ent. She
did not like having a secret of so much importance that she could share
with no one. Then it struck her, too, that the tone of the letter was
not quite what she liked; it was in some vague way different from the
tone of the people she was living with. She did not like that reiterated
petition, for secrecy was weighing heavily on her heart and soul. She
waited two days before answering that letter. She said to herself that
she ought to be very pleased to receive it, and that she was pleased;
yet something weighed on her mind and shadowed the perfect happiness she
had expected to feel.

Then she answered him, and again, for the first time in her life, she
sat with her pen in her hand, hardly knowing what to say. She had been
accustomed to writing page after page and never pausing. Since then
something seemed to have arisen in her life and to stand between them.
She did not care to tell him of the luxury of Thorpe Castle, the number
of visitors, the splendor of the entertainments.

"That will not interest him," she said; "his life is so different." A
strange sensation of uneasiness came over her as she remembered how
different it was. So she wrote a letter full of commonplaces, and when
Allan Lyster read it he bit his lips in fierce, hot anger.

"She is learning not to care for me already," he said. "She has never
written so coldly to me before."

Adelaide bade him to be of good cheer.

"I shall go to the castle at Christmas," she said, "and, rely upon it,
Allan, I will find an opportunity of sending for you. You need not be
anxious; there is no possible plea on which she can escape you now. If
you will take my advice you will not draw the chain too tightly; let her
feel that she is free."

Allan took her advice. He did not persecute her with letters; he wrote,
and filled his pages with love and flattery so sweet it could not tease
her.

And then when Christmas came around Adelaide filled the grand purpose of
her life--she went to Thorpe Castle. Her behavior there might have been
taken as a model. She was quite sure of Marion's affection, so she
devoted herself entirely to Lady Ridsdale; she waited upon her, she
solicited her advice, she administered to her the most delicate doses of
flattery. In short, she set herself to work to win Lady Ridsdale's
heart; but she did not succeed.

The mistress of Thorpe Castle did not like Miss Lyster; she merely
tolerated her, and that was for Marion's sake. With Lord