defiant
curve of the lips. As Fern spoke her dark eyes flashed angrily.

"He has been speaking to me again," she said, in an agitated voice.
"He has dared to follow me and persecute me; and he calls it
love--love!" with immeasurable contempt in her tone; "and when I tell
him that it is ungenerous and wrong, he complains that I have robbed
him of all peace. Fern, I know he is your brother, and that I ought
not to speak against him; but how am I to help hating him?"

"Oh, no!" with a shudder, for Fern's gentle nature was not capable of
Crystal's passion; "you must not hate poor Percy--he can not help
loving you."

"A poor sort of love," returned Crystal, scornfully; "a love that
partakes too much of the owner's selfishness to be to my taste. Fern,
how can he be your mother's son? he has not a grain of her noble,
frank nature, and from all accounts he does not take after your
father."

"But he is very clever, Crystal, and Mr. Erle says he is really
kind-hearted," returned Fern, in a troubled tone; "people admire and
like him, and there are many and many girls, Mr. Erle says, would be
ready to listen to him. He is very handsome, even you must allow that,
and it is not the poor boy's fault if he has lost his heart to you."

Crystal smiled at this sisterly defense, but the next moment she said,
tenderly:

"You are such a little angel of goodness yourself, Fern, that you
never think people are to blame--you would always excuse them if you
could; you have so little knowledge of the world, and have led such a
recluse life that you hardly know how rigid society really is; but I
should have thought that even you would have thought it wrong for your
brother to come here so often in your mother's absence and bring his
friend with him; it is taking advantage of two defenseless girls to
intrude himself and Mr. Erle on us in this way."

"But Percy never knows when mother is out," replied Fern, in a puzzled
tone.

Crystal was silent; she held a different opinion, but after all she
need not put these ideas into Fern's innocent mind. It was her own
conviction that Percy in some way was always aware of his mother's
absence. At first he had come alone, and now he always brought Erle
with him, and she wanted to say a word that might put Fern on her
guard; but at the present moment she was too full of her own
grievance.

"You know, Fern," she continued, in a very grave voice, "if this goes
on and your brother refuses to hear reas