teased and tormented unmercifully, had it not been for the weight of her
own secret, which was wonderfully subduing.

"We had a delightful ride," continued Kittie, but with very apparent
exertion. "Mr. Murray drove out by Hanging Rock, and that's five miles,
you know, and then we came home by Craig's creek, and--it was very long.
What did Ralph say? Where's the letter?"

"Oh!" said Kat, with a little gasp--for Kittie had covered the whole
ground so quickly that it quite took her breath--"you can't read it in
the dark, and if we light the lamp that bug will come back. It was only
a small one. He has been admitted to the firm, and is coming pretty soon
to see us."

Something in the voice, for Kat couldn't hide anything successfully,
drew Kittie's thoughts from herself, and made her turn to look closely
at the face just visible in the dark. It had been a settled fact in the
family, for the past year, that Ralph was growing very fond of "Kathy
dear," and that very likely she had been the great object in his
thoughts when he went away, and promised to come back, and then--

"Kat," said Kittie, with great solemnity, when her thoughts reached that
point, and she was conscious of feeling hurt. "I never thought you'd
keep such a thing from me, and wait for me to ask."

"Neither did I think you would, but you are."

"Me? Why I've nothing to tell."

"Honestly?"

"Not a thing. And have you, really?"

"Nothing, except that he asked me if he should come, and I sent a letter
right off, and told him yes," confessed Kat, relieved to share her
secret, and feeling very glad and happy as she laid her head in Kittie's
lap, as though to hide her face from the darkness.

Kittie entirely forgot herself in that moment. There came a little
choking feeling in her throat, to think that she now came second in this
dearest sister's heart, and she put her arms around her, with a little
resentful, defiant clasp, and said nothing.

"Haven't you anything to confess?" asked Kat, in a moment.

"Come, dear; be honest."

"Not much," said Kittie, slowly. "You know, I always thought Mr. Murray
was ever so much older than he is, and I never dreamed of his liking me,
or any such thing, and it all seems so odd. But since he came this time,
and we have been together so often, why--it all seemed different, you
know, though I can't tell just how. To-day, while we were riding, I
dropped some flowers out of my hair, and he picked them up, and asked i