itely refused to hear the story of the little house.

"I'd rather just forget it, honey!" he said.

But inconsistently he knew she did not forget it, and it angered him.
True to his insistence on ignoring those months of her absence, she made
no attempt to tell him. Now and then, however, closed in the library
together, they would fail of things to talk about, and Sara Lee's
knitting needles would be the only sound in the room. At those times he
would sit back in his chair and watch the far-away look in her eyes, and
it maddened him.

From her busy life Belle studied them both, with an understanding she
did not reveal. And one morning when the mail came she saw Sara Lee's
face as she turned away, finding there was no letter for her, and made
an excuse to follow her to her room.

The girl was standing by the window looking out. The children were
playing below, and the maple trees were silent. Belle joined her there
and slipped an arm round her.

"Why are you doing it, Sara Lee?" she asked.

"Doing what?"

"Marrying Harvey."

Sara Lee looked at her with startled eyes.

"I'm engaged to him, Belle. I've promised."

"Exactly," said Belle dryly. "But that's hardly a good reason, is it?
It takes more than a promise." She stared down at the flock of children
in the yard below. "Harvey's a man," she said. "He doesn't understand,
but I do. You've got to care a whole lot, Sara Lee, if you're going to
go through with it. It takes a lot of love, when it comes to having
children and all that."

"He's so good, Belle. How can I hurt him?"

"You'll hurt him a lot more by marrying him when you don't love him."

"If only I could have a little time," she cried wildly. "I'm so--I'm
tired, Belle. And I can't forget about the war and all that. I've
tried. Sometimes I think if we could talk it over together I'd get it
out of my mind."

"He won't talk about it?"

"He's my own brother, and I love him dearly. But sometimes I think he's
hard. Not that he's ever ugly," she hastened to add; "but he's stubborn.
There's a sort of wall in him, and he puts some things behind it. And
it's like beating against a rock to try to get at them."

After a little silence she said hesitatingly:

"We've got him to think of too. He has a right to be happy. Sometimes
I've looked at you--you're so pretty, Sara Lee--and I've wondered if
there wasn't some one over there who--cared for you."

"There was one man, an officer--Oh, Belle, I can't tell