lent smile which went
to her heart like an arrow. She rushed for safety to the commonplaces of
life, to the quick, hasty speeches which relieved her. She began to be
very cross about some delay in breakfast.

"Never mind me, dear," said Anne's quieting tones. "I am quite well, and
want nothing. Only let us sit still, and look at the sea." And she drew
her from her eager bustling about the inn-parlour to the place where
they had both sat the previous night. Agatha balanced herself on the arm
of the chair, determined she would not be serious for an instant, and
would not let Anne talk. Yet both resolutions were broken ere long.
Perhaps it was the bright stillness of the sea view, sliding away round
the headland into infinity, which impressed her in spite of herself.
Still she struggled against her feelings.

"I will not have you so grave, Miss Valery. Mind, I will not."

"Am I grave? Nay, only quiet; and so happy! Do you know what it is to be
quite content with everything in one's life--past, present, and to come,
knowing that all is overruled for good, forgiving everybody and loving
everybody?"

Agatha linked her arms tighter round Miss Valery's neck.

"Don't talk in that way, or look in that way--don't. Be wicked! Speak
cross! I will not have you an angel. I will not feel your wings growing.
I'll tear them out. There."

She laughed--laughed with brimming eyes--until she sobbed again. Her
feelings had been on the stretch for hours, and now gave way. Anne bent
down from her serenity to notice and soothe the wayward child.

"Poor little thing, she wants taking care of as much as anybody. When
will her husband come home?"

"Never--never!" cried Agatha, hardly knowing what she said. "I shall
lose him--you--all."

Miss Valery smiled--the composed smile of one who ascending a mountain,
sees the lowland mazes around laid out distinct and clear, and looks
over them to their ending.

"Yes, my child, he will come back. Absence breaks slender ties, but it
rivets strong ones. Have faith in him. People like him, if they once
love, love always. He will come back."

There was a great light in Miss Valery's countenance, which irresistibly
attracted Agatha. She dried her eyes, forgot her own personal cares, and
listened to the comforter.

"Think how much we love those that are away. Once perhaps we used to
vex and slight them and be cross with them, but now we carry them in our
hearts always. We forget everything bitter, a