no use to contest the point; Mr. Graham is firm as a rock, and as
sure as _we_ go to Europe, Emily and Gertrude will go _too_."

She was almost startled; therefore, by an excess of good-luck, when
informed, a few days afterwards, that the couple she had so dreaded to
have of the party were to be left behind, at Miss Graham's special
request. Emily's scruples with regard to mentioning to her father the
little prospect of pleasure the tour was likely to afford her all
vanished when she found that Gertrude would be a still greater sufferer
from the society to which she would be subjected.

Blind as she was, Emily understood and perceived almost everything that
was passing around her. Quick of perception, and with a hearing rendered
doubly intense by her want of sight, the events of the summer were,
perhaps, more familiar to her than to any other member of the family.
She more than suspected the exact state of matters betwixt Mr. Bruce and
Gertrude, though the latter had never spoken to her on the subject. She
imagined how Kitty was involved in the affair (no very difficult thing
to conceive by one who enjoyed the confidence which the simple-hearted
girl unconsciously made during her intercourse with her).

As Mrs. Graham's and Isabel's abuse of power became more open, Mrs.
Ellis and Mrs. Prime considered the embargo upon free speech in Miss
Graham's presence wholly removed; and any pain which the knowledge of
their neglect might have caused her was more than compensated to Emily
by the proofs it had called forth of devoted attachment and willing
service on the part of her adopted child, as she loved to consider
Gertrude.

Calmly and promptly did she resolve to adopt a course which should free
Gertrude from her self-sacrificing service. She encountered much
opposition from her father; but he had seen, during the previous winter
at the South, how Emily's infirmity unfitted her for travelling,
especially when deprived of Gertrude's attendant eyes; he now realised
how contrary to her tastes and habits were those of his new wife and her
nieces; and, unwilling to be convinced of the folly of his sudden
choice, and probably of unhappiness from it, he appreciated the wisdom
of Emily's proposal, and felt relief in the adoption of a course which
would satisfy all parties.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

TRAVEL AND A MYSTERY.

Mrs. Warren's pleasant boarding-house was chosen by Emily for her own
and Gertrude's winter home; and one