"Not to-day, but to-morrow I shall fetch you to spend the evening with me. Caroline Helstone, if you really are what at present to me you seem, you and I will suit. I have never in my whole life been able to talk to a young lady as I have talked to you this morning. Kiss me--and good-bye."
* * * * *
Mrs. Pryor seemed as well disposed to cultivate Caroline's acquaintance as Shirley. She, who went nowhere else, called on an early day at the rectory. She came in the afternoon, when the rector happened to be out. It was rather a close day; the heat of the weather had flushed her, and she seemed fluttered too by the circumstance of entering a strange house, for it appeared her habits were most retiring and secluded. When Miss Helstone went to her in the dining-room she found her seated on the sofa, trembling, fanning herself with her handkerchief, and seeming to contend with a nervous discomposure that threatened to become hysterical.

"Not today, but tomorrow I shall fetch you to spend the evening with me. Caroline Helstone, if you really are what at present you seem, you and I will suit. I have never in my whole life been able to talk to a young lady as I have talked to you this morning. Kiss me - and good-bye."
Mrs. Pryor seemed as friendly as Shirley. She, who went nowhere else, called at the rectory one afternoon, when the rector happened to be out. It was rather a close day; the heat had flushed her, and she seemed flustered too at entering a strange house. She sat on the sofa, trembling, and fanning herself with her handkerchief with nervous discomposure.
