on you. Now I can talk no
more. If your mother comes in, will you tell her about Miss Campion. I
think she will be glad for many reasons. Now I will try and sleep, for
there is much to be done to-morrow. Good night, my dear;" and the next
moment Fern found herself alone in the moonlight.

When Mrs. Trafford returned, she heard the news very quietly.

"It will be better--much better," she said, quickly. "You must not
fret about it, my sunbeam. Crystal is beginning to look ill; change
and movement will do her good. Our life is very quiet. She has too
much time to feed upon herself. She will be obliged to rouse herself
among strangers." And when Fern told her tearfully of the promise she
had made, Mrs. Trafford only listened with a grave smile.

"Put it away safely, my dear; you will never have to give it, I hope;
only it is a relief to the poor child to know you have it. Hers is a
strange morbid nature. She is not yet humbled sufficiently. When she
is, she will go back, like the Prodigal, and take the forgiveness that
is waiting for her. Now, my darling, all this sad talk has made you
look pale. You must try and forget it, and go to sleep." But, for the
first time in her healthy girlhood, sleep refused to come at Fern's
bidding; and she lay restless and anxious, thinking of her friend's
tragical story until the gray dawn ushered in the new day.

The little household in Beulah Place were very busy during the next
few days. The girls went out shopping together to replenish Crystal's
modest wardrobe, and then sat working until nearly midnight to
complete the new traveling dress. Fern was putting the final stitches
on the last afternoon while Crystal went to bid good-bye to her
pupils. The black trunk in the girl's room was already packed, for she
was to start early in the morning.

Percy had not yet heard the news; he had been away from town the last
week, to Crystal's great relief. She had begged Mrs. Trafford and Fern
to say nothing about her movements. He might appear at any moment, and
Crystal dreaded a scene if he heard of her approaching departure.

"It will be much better for him not to know until the sea is between
us," she had said to Mrs. Trafford. "When he hears I have gone without
bidding him good-bye, he will see then that I mean what I say--that my
life has nothing to do with his;" and Mrs. Trafford had agreed to
this.

It was with a feeling of annoyance and very real discomfort, then,
that Crystal caug