t last, "I am sorry that our conversation has
had no better result. I hoped you would clear this matter up and, if
you need help, would let me give you whatever advice and aid I could.
Think the matter over more carefully and if you should see it in a
different light come to me at any time and let me see what I can do
for you."

"I thank you, Dr. Annister. I shall keep your kindness in mind,
although I do not suppose I shall have any more occasion to make use
of it in the future than I have now. But Mildred--" he hesitated as he
turned an anxious countenance upon his companion. "You are not going
to forbid our marriage on account of these baseless and unjust notions
of yours?"

Down in his heart Dr. Annister was at that moment deciding that
his daughter should never become this man's wife unless all his
apprehensions and fears were first cleared away. But he feared the
effect upon Mildred, especially at this juncture, of a forced breaking
of the engagement. So he temporized.

"No, I shall not forbid it, or at least, not now. But I can not
consent to a marriage in the early future, as you have both begged me
to do. You will have to wait a while longer, Felix, and prove yourself
worthy. I don't like these mysterious disappearances."

After Brand had gone the little doctor dropped down into his favorite
arm-chair in his usual attitude of profound thought. "Poor Mildred!
Poor little girl!" he was thinking. "I guess her mother had better
take her abroad this summer and let us see if change and travel and
absence won't have some effect on her devotion. It would be awfully
lonely for me here, Mildred would be wretchedly unhappy and Margaret
would have a devil of a time. Still, the experiment will be worth
trying."

CHAPTER XVI

MRS. FENLOW IS ANGRY

"Harry, dear, do please conceal the newspaper in your handbag and
carry it off with you," said Isabella Marne as her sister entered the
dining room. The sun shone in upon a window full of blooming plants, a
bowl of daffodils glowed upon the table and the whole room looked as
cheerful and buoyant, as dainty and pleasing as did the little lady in
a pink and white muslin gown who was putting the last touches to the
breakfast table. "Mother is coming down this morning," she went on,
"and I don't want her to see it."

"O, dear!" exclaimed Henrietta as she glanced at the head lines. "No,
indeed, mother mustn't see this. It would worry her too much. Have you
read it, B