ands, her vivid, changeful face overcast with moody
thought. At last she raised her head with the air of one who has come to
a decision, and, picking up her pen, went on with her letter to J.
Elfreda Briggs. If worse came to worst and she resigned before the
girls' entertainment she would courageously put aside her own feelings
and remain, at least, until afterward. It should be her last act of
devotion to Harlowe House and her work.

CHAPTER XX

THE AWAKENING

The sword which hung over poor Grace's head still dangled threateningly
above her when she left Overton for Oakdale, on her Easter vacation.
Miss Wharton had made no sign. Whether she had, for the time being,
forgotten her words of that unhappy morning of several weeks past, or
was coolly taking her own time in the matter, well aware of the
discomfort of her victims, Grace could not know. She determined to lay
aside all bitterness of spirit and lend herself to commemorate the
anniversary of the first Easter with a reverent and open mind. But there
was one ghost which she could not lay, and that was the the memory of
Tom Gray's face as he said good-bye to her on that memorable rainy
afternoon. Just when it began to haunt her Grace could scarcely tell.
She knew only that Tom's farewell letter had awakened in her mind a
curious sense of loss that made her wish he had not cut himself off from
her so completely. When on their last afternoon together he had pleaded
so earnestly for her love Grace had been proudly triumphant in the
successful accomplishment of what she believed to be her life work.
From the lofty pinnacle of achievement she had looked down on Tom
pityingly, but with no adequate realization of what she had caused him
to suffer.

It was not until she herself had been called upon to prepare to give up
that which meant most to her in life that she began to appreciate dimly
what it must have cost Tom Gray to put aside his hopes of years and go
away to forget. A belated sympathy for her girlhood friend sprang to
life in her heart, and in the weeks of suspense that preceded her return
to Oakdale for Easter she found herself thinking of him frequently. She
wondered if he were well, and tried to imagine him in his new and
dangerous environment. She began to cherish a secret hope that, despite
his belief that silence between them was best, he would write to her.

Her holiday promised to be a