ience and
serenity in her face that told her tale of years. Youth can never
acquire it.

Her eyes brightened when she saw the mayflowers he carried. She came
and took them from him, and her hands touched his, sending a little
thrill of joy through him.

"How lovely they are! And the first I have seen this spring. You
always bring me the first, don't you, Jeff? Do you remember the first
day we spent picking mayflowers together?"

Jeff smiled. Could he forget? But something held him back from speech.

Sara put the flowers in a vase on the table, but slipped one starry
pink cluster into the lace on her breast. She came and sat down beside
Jeffrey; he saw that her beautiful eyes had been weeping, and that
there were lines of pain around her lips. Some impulse that would not
be denied made him lean over and take her hand. She left it
unresistingly in his clasp.

"I am very lonely now, Jeff," she said sadly. "Father has gone. I have
no friends left."

"You have me," said Jeffrey quietly.

"Yes. I shouldn't have said that. You are my friend, I know, Jeff.
But, but--I must leave Pinehurst, you know."

"I learned that tonight for the first time," he answered.

"Did you ever come to a place where _everything_ seemed ended--where
it seemed that there was nothing--simply nothing--left, Jeff?" she
said wistfully. "But, no, it couldn't seem so to a man. Only a woman
could fully understand what I mean. That is how I feel now. While I
had Father to live for it wasn't so hard. But now there is nothing.
And I must go away."

"Is there anything I can do?" muttered Jeffrey miserably. He knew now
that he had made a mistake in coming tonight; he could not help her.
His own pain had unmanned him. Presently he would say something
foolish or selfish in spite of himself.

Sara turned her eyes on him.

"There is nothing anybody can do, Jeff," she said piteously. Her
eyes, those clear child-eyes, filled with tears. "I shall be
braver--stronger--after a while. But just now I have no strength left.
I feel like a lost, helpless child. Oh, Jeff!"

She put her slender hands over her face and sobbed. Every sob cut
Jeffrey to the heart.

"Don't--don't, Sara," he said huskily. "I can't bear to see you suffer
so. I'd die for you if it would do you any good. I love you--I love
you! I never meant to tell you so, but it is the truth. I oughtn't to
tell you now. Don't think that I'm trying to take any advantage of
your loneliness and sorrow