ered. "Sir Patrick is
interested in you; Sir Patrick proposed to me this very day to go and
see you at the inn. He is the wisest, the kindest, the dearest old man
living--and you can trust him as you could trust nobody else. Will you
take my uncle into your confidence, and be guided by his advice?"

With her mind still far away from the subject, Anne looked out absently
at the lawn, and made no answer.

"Come!" said Blanche. "One word isn't much to say. Is it Yes or No?"

Still looking out on the lawn--still thinking of something else--Anne
yielded, and said "Yes."

Blanche was enchanted. "How well I must have managed it!" she thought.
"This is what my uncle means, when my uncle talks of 'putting it
strongly.'"

She bent down over Anne, and gayly patted her on the shoulder.

"That's the wisest 'Yes,' darling, you ever said in your life. Wait
here--and I'll go in to luncheon, or they will be sending to know what
has become of me. Sir Patrick has kept my place for me, next to himself.
I shall contrive to tell him what I want; and _he_ will contrive (oh,
the blessing of having to do with a clever man; these are so few of
them!)--he will contrive to leave the table before the rest, without
exciting any body's suspicions. Go away with him at once to the
summer-house (we have been at the summer-house all the morning; nobody
will go back to it now), and I will follow you as soon as I have
satisfied Lady Lundie by eating some lunch. Nobody will be any the
wiser but our three selves. In five minutes or less you may expect Sir
Patrick. Let me go! We haven't a moment to lose!"

Anne held her back. Anne's attention was concentrated on her now.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Are you going on happily with Arnold, Blanche?"

"Arnold is nicer than ever, my dear."

"Is the day fixed for your marriage?"

"The day will be ages hence. Not till we are back in town, at the end of
the autumn. Let me go, Anne!"

"Give me a kiss, Blanche."

Blanche kissed her, and tried to release her hand. Anne held it as if
she was drowning, as if her life depended on not letting it go.

"Will you always love me, Blanche, as you love me now?"

"How can you ask me!"

"_I_ said Yes just now. _You_ say Yes too."

Blanche said it. Anne's eyes fastened on her face, with one long,
yearning look, and then Anne's hand suddenly dropped hers.

She ran out of the room, more agitated, more uneasy, than she liked
to confess to herself. Never had she f