an tapping her
boot with her parasol. There was an awkward silence while Tom
considered within himself whether she was not right, and whether,
after all, his own jealousy had not been the cause of the lecture
he had been delivering, much more than any unselfish wish for
Mary's improvement.

"It is your turn now," he said presently, leaning forward with
his elbows on his knees, and looking hard at the gravel. "I may
have been foolishly jealous, and I thank you for telling me so.
But you can tell me a great deal more if you will, quite as good
for me to hear."

"No, I have nothing to say. I daresay you are open and true, and
have nothing to hide or disguise, not even about either of the
men we met in the Long Walk on Sunday."

He winced at this random shaft as if he had been stung, and she
saw that it had gone home, and repented the next moment. The
silence became more and more embarrassing. By good luck, however,
their party suddenly appeared strolling towards them from the
large garden.

"Here are Uncle Robert and Katie, and all of them. Let us join
them."

She rose up, and he with her, and as they walked towards the
rest, he said quickly in a low voice, "Will you forgive me if I
have pained you? I was very selfish, and I am sorry."

"Oh yes, we were both very foolish, but we won't do it again."

"Here you are at last. We have been looking for you everywhere,"
said Miss Winter, as they came up.

"I'm sure I don't know how we missed you. We came straight from
the music tent to this seat, and have not moved. We knew you must
come by sooner or later."

"But it is quite out of the way. It is quite by chance that we
came round here."

"Isn't Uncle Robert tired, Katie?" said Tom; "he doesn't look
well this afternoon."

Katie instantly turned to her father, and Mr. Winter declared
himself to be much fatigued. So they wished their hospitable
entertainers good-bye, and Tom hurried off and got a wheel chair
for his uncle, and walked by his side to their lodgings. The
young ladies walked near the chair also, accompanied by one or
two of their acquaintances; in fact they could not move without
an escort. But Tom never once turned his head for a glance at
what was going on, and talked steadily on to his uncle, that he
might not catch a stray word of what the rest were saying.
Despite of all this self-denial, however, he was quite aware
somehow when he made his bow at the door that Mary had been very
silent all the