nother! Not Grey Jerrold?" Jack exclaimed,
and Bessie answered him:

"No, not Mr. Jerrold. He never thought of me that way. It surely cannot
be wrong to tell you now, though I am pledged to secrecy for awhile. I
told father just before he died, I am plighted to my Cousin Neil, and we
are only waiting for him to find something to do, or his mother to be
reconciled to me, to be married."

"Plighted to Neil! To Neil McPherson! _You_!" Jack exclaimed, and for a
moment his cheek grew pale and then flushed with resentment, as he
thought of this fair young girl being thus sacrificed to one who, he
knew, was not worthy of her.

Jack was fond of Neil in a certain way, but he knew him thoroughly and
knew that supreme selfishness was his ruling principle, and that
Bessie's life with him would be quite as hard as it had been with her
father; besides this, he could not reconcile this engagement with the
fact that he knew Neil to be very attentive to Blanche Trevellian, to
whom current rumor said he was certainly engaged. Hence, his
astonishment, which Bessie was quick to detect, for she answered him a
little proudly:

"Yes, I! Do you think it so very strange that Neil should have chosen
me?"

"No, Bessie," he replied; "but strange that you should have chosen him.
I cannot help it, Bessie, and I do not mean to be disloyal to Neil, when
I say that he will not make you happy, and further, that you will never
marry him. I am sure of it, and knowing that _he_ only stands in my way,
I can still hope for the future, and when you are free, remember I shall
come again. Good-by, Bessie, and forgive me if I have wounded you. In my
bitter disappointment I spoke out what I thought. I must go now, and
with a heavy heart, Flossie will be so disappointed, too."

He had risen as he spoke, and offered her his hand, which she took, and
lifting her eyes full of tears to his face, she said:

"I have faith in Neil; if I had not, I believe I should die. He cannot
help his mother's pride and opposition to our marriage. He is true to me
through all, and he will come to me as soon as he knows of my trouble, I
am sorry for you, Mr. Trevellian, if you really care for me, but you
will get over that feeling and be again my friend. I do not wish to lose
you, I have so few friends, oh, so few. I am sorry too, for Flossie, and
interested in her. Mr. Trevellian, why don't _you_ marry Flossie
yourself and so keep her at the castle?"

"_I_ marry Flossie! Tha