bled to see her when she had some
fresh tale to relate. Cecil had written his sympathy to Denys and had
ignored Gertrude, not even sending her a message, for Gertrude had
seen the letter.

The rich American had not referred to it when he answered Pauline's
letter in which she told him all about Maud, unless his remark that
he should not be back in Old Keston after all, could be taken as a
reference. Nor had he written a line of condolence to Gertrude, as she
had half hoped he would.

And Reggie did not know anything about it. He had sent an immediate
and cheerful response to her belated birthday letter, but not having
written to him for so long in her sunny days of popularity, she was
too proud to do so now, when she was in sorrow.

Yet she watched for a letter from him, hoping that Charlie would write
to him and tell him of their trouble, and if he once heard of it,
Gertrude knew that a letter would come by return of post.

But none came. Charlie did not write to Reggie. How could he do so
without attaching blame to Gertrude?

These were days of darkness, but in them Pattie shone out like gold.
She waited on them all with love and patience, she kept the meals
regular and the rooms nicely dusted, and she attended to all the
little duties that no one seemed to think of now-a-days.

It was she who received Maud's empty chair from the station-clerk, and
hid it away that it might bring no fresh pang of sorrow to any heart.
It was she who unostentatiously and without fuss, quietly laid by the
child's toys and clothes, for she truly guessed that to Denys or
Mrs. Brougham, to do so would be like saying a long farewell to their
darling, and yet to see them lying here and there, was a constant
reminder of her loss.

Though the two things seemed to have no connection with one another,
after the day that Maud was lost, Pattie gave up going out with Sam
Willard.

She said, when he remonstrated with her, that she had no heart now for
palavering and he had better find someone who was free and happy. For
herself, she could think of nothing but how to find little Maud again.

"Then you'll be an old maid," said Sam crossly, "whoever's taken
the child has taken her a-purpose, and they won't run no risks in
returning her. You'll be an old maid if you throw away all your
chances like this."

"Very well!" answered Pattie firmly, "then I'll _be_ an old maid and a
good-tempered one too. I won't be like some cross-grained bachelor