our plan."

"How mad Jasper will be when he hears of it!" said Thorne, laughing with
malicious enjoyment. "I wish I could tell him."

"Don't breathe a word of it, Nicholas," said his mother, in evident
alarm.

"Oh, I'll keep the secret. But it won't do any harm when it's all over,
will it?"

"Say nothing till I authorize it."

"Well, I won't, then, if I can help it. But I say, mother, the old
gentleman will come down handsomely when you're married. You ought to
raise my allowance to two dollars a week."

"I will if I can afford it," said his mother. "But I must leave you now,
Nicholas. I shall have about time to go to the station and meet the next
train."

"Shan't I go with you?"

"I should like your company, my dear boy, but we must be prudent. We
might meet Jasper Kent."

"That's so. Well, good-bye."

"Good-bye, Nicholas," and his mother pressed her lips upon the cheek of
her son.

He tolerated the kiss, but did not return it. His heart was not very
impressible, and he cared for no one except himself.

"I won't stop to see Dr. Benton," she said, at parting. "You may tell
him that I was in haste."

"All right."

Mrs. Thorne emerged from the parlor and from the house. She was tall and
erect in figure, and walked rapidly. Her face was concealed by a thick
veil, but, for the information of the reader it may be described as
narrow and long, with small eyes, like those of Nicholas, and thin,
tightly-compressed lips. She was not a woman to yield to misfortune or
give way to sentimental sorrow. She looked rather like one who knew how
to face fortune and defy it. It was not a pleasant face, but it was
decidedly a strong one.

The grounds of the school were extensive, and the house stood back two
or three hundred yards from the street. A long avenue led from the house
to the main thoroughfare.

Mrs. Thorne looked hurriedly about her as she went out on her way.

"I shouldn't like to meet Jasper Kent," she said to herself. "It might
lead to unpleasant questions and suspicions on his part, and I don't
want anything to happen before I am married."

It seemed likely that she would escape the encounter which she dreaded.
Had there been no interruption or delay she would have done so; but it
was not so to be. She met Dr. Benton in front of the house, and was
compelled to stop and speak to him.

"You find Nicholas well?" he said, politely.

"Oh, yes, doctor," she answered, softly. "I have no anxiety on that