and
I had been repeatedly invited to the house, that I found out how matters
stood in the family. I could not help feeling nettled at the deliberate
way in which poor Maud was put on the shelf by her elder sisters, and I
felt it my duty, as much as good manners would permit me, to take her
part, and pay somewhat more attention to her than to the two elder
daughters.

This preference I saw was observed, and not looked upon very favourably
by the parents, who, I began to find out, had marked me for one of the
elder girls. I saw plainly through their schemes, and heartlessly amused
myself at their discomfiture while I paid my attentions to Maud. During
the summer I was invited to stay at the country seat of this family, and
it was here that our intimacy ripened. Here I observed the fine points
of Maud's character, in spite of all her reserve.

Without being regularly in love with each other, a sympathy had grown up
between us which by others, I have no doubt, was regarded as love. We
appreciated each other's talents, and esteemed each other's characters.

The family had repeatedly seen me act, and Maud, more than any of them,
seemed to appreciate my acting, while I was equally charmed at her skill
on the piano and on the harp, and with her singing.

"I do not know how it is, Mr. Blackdeed," she said to me one day when we
were left alone together in the garden, "but you are the only person I
know who treats me with respect, or, indeed, like a rational being."

"Indeed," said I, feigning not to have observed the way in which she was
treated by her family. "How so?"

"Oh! you know very well how I am treated at home. I have seen the
surprise on your face whenever my sisters snubbed me, and saw that you
felt how unfair it was. You will not pretend that you never observed
it."

"Well, Miss Maud," I replied, "your penetration is such that I cannot do
other than confess that _I have_ observed it, and that I was very much
surprised at it. I have often wondered what the reason could be."

She answered with a slight sigh.

"No one seems to understand me. From childhood I was ever different from
the rest. I seem to live two distinct beings--one with my family, and
before the world, and another in my own thoughts.

"You will have observed my silence when in company. I am aware to what
it is generally attributed; but the fact is, that I have so little in
common with my sisters I feel that if I were to give utterance to my
i