CHAPTER LXII.

LAURA'S SATURDAYS.

PERRY felt as brave as a lion till he found himself in Dr Norman's library, awaiting Dr Norman. Then the sort of disagreeable suspense with which we await the dentist who is to draw out a tooth took possession of him; and, as he described to Mrs Cornford, not a nerve in his body but turned traitor to him in his hour of need; and he thought nobody had ever quaked so thoroughly-except the devil when St Dunstan held him by the nose!

Dr Norman greeted his visitor with the utmost blandness, adding" You would not have been admitted, except that it is just lunch-time, as I am always busy till half-past one o'clock. Will you take a tête-à-tête lunch with me? My little girls are spending the day at Hampstead."

"Thank you--I am unable to stay to-day," poor Perry stammered forth; "I have an engagement."

"I suppose, like all artists, you are glad to utilise what little daylight we get at this season?" Dr Norman said, for he noticed the young man's embarrassment, and wanted to set him at ease.

"Yes," Perry answered, gathering courage; "my last picture being well thought of, I want to make hay while the sun shines, as the saying goes. I trust you have no prejudice against men of my craft, sir?"

"On the contrary," Dr Norman said, "I am proud to number artists among my acquaintances the rising men as well as the veterans."

Perry grew bolder and bolder.

"I am delighted to hear you say so, especially as I have come to ask a great favour of you," he said, twirling his hat in his fingers-it was borrowed for the occasion-rather nervously. "I dare say you will be surprised to hear that I have conceived a sincere attachment for your daughter, Miss Laura." (If that is not a proper and polite way of putting it, thought Perry, nothing is !)

Dr Norman did not look, as young novelists say, as if a thunderbolt had dropped at his feet; but he certainly looked amused and amazed-amused at the idea of his little Laura having a lover, and amazed at Mr Perugino, of unwashed memory, being that lover. Smiling, not unkindly, but with an underlying current of mixed humour and vexation, he said— "My dear sir, Laura is a child."

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"She is nineteen, sir," Perry said, with great gravity; " and I am twenty-five. One can hardly begin a happy life too early." True, true," Dr Norman answered; "but what do you two know of each other? It seems to me that the question is mooted somewhat prematurely."

"I had the happiness of seeing a good deal of Miss Laura in Paris," Perry answered, still on his best behaviour; "and I think we understand each other pretty well. But of course I could not speak of my wishes to her till I had heard how favourably you might be disposed towards me."

"You have acted like a man of honour," Dr Norman said, shaking the young man by the hand. "My poor little girl is motherless, and has no advisers but myself-more's the pity." Then tears filled Dr Norman's eyes, and he walked up and down the room in great perplexity.

He did not know in the least what to say to this new friend of Laura's, this ardent young wooer, this promising aspirant in the field of art. Certainly, he should not have chosen a poor young artist as the husband of his child; but in matters of love and marriage, who can choose for another? Dr Norman had never entertained the thought of his little girls making, to use a common phrase, "a good match;" neither had he any such ambition for his boys. What he prized in women was grace, sweetness, beauty, wisdom. What he prized in men was high purpose, integrity, eloquence, manliness. Gifts and graces were the criteria by which he appraised his fellows; wanting these, and possessing abundance of other things, they were poor in his eyes.

He knew little enough of Perry, except that he was a genius; that he possessed a sweet, affectionate, winning nature, one could read at first sight; but even coupled with genius, was

this enough? Had Perry the stuff in him to get free from his early connections, to embrace a hard-working and domestic life, to avoid the moral shoals and quicksands to which a young man of genius is exposed; to be such a friend, lover, and protector as Laura needed?

On the other hand, if he and Laura loved each other truly, had he the right to forbid their intercourse? Was not Perry fairly entitled to a fair trial at his hands? Many a less worthy man than he had been shipwrecked in early life by the want of a little timely trust and kindness. Many a less promising youth had been nipped in the bud by the contempt of those whose favour was as sunshine. All these considerations passed through Dr Norman's mind in the space of a minute or two; Perry sitting by, fidgeting, changing colour, suffering from a suspense that was half real, half serio-comic.

"Could I only have bolted then," he told Polly, never again would froggy have gone a-wooing in the space of his mortal career."

Dr Norman sat down.

"I really don't know what to say to your proposition, so greatly has it taken me by surprise," he said. "I have no right that I know of to give you a point-blank refusal; at the same time, I feel hardly justified in giving my immediate consent. May I ask a question which, under the circumstances, is hardly indelicate?"

