ink,
perfectly the light in which you would view a coward."

"But what am I to do when we meet, Doctor?" she asked piteously.

"I should say that you will meet just as ordinary acquaintances do meet,
Miss Hannay. People are civil to others they are thrown with, however
much they may distrust them at heart. You may be sure that Mr. Bathurst
will make no allusion whatever to the matter. I think I can answer for
it that you will see no shade of difference in his manner. This has
always been a heavy burden for him, as even the most careless observer
may see in his manner. I do not say that this is not a large addition to
it, but I dare say he will pull through; and now I must be off."

"You are very unkind, Doctor, and I never knew you unkind before."

"Unkind!" the Doctor repeated, with an air of surprise. "In what way?
I love this young fellow. I had cherished hopes for him that he hardly
perhaps ventured to cherish for himself. I quite agree with you that
what has passed has annihilated those hopes. You despise a man who is
a coward. I am not surprised at that. Bathurst is the last man in the
world who would force himself upon a woman who despised him. I have done
my best to save you from being obliged to make a personal declaration of
your sentiments. I repudiate altogether the accusation as being unkind.
I don't blame you in the slightest. I think that your view is the one
that a young woman of spirit would naturally take. I acquiesce in it
entirely. I will go farther, I consider it a most fortunate occurrence
for you both that you found it out in time."

Isobel's cheeks had flushed and paled several times while he was
speaking; then she pressed her lips tightly together, and as he finished
she said, "I think, Doctor, it will be just as well not to discuss the
matter further."

"I am quite of your opinion," he said. "We will agree not to allude to
it again. Goodby."

And then Isobel had retired to her room and cried passionately, while
the Doctor had gone off chuckling to himself as if he were perfectly
satisfied with the state of affairs.

During the week that had since elapsed the Major had wondered and
grumbled several times at Bathurst's absence.

"I expect," he said one day, when a note of refusal had come from him,
"that he doesn't care about meeting Forster. You remember Forster said
they had been at school together, and from the tone in which he spoke
it is evident that they disliked each other there.