'Then you are not anxious, at all events?'

'Yes, I am anxious,' I replied, 'for I do not understand his silence.
He must be ill, or something must have happened to him; but other
people do not think so, and their insinuations and remarks about it are
almost more than I can bear.'

Miss Rayner was silent. I added impulsively, 'I had more than once
thought of writing to you, and asking you to have me for a little. I
felt it would be such a relief to get away from all the talk. This was
before I knew you were ill, of course.'

'And why did you not?'

'I thought it would be rather selfish of me. Now Constance is married,
Nelly seems to cling more to me, and there is my work in the village.
It is rather cowardly to run away from one's duties if the way is not
smooth, don't you think so?'

Miss Rayner did not answer, only said with a sigh a moment after, 'I
hope he will not disappoint you.'

CHAPTER XVII

DAWN

'The night is mother of the day,
The winter of the spring.'

Mrs. Forsyth came to see her sister directly she returned from town,
and was vexed that she had not been sent for before. She was quite
willing that I should remain where I was, and so after she had returned
home again I had some quiet, restful weeks during Miss Rayner's
convalescence. I call them restful, but though I had the sense of
peace and rest deep down in my heart, I am afraid on the surface I was
restless and ill at ease. Every post awakened fresh expectation and
hope, only to be followed by the depression of disappointment. I
prayed much to be given a quiet mind, and I do think, to some extent,
my prayer was answered. And I had the intense joy of seeing Miss
Rayner's whole life change, her interests and thoughts now centred on
things above. She did not say much, but her Bible was now her constant
companion, and I felt by her conversation how real and deep the change
was in her.

It was one evening in the beginning of July that we were sitting out in
a low verandah that ran along one side of the house. The sun was
setting in front of us, and a glorious sunset it was; the sky was
illuminated with rosy light from the deepest crimson to the most
delicate pink, and the fleecy clouds that passed by seemed bathed in
its golden splendour.

'It always makes me think of heaven's gates,' I was saying to Miss
Rayner; but before she had time to reply we were startled by the sudden
appearance of Hugh.

In a moment I was