ll me what has happened, Gertrude," he urged; "is it grief for the
loss of the little one? I entreat you to be calm--you will make
yourself ill."

She had not shed any tears, she only looked deathly pale and her hands,
which rested in his, were cold as ice.

"Come," he said, "tell me what it is?"

And he drew her towards him.

She clung to him as she had never done before.

"It will be all right again," she whispered, "now I am with you."

"Were you afraid? Has anything happened to you?" he inquired, tenderly.

She nodded.

"Yes," she said, hastily, "a little while ago I chanced to hear a few
words mamma was saying to Aunt Pauline--they came up from Jenny's--I
suppose they did not think I was here--I don't know. Mamma was still
crying very much about the baby and--then she said Jenny must go
away--she must have a change--this apathy was so dangerous. You know
she has not spoken a word for three days--and--I must accompany her on
a long journey--so I--" She stopped and bit her quivering lips.

"So you might forget me if possible?" he inquired, gravely.

He put his hand under her chin and looked into her eyes. She did not
reply, but he read the confirmation of his suspicion in her tearful
eyes.

"Are they so anxious to be rid of me? Is their dislike so strong,
Gertrude? And you?" He felt how she trembled.

"Oh!" she cried with a passion which made Linden start, "Oh, I--do
you know there are moments when something seems to take possession
of me with the power of a demon--I am swept away by the force of my
wrath--I--I do not know what I say and do--I am ashamed now--I ought to
have been calm--they cannot separate us, no--they cannot. Now mamma is
lying on the sofa in her room and Sophie has gone for the doctor. Ah,
Frank, I have borne it all so patiently all these long years--is it so
great a sin that my long suppressed feelings should have burst out at
last, that my self-control should have given way for once? I was
violent--I have always thought I was so calm--those words that I heard
seemed to sweep me away like a storm--I don't know what reproaches I
may have spoken against my mother. And to-day, just to-day, when they
have carried away the only sunbeam that was in this house for me!"

"We will go to your mother, Gertrude, and beg her to pardon us for
loving each other so much--come!"

He had said this to comfort her, and because he felt that something
must be done. His own desire would have been to tak