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Certainly," poor Perry said, colouring to the brow. He expected some allusion to Kitty.

"Have you sufficient means to support a wife-whose sole portion would be a modest allowance out of my own income?" "I have only what I earn, sir," answered Perry, with great dignity.

"I should be sorry to see my child married to a man who despised work or workers," Dr Norman said, "but do you earn enough and to spare for your own wants. A man who marries a comparatively portionless girl should first ask himself that question."

"I have no doubt that I could do so-had I any sufficient motive," Perry said. "A fellow loses courage when it concerns nobody else whether he works well or ill."

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True," Dr Norman said, very seriously; and for some minutes he was again silent. Then he hesitatingly asked Perry another question. "Could you withdraw yourself from the companions and associations among which Laura found herself in Paris when under Mrs Cornford's roof? I have nothing whatever to say against them or Mrs Cornford, whom I esteem from the bottom of my heart-except that it is not the kind of society I should select for my child."

"I would do anything in the world you like," poor Perry said, dying to end the interview.

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'Well," Dr Norman answered, in a more cheerful tone, "you shall be at liberty to come to my house, and renew your acquaintance with Laura. Can I say more than this?" "Oh no," Perry said. "Indeed you couldn't possibly say more, and you're a "- he was going to say-a brick-but checked himself in time, and added—“ and you're a kind friend to me, sir, indeed!"

Perry started

Dr Norman rose and gave Perry his hand. up like one electrified, so pleased was he at the prospect of a dismissal, and the two shook hands cordially.

"Laura and I receive our friends on Saturday evenings, from eight o'clock till eleven," Dr Norman said. "On these occasions you will always be welcome. I need hardly ask of you a complete reticence on the subject of your wishes for the present."

"I will be as circumspect as possible," Perry said; and after a word or two more, he contrived to get away.

"I hope I have not been rash," was Dr Norman's soliloquy, as soon as he found himself alone. "The young man seems modest and sincere, and is undoubtedly gifted in a surpassing degree. Why should he not do well? And I could hardly forbid him my house when he is made welcome at the houses of my intimate friends."

"I'm in for it," Perry cried, throwing himself at full length on Mrs Cornford's little sofa. "I'm in for being respectable all the rest of my life! Laura is an angel, and I look upon myself as the happiest fellow under the sun; but O Polly, my good soul, give me a drink of water, for the African fever was not half so bad to encounter as Dr Norman !"

But Perry determined to persevere. Every Saturday, after an hour's toilette, he emerged, curled, perfumed, and trim as Odysseus from the transforming wand of Athene. At a quarter-past eight precisely he entered Laura's little drawingroom, hat in hand, gloved, and looking as much as possible. like a Parisian dandy in a drawing-room comedy at the Variétés. Dr Norman had simply said to Laura, on the first Saturday after Perry's interview with him

"Laura, perhaps Mr Perugino Neeve may call this evening. If so, let us have a little music."

And Laura had coloured to the brow, and her sweet, shy eyes had looked so exultant at the news, that Dr Norman saw at a glance how matters stood with his little girl's heart.

That first evening, Laura put on a blue dress, bright as a bit of April sky, and bound her fair hair with a little gold fillet; and what with this enchanting dress, and the pea-blossom hue of her cheeks, and the grateful look of happiness filling her sweet eyes, she looked as dainty a little damsel as ever delighted a lover's sight.

ness.

Hitherto, these Saturdays had been somewhat a heavy undertaking to the poor child, who was at present only beginning to know her father's guests. But Perry's appearance altered the entire aspect of things. The weeks were all golden now, because each contained a Saturday, and Saturday was happiPerry behaved in a manner wholly irreproachable, and he confessed to Polly Cornford that he marvelled at himself. He behaved to Laura so circumspectly as to inspire Dr Norman with confidence. He uttered no inadmissible slang. His appearance was irreproachable. He played superbly to amuse the company, and his hands had evidently been washed within recent memory.

It must be confessed that, up to this period, Perry's conversion was wholly that of the inner man. At home, he worked as fitfully, and smoked as persistently as ever; sat up till past midnight playing dominoes and drinking beer with Crosbie Carrington and other friends, or playing billiards at the "Fulham Arms;” descended to his studio at mid-day, unwashed, unkempt, and in his shirt-sleeves, to paint for an hour or two,