o early, Crystal;
Fluff and I have waited tea for you, but we hardly expected you yet."

"I am sorry you waited for me," returned the girl, who called herself
Crystal Davenport, in a constrained voice; "Mrs. Norton gave me some
tea, because she said I must be tired playing with the children."

"Come, we must be going, Erle," interrupted Percy, sharply, "or we
shall be late for dinner. Good-bye, Fern; tell my mother I am sorry to
miss her. Good-evening, Miss Davenport;" but he hesitated, as though
he dared not venture to offer his hand.

"Good-night, Mr. Trafford," she returned, indifferently; but she did
not turn her long neck as she spoke. And Erle contented himself with a
bow.

"What is it, Crystal, dear?" asked Fern, anxiously, as the two young
men left the room; but Crystal only lifted her eyebrows and glanced at
Fluff, whose curly head was distinctly visible; so Fern said
cheerfully, "Very well, we have our tea, and then it will be Fluff's
bed-time;" and then without another word busied herself with her
simple preparations.

But it was not a festive meal. In spite of all her cheery efforts
Crystal sat quite silent, with a cloud on her handsome face, and Fluff
had turned sulky at the mention of her bed-time. So Fern fell to
thinking of Erle's look as he bade her good-night--how kind he had
been to her that evening. Yes, she was glad they were friends, and
that he cared to hear about their troubles. He was so unselfish, so
different to other young men--Fern did not know a single young man
except Erle, so her knowledge was not very reliable; and then, with an
odd transition of thought, she wondered who Miss Selby could be, and
why Percy called her la Belle Evelyn, and looked at Erle so
mischievously.

But presently, when Fluff had gone off grumbling with her kitten, and
all the pretty tea-things had been washed and put away in the big
corner cupboard, and the kettle was silent, and only a cricket chirped
on the hearth, Fern sat down beside Crystal, and put her arm
affectionately round her. "Now, you can tell me what has been
troubling you, darling," she said, in a coaxing voice.

It seemed a pity that there was no one to see the two faces so close
together; an artist would have sketched them as Night and Morning.
Fern's soft English fairness made a splendid foil to Crystal's olive
complexion and dark southern coloring. The girl was superbly handsome,
in spite of the bitter lines round the mouth and the hard,