Moore was visible, coming slowly
down the walk.
    »He is not ugly, Shirley,« pleaded Caroline; »he is not ignoble; he is sad:
silence seals his mind; but I believe him to be intelligent; and be certain, if
he had not something very commendable in his disposition, Mr. Hall would never
seek his society as he does.«
    Shirley laughed: she laughed again; each time with a slightly sarcastic
sound. »Well, well,« was