him happier to talk to me. His
father is dead, and he has taken his mother home to his own house, and
she will go with him abroad.'

'Where to? Is it quite decided? or has he already gone away?'

'Not yet, I think.'

'Did he ask where I was?'

'Yes.'

'For a particular address?'

'No.'

'Well, I think the least he might have done was to write and let me know
all this.'

'My dear child, be reasonable,' said the little spinster, in gentle
reproof. 'He came expecting to see you, and he left a kind message for
you. I don't see that it would have done either you or him any good to
write a letter; your ways must lie so far apart now. I told him we
expected your marriage shortly.'

'I have never said it will take place,' said Gladys calmly. 'I wish
people would leave me and my concerns alone.'

Miss Peck could see the girl's face in the long glass, the red spot
burning on her cheeks, and the beautiful lips angrily quivering, and she
became more and more perplexed. Of late Gladys had become a being
difficult to understand.

'What is the use of talking in that manner, Gladys?' she said, with a
faint show of sternness. 'I saw Mr. Fordyce in town the other day, and
he told me it is quite likely the marriage will take place on the eighth
of October. It is quite impossible that it could be definitely fixed
without you.'

'I suppose so. And what did Walter say when you told him my marriage-day
was fixed?' inquired Gladys, as she tied the ribbon on her hair.

'I shall not tell you what he said,' answered the little spinster, quite
severely for her. 'You are in a mood which would make you laugh at an
honest heart's suffering.'

'You think very highly of me, Guardy, I must say,' said Gladys a trifle
unsteadily. 'But why do you speak of an honest man's suffering? Do you
mean to say it made Walter suffer to hear I was going to be married?'

'My dear, he loves you as his own soul. I can never forget how he looked
and spoke of you,' said the little spinster. 'He is a good and noble
man, and God will bless him wherever he goes.'

There was a few minutes' silence, then Gladys walked over to the window,
and drawing aside the lace hangings, allowed the red glory of the
setting sun to flood the whole room. Standing there, with her white
shapely arm against the delicate lace, she looked out in silence upon
the lovely prospect which had so often filled her soul with delight. A
shadow, dark as a storm-cloud, had fallen upon t