was
not yet able to regard the thought of Elisabeth's unhappiness as
anything but a catastrophe of the most insupportable magnitude; which
showed that he had not yet sufficient philosophy to go round.

When Elisabeth arrived at the Moat House she found Mrs. Herbert alone,
Felicia having gone out driving with her husband; and, to Elisabeth's
surprise, there was no sign of the jubilation which she had anticipated.
On the contrary, Mrs. Herbert was subdued and tired-looking.

"I am so glad to see you, my dear," she said, kissing Elisabeth; "it is
lonely in this big house all by myself."

"It is always rather lonely to be in state," Elisabeth replied,
returning her salute. "I wonder if kings find it lonely all by
themselves in pleasures and palaces. I expect they do, but they put up
with the loneliness for the sake of the stateliness; and you could
hardly find a statelier house than this to be lonely in, if you tried."

"Yes; it is a beautiful place," agreed Mrs. Herbert listlessly.

Elisabeth wondered what was wrong, but she did not ask; she knew that
Mrs. Herbert would confide in her very soon. People very rarely were
reserved with Elisabeth; she was often amazed at the rapidity with which
they opened their inmost hearts to her. Probably this accounted in some
measure for her slowness in understanding Christopher, who had made it a
point of honour not to open his inmost heart to her.

"Don't the woods look lovely?" she said cheerfully, pretending not to
notice anything. "I can't help seeing that the trees are beautiful with
their gilt leaves, but it goes against my principles to own it, because
I do so hate the autumn. I wish we could change our four seasons for two
springs and two summers. I am so happy in the summer, and still happier
in the spring looking forward to it; but I am wretched in the winter
because I am cold, and still wretcheder in the autumn thinking that I'm
going to be even colder."

"Yes; the woods are pretty--very pretty indeed."

"I am so glad you have come while the leaves are still on. I wanted you
to see Felicia's home at its very best; and, at its best, it is a home
that any woman might be proud of."

Mrs. Herbert's lip trembled. "It is indeed a most beautiful home, and I
am sure Felicia has everything to make her happy."

"And she is happy, Mrs. Herbert; I don't think I ever saw anybody so
perfectly happy as Felicia is now. I'm afraid I could never be quite as
satisfied with any imposs