en she went home, a tale so impossible and romantic
that she forgot her own troubles, and fairly glowed with happiness. But
it is best not to depend too much on what Nan saw, though her sight was
fairly good where her interests were enlisted.

Margaret ran after Neighbour Tomlin and seized him by the arm. "Oh, I
never meant to wound you," she cried--"you who have been so kind, and so
good! Oh, if you could only read my heart, you would forgive me,
instantly and forever."

"I can read my own heart," said Neighbour Tomlin, "and it has but one
feeling for you."

"Then kiss me good-bye," she said. "I am going with my father."

"If I kiss you," he replied, "you'll not go."

She looked at him, and he at her, and she found herself in the focus of
a light that enabled her to see everything more clearly. She caught his
secret and he hers, and there was no longer any room for
misunderstanding. Her father, weak as he was, had been strong enough to
provide his daughter with a remedy for the only serious trouble, short
of bereavement, that his daughter was ever to know. She refused to
return to the parlour, where he awaited her.

"Shall I go?" said Neighbour Tomlin.

"If you please, sir," said Margaret, with a faint smile. She could
hardly realise the change that had so suddenly taken place in her hopes
and her plans, so swift and unexpected had it been.

Neighbour Tomlin went into the parlour, and made Bridalbin acquainted
with the facts.

"Margaret has changed her mind," said Neighbour Tomlin. "She thinks it
is best to remain under the care and protection of those whom she knows
better than she knows her father."

"Why, she seemed eager to go a moment ago," said Bridalbin; "and you
must remember that she is my daughter."

"Her friends couldn't forget that under all the circumstances,"
Neighbour Tomlin remarked drily.

"I believe her mind has been poisoned against me," Bridalbin declared.

"That is quite possible," replied Neighbour Tomlin; "and I think you
could easily guess the name of the poisoner."

"May I see my daughter?"

"That rests entirely with her," said Neighbor Tomlin.

But Margaret refused to see him again. Since her own troubles had been
so completely swept away, her memory reverted to all the troubles her
mother had to endure, as the result of Bridalbin's lack of fixed
principles, and she sent him word that she would prefer not to see him
then or ever afterward; and so the man went away, more ben