rture."

"What?" cried Hoskins, with a rude guffaw; and when Elmore had showed
his gifts, Hoskins threw back his head and laughed indecently. His
behavior nettled Elmore, and it sent Mrs. Elmore prematurely out of the
room; for, not content with his explosions of laughter, he continued for
some time to amuse himself by touching up with the point of his pencil
the tail of the turtle which he had turned out of its box upon the
table. At Mrs. Elmore's withdrawal he stopped, and presently said
good-night rather soberly.

Then she returned. "Owen," she asked sadly, "did you really think these
flowers and that turtle were for you?"

"Why, yes," he answered.

"Well, I don't know whether I wouldn't almost rather it had been a joke.
I believe that I would rather despise your heart than your head. Why
should Mr. Andersen bring _you_ flowers and a turtle?"

"Upon my word, I don't know."

"They were for Lily! And your mistake has added another pang to the poor
young fellow's suffering. She has just refused him," she said; and as
Elmore continued to glare blankly at her, she added: "She was refusing
him there on the balcony while that disgusting Mr. Hoskins was sketching
them; and he had his hand up, that way, because he was crying."

"This is horrible, Celia!" cried Elmore. The scent of the flowers lying
on the table seemed to choke him; the turtle clawing about on the smooth
surface looked demoniacal. "Why----"

"Now, don't ask me why she refused him, Owen. Of course she couldn't
care for a boy like that. But he can't realize it, and it's just as
miserable for him as if he were a thousand years old."

Elmore hung his head. "It was all a mistake. But how should I know any
better? I am a straightforward man, Celia; and I am unfit for the care
that has been thrown upon me. It's more than I can bear. No, I'm _not_
fit for it!" he cried at last; and his wife, seeing him so crushed, now
said something to console him.

"I know you're not. I see it more and more. But I know that you will do
the best you can, and that you will always act from a good motive. Only
_do_ try to be more on your guard."

"I will--I will," he answered humbly.

He had a temptation, the next time he visited Hoskins, to tell him the
awful secret, and to see how the situation of that night, with this
lurid light upon it, affected him: it could do poor Andersen, now on his
way to India, no harm. He yielded to his temptation, at the same time
that he con