to
friends at a distance. If she had been visiting her Aunt Maltha, he
would have gone there to see her, he said, as though it were quite his
right to do so, and a matter of course. Elizabeth listened to all this
with much discomfort, and glanced at Mr Maxwell now and then to see how
it was taken. The minister met her glance frankly and smilingly, and
certainly did not seem to have any thought of resenting the young man's
tone and manner.

"He is sure of his ground," thought Elizabeth; "and he can wait; but, my
poor Clifton, I fear he has disappointment before him."

She knew that such a disappointment might be got over, and he be none
the worse, but rather the better, for what he might have to pass
through. But it hurt her beforehand to think of his suffering, and to
think that it must come to him through his friend. Even as the talk
went on between them, she was trying to bring her courage to the point
of asking Mr Maxwell to tell her brother how matters stood between him
and Miss Langden. It was only that they were waiting for the end of the
two years of probation, she supposed, and they were nearly over now.
She came out of her own thoughts in time to hear Mr Maxwell say:

"Yes, I mean to get away for a week or two by and by, and I mean to pass
Thanksgiving either there or with Miss Martha at New B--. If I cannot
get away at that time I shall certainly go later, but I should like to
be there on Thanksgiving Day for various reasons."

Elizabeth looked from one to the other with some surprise. Mr Maxwell
spoke, and Clifton listened, with faces that were grave enough, but the
eyes of both were smiling as they met hers.

"Mr Maxwell ought to tell him," thought she, with a touch of anger at
her heart.

But he did not need to be told. When Mr Maxwell was gone, and Clifton
had returned from seeing him to the gate, he said to his sister:

"Did you know, Lizzie, that Mr Maxwell had once asked Miss Langden to
marry him?"

Elizabeth was moving about the room, putting things in order, as was her
way before going up-stairs for the night. She removed the lamp to the
side-table, and sat down before she answered him.

"Yes, I have long known it. I have often, often wished to tell you, but
I did not feel at liberty to do so."

"And why not, pray? One may surely repeat a rumour of that kind without
a breach of confidence."

"But I did not hear it as a rumour, and I had no permission to repeat
it. And beside