"Well--I hope he will: but still that lies in the future. Your mother, I feel sure, would not like to see you hamper yourself with a wife until you are quite justified in doing it. And then, on my side--how can I marry? It is scarcely possible for me to leave papa. And all the parish duties that I have made mine; the visiting and the schools----" Maria broke down with a sob.
"That young fop, Plympton, ought to take these duties," returned Philip, with a touch of petulance. "What's he good for? Garden-parties, and croquet, and flirting with the ladies. That's what he thinks of, rather than of looking after the poor wretches who live and die in the back lanes and alleys of the town."
"He is young," said Maria, gently. "Wisdom will come with years."
"One would think that you were _old_, to hear you talk, Maria."
"I think I am; old in experience. And so, Philip," sighed Maria, returning to the point, "let it be understood that there shall be no actual engagement between us. I shall be the same to you that I have been; the same always; and when things look brighter for you and for me----"
His ill-humour had passed away like mist in the sunshine, and he sealed the bargain with a kiss.
"Be assured of one thing, my darling," he whispered: "we shall not have to wait long if it depends on me. I will spare no pains, no exertion to get on, to offer you a home that all the world might approve, and to be in every respect what you would have me be."
Maria told him then of the probability that she should have to go to Leamington for an indefinite period, should have to depart in the course of a very few days. Philip did not receive the news graciously, and relieved his mind by calling Mrs. Page selfish.
"I can't stay longer," he said, getting up. "That precious office claims me; old Best does not know I am back yet.----Here's a visitor for you in my stead, Maria," he broke off, as they heard some one being admitted.
It was Captain Lennox: who was calling to inquire about the health of the Vicar and Maria after the previous evening's dissipation. Philip was going, and they all three stood together in the drawing-room for a minute or two.