I. THE CONFESSIONAL

"WAITY, I know what it is; you have found out about me! Who has been
wicked enough to tell you before I could do so--tell me, who?"

"Oh, Patty, Patty!" cried Waitstill, who could no longer hold back her
tears. "How could you deceive me so? How could you shut me out of your
heart and keep a secret like this from me, who have tried to be mother
and sister in one to you ever since the day you were born? God has sent
me much to bear, but nothing so bitter as this--to have my sister take
the greatest step of her life without my knowledge or counsel!"

"Stop, dear, stop, and let me tell you!"

"All is told, and not by you as it should have been. We've never had
anything separate from each other in all our lives, and when I looked in
your bureau drawer for a bit of soft cotton--it was nothing more than
I have done a hundred times--you can guess now what I stumbled upon;
a wedding-ring for a hand I have held ever since it was a baby's. My
sister has a husband, and I am not even sure of his name!

"Waity, Waity, don't take it so to heart!" and Patty flung herself on
her knees beside Waitstill's chair. "Not till you hear everything! When
I tell you all, you will dry your eyes and smile and be happy about me,
and you will know that in the whole world there is no one else in my
love or my life but you and my--my husband."

"Who is the husband?" asked Waitstill dryly, as she wiped her eyes and
leaned her elbow on the table.

"Who could it be but Mark? Has there ever been any one but Mark?"

"I should have said that there were several, in these past few months."

Waitstill's tone showed clearly that she was still grieved and hurt
beyond her power to conceal. "I have never thought of marrying any one
but Mark, and not even of marrying him till a little while ago," said
Patty. "Now do not draw away from me and look out of the window as if we
were not sisters, or you will break my heart. Turn your eyes to mine and
believe in me, Waity, while I tell you everything, as I have so longed
to do all these nights and days. Mark and I have loved each other for
a long, long time. It was only play at first, but we were young and
foolish and did not understand what was really happening between us."

"You are both of you only a few months older than when you were 'young
and foolish,'" objected Waitstill.

"Yes, we are--years and years! Five weeks ago I promised Mark that I
would marry him; but how was I ever to keep