Sarah.

He walked up and down in a silence she was too wise to break. When
he looked at her again, Sarah was leaning against the piano. She had
taken off the picture-hat, and was swinging it absently to and fro by
the black ribbons which had but now been tied beneath her round, white
chin. She presented a charming picture--and it is possible she knew
it--as she stood in that restful pose, with her long lashes pointed
downwards towards her buckled shoes.

The doctor stopped in front of her. "You are too quick for me, Sarah.
You always were, even as a little girl," he said. "You've surprised
my--my poor secret. You can laugh at the old doctor now, if you like."

"I don't feel like laughing," said Sarah, simply. "And your secret is
safe with me. I'm honest; you know that."

"Yes, my dear; I know that. God bless you!" said the doctor.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Blundell," said Sarah, softly.

The deep voice which came from the full, white chest, and which had
once been so unmanageable, was one of Sarah's surest weapons now.

When she sang, she counted her victims by the dozen; when she lowered
it, as she lowered it now, to speak only to one man, every note went
straight to his heart--if he had an ear for music and a heart for
love.

When Sarah said, in these dulcet tones, therefore, that she was sorry
for her old friend, the tears gathered to the doctor's kind, tired
eyes.

"For me!" he said gratefully. "Oh, you mustn't be sorry for me.
She--she could hardly be further out of _my_ reach, you know, if she
were--an angel in heaven, instead of being what she is--an angel on
earth. It is--of _her_ that I was thinking."

"I know," said Sarah; "but she has been looking so bright and hopeful,
ever since we heard Peter was coming home--until to-day--when he has
actually come; and that is what puzzles me."

"To-day--to-day!" said the doctor, as though to himself. "Yes; it was
to-day I saw her touch happiness timidly, and come face to face with
disappointment."

"You saw her?"

"Oh, when one loves," he said bitterly, "one has intuitions which
serve as well as eyes and ears. You will know all about it one day,
little Sarah."

"Shall I?" said Sarah. She turned her face away from the doctor.

"You've not been here very much lately," he said, "but you've been
here long enough to guess her secret, as you--you've guessed mine. Eh?
You needn't pretend, for my sake, to misunderstand me."

"I wasn't going to," said Sarah, gently.