nd I am as much a McPherson as you,"
Bessie answered him, emboldened for once to say what she thought.

"Yes," he answered, slowly, "and I am sorry for it. You told me at one
time you thought of going out as governess. Never harbor that idea
again, if you care for me. I cannot have people pointing out my wife as
one who had taught their children."

Bessie bowed her head silently as if in acquiescence, and Neil never
suspected what was passing in her mind, nor dreamed that a tide was set
in motion which would take Bessie away from him forever.

CHAPTER V.

BESSIE'S DECISION.

"And so you have determined to go to America?" Neil said to Bessie about
four weeks later, when he came to Stoneleigh in obedience to a letter
from Bessie telling him she wished to see him on a matter of importance.

"Yes," she replied, "I am going to America. My passage is engaged, and I
sail in two weeks, in company with a Mrs. Goodnough, of Bangor, a nice
old lady, who will take good care of me."

"Well," and Neil stroked his mustache thoughtfully, "I am not sure but
that it is a good idea to beard the old woman in her den. You will be
likely to succeed where others would fail, and when you are sure of her
fortune send for me."

There was a levity in his manner which Bessie resented, and she said to
him, quickly:

"If by the 'old woman' you mean my Aunt Betsey, I would rather you did
not speak of her thus. She has been kind to father and me--very kind.
But it is not her fortune I am going after. It is my own! I have always
thought I had one somewhere, and as it does not seem to be here, it may
be in America. But, jesting aside. I am going to find something to do.
It is no disgrace to work there, and your friends will never know."

"I am not sure of that," Neil said. "But what do you mean to do?"

"Anything I can find," Bessie answered, decidedly.

Neil only smiled and thought how sure it was that once with her aunt she
would become a favorite, and eventually, an heiress to the fortune he so
greatly coveted.

He should miss her, he knew, and still it would be a relief not to have
her on his mind, as she would be, if left alone at Stoneleigh. So, on
the whole, she had done wisely when she planned to go to America, and he
did not oppose her, but said he would be in Liverpool the 25th, to see
her off. He did not ask if she had the necessary funds for the voyage;
he had trouble enough on that score, and was not likely soon to fo