gering her rings; she slipped one off.

"Well," she said, "it's no good thinking about that, is it? I've wanted
to give you this for ages, darling; it IS so uncomfortable on my finger.
Now, just let me see if I can pop it on!"

Nedda recoiled.

"Oh, Granny!" she said. "You ARE--!" and vanished.

There was still no one in the kitchen, and she sat down to wait for her
aunt to finish her up-stairs duties.

Kirsteen came down at last, in her inevitable blue dress, betraying her
surprise at this sudden appearance of her niece only by a little
quivering of her brows. And, trembling with nervousness, Nedda took her
plunge, pouring out the whole story--of Derek's letter; their journey
down; her father's talk with him; the visit to Tryst's body; their walk
by the river; and of how haunted and miserable he was. Showing the
little note he had left that morning, she clasped her hands and said:

"Oh, Aunt Kirsteen, make him happy again! Stop that awful haunting and
keep him from all this!"

Kirsteen had listened, with one foot on the hearth in her favorite
attitude. When the girl had finished she said quietly:

"I'm not a witch, Nedda!"

"But if it wasn't for you he would never have started. And now that poor
Tryst's dead he would leave it alone. I'm sure only you can make him
lose that haunted feeling."

Kirsteen shook her head.

"Listen, Nedda!" she said slowly, as though weighing each word. "I
should like you to understand. There's a superstition in this country
that people are free. Ever since I was a girl your age I've known that
they are not; no one is free here who can't pay for freedom. It's one
thing to see, another to feel this with your whole being. When, like me,
you have an open wound, which something is always inflaming, you can't
wonder, can you, that fever escapes into the air. Derek may have caught
the infection of my fever--that's all! But I shall never lose that
fever, Nedda--never!"

"But, Aunt Kirsteen, this haunting is dreadful. I can't bear to see it."

"My dear, Derek is very highly strung, and he's been ill. It's in my
family to see things. That'll go away."

Nedda said passionately:

"I don't believe he'll ever lose it while he goes on here, tearing his
heart out. And they're trying to get me away from him. I know they
are!"

Kirsteen turned; her eyes seemed to blaze.

"They? Ah! Yes! You'll have to fight if you want to marry a rebel,
Nedda!"

Nedda put her han