'That's right. I could not bear giving up what you seemed to fancy. but we will visit them when we want a mouthful of air, and Annette and Octavia shall come and stay with us. I should like to show Octavia a little of the world.'

'Then, we shall go on as we are?'

'Yes; spend as little as may be, and pay off so much a year. If we keep no horses, that is so much clear gain.'

'That seems the best way; but I almost fear your being well without riding.'

'No fear of that! I don't want to go out, and you never do. We will take our long walks, and, as Percy says, I will read and be rational. I mean to begin Johnnie's Latin as soon as we are settled in. Why, I quite look forward to it.'

'How delighted Johnnie will be!'

'We shall do famously!' repeated Arthur. 'Nothing like home, after all.'

Violet did not think he quite knew what he undertook, and her heart sank at the idea of a London winter, with his health and spirits failing for want of his usual resources. He imagined himself perfectly recovered; but when he went the next day to show himself to the doctor, the stethoscope revealed that the damage was not so entirely removed but that the greatest care would be necessary for some time to come. It sat lightly on him; his spirits depended on his sensations, and he had no fears but that a few months would remove all danger; and Violet would say no word of misgiving. She would have felt that to remonstrate would have been to draw him back, after his first step in the path of resolute self-denial.