nd he was not surprised that Dinah noticed it at
last.

"You are tired, Betty dear," she said kindly; "I am quite sure that Mr.
Herrick will excuse you;" and Elizabeth availed herself at once of this
permission to withdraw.

"She is not at her ease," Malcolm thought bitterly. "She seems afraid
of me somehow; she will not meet my eyes, and she has scarcely spoken a
dozen words to me." And he sighed, for it seemed the saddest thing to
him that she should suffer, and that he should be powerless to help
her; and in his fanciful way he said to himself, "We are like two
travellers walking along stony paths with a high wall between us, so
that no helping hand can be stretched out, and no voices of comfort can
be heard." And then he added, "I dare not even tell her that I am sorry
for her, and for him too."

Malcolm was alone when he paid his visit to the White Cottage. There
was no doubt that the change in David Carlyon shocked him greatly,
though he strove to hide this from the invalid.

David welcomed him with his old cordiality; but Malcolm, who was
exceedingly nervous, could only stammer out a few commonplaces.

The bright, eager young face that Elizabeth so loved was shrunken and
wasted, the lips seemed drawn from the teeth, and yet at times the old
cheery smile played round them; but the voice was weak and toneless,
and every now and then the hard, dry cough seemed to rack him cruelly.

"If you knew how sorry I am to see you like this," observed Malcolm
kindly.

"Well, I am rather a poor specimen just now," returned David with a
feeble laugh; "but what can't be cured must be endured--eh, Herrick? I
told Elizabeth" (here a shade came over Malcolm's face) "that I should
like to shake hands with you. When a fellow is going a long
journey"--and here David's hollow eyes grew a little sad and
wistful--"it seems natural to bid one's friends good-bye. We did not
know each other much, Herrick, but I always wanted to see more of you."

"You are very good to say so"--but if his life had depended on it
Malcolm could not have brought himself to say more at that moment. He
wished himself a hundred miles away.

A quaint, sweet smile flitted across David's face; he could read
Malcolm's thoughts.

"You have been such a good fellow, Herrick, and have done so much for
them all. That was a bad business with Cedric, but at his age he will
get over it--you and I know that."

"We do indeed," returned Malcolm gravely.

"Dinah co