his employ a
quarter of a century or more, mourned for him and refused to be
comforted.

Great was the excitement in the household when the friend who had
accompanied Doctor Bryan on that fatal ride broke to them the strange
compact between the doctor and Kendal, to which he had been a witness.

He readily decided that it was best not to tell Dorothy the exact
situation of affairs, and that it would probably be more in accordance
with a young girl's romantic idea of marriage for Kendal to woo her on
his own account, and gain her consent, ere he breathed to her that this
was Doctor Bryan's wish.

And this was the course that Kendal followed. He allowed fully a month
to transpire ere he made the slightest advances to her. Long and
carefully he had thought the matter over in his own mind, and had
concluded that there was no way out of the strange betrothal into which
he had been forced, as it were, against his will.

He made up his mind to accept the situation gracefully and become
engaged to Dorothy, and if he found out that she had not been remembered
in the old gentleman's will, he could break it without one word of
warning or the least compunction. He noticed, too, that Dorothy was
growing quite shy of him of late. She had been quite fond of him in the
past; it would never do to allow her to grow indifferent to him. He
made up his mind to settle the matter--as far as the engagement was
concerned--at the first opportunity; and one presented itself on the
very day he made this resolve.

Dorothy was in the conservatory that afternoon, when he suddenly
surprised her, stealing up on tip-toe behind her, clasped her in his
arms, holding his hands over her eyes, whispering:

"Guess who it is, Dorothy."

The struggle to escape those firm arms suddenly ceased. The girl was
dumbfounded with amazement.

"Is it--can it be you, Harry--Mr. Kendal?" she gasped, breathlessly.

"Do you wish it were some one else, Dorothy?" he whispered, releasing
her from his arms, but catching her hands in a tight clasp and looking
eagerly down into her eyes.

The girl's face flushed burning red, and her gaze fell beneath a pair of
dark eyes that seemed to search into her very soul. But in an instant
she recovered something of her old hoidenish composure; and in that
moment she remembered, too, how he had seemed to slight her of late, and
her pride rebelled hotly.

"How dare you frighten me so, Harry Kendal?" she cried, drawing back and