e
said very little, except that all business was in an unsettled state,
owing to the speculative spirit that had followed the long period of
stagnation. As yet, my protege seemed to have been generally prudent,
but it needed the experience of a tried business man to resist the
temptations to make money by short cuts presented at the present time.
He judged from the last report sent him, that he had been lately making
one or two successful ventures in a doubtful class of securities, and
he should take it upon himself, with my permission, to give him advice
to avoid them for the future.

I felt an eager desire to say he had already promised that the
speculation in which he was now engaged should be the last; but that of
course was impossible, without disclosing my secret. How should I ever
have the face to make confession to Mr. Chelm when the time came, if it
ever did come?

As the months slipped away, I began to be haunted occasionally by the
thought that a year was a longer time than I had supposed, and it might
be that Francis Prime would take me at my word, and try to forget me. At
such moments my heart seemed to stand still, and a weary vista of
monotonous and never-ceasing maidenhood arose before me. It would be
preferable to die than to be deceived now. I would not doubt; and indeed
I did not doubt. But who can control the changing moods of the
imagination?

I think the consciousness that such a thing as his proving false was a
possibility affected my treatment of my maiden aunts, and made me more
gentle and considerate in regard to their foibles. The early lives of
both of them were sealed books to me, excepting the glimpse Aunt Helen
had given me of hers at the time of my own first sorrow. Who could tell
that there was not in their hearts some bit of cruel treachery or
misunderstanding still remembered though unmentioned, which had seared
and withered existence for them? It was this feeling among others, that
urged me to write to Aunt Agnes and ask permission to spend a day or two
with her before we finally returned to town. She never left the city,
preferring, as she declared, the stability of the bricks and mortar, to
being drowned at the sea-side or mangled by cattle in the country.
Rather to my surprise, she said in her answer that she had been on the
point of writing to me herself, but would now defer mentioning the
matter she had in mind until we met.

As I had divined, the subject that was engrossing