ept for the fact that it is naturally a grief to me,--to
us both; for, as you see, we can never marry."

Mrs. Bright was entirely astray. When other girls were convicted of
being in love with married men, it had always sounded so immoral! But no
one could think of Honor as such. She was plainly an upright and
honourable girl.

"Yet you encouraged his writing, and answered his letters! You meet, to
all appearances, as if nothing is wrong. What am I to make of it?"

"That we are very much to be pitied. Writing and meeting openly are all
that are left to us."

"He should have gone away--severed his connection with Muktiarbad. Not
have stayed to fan the flame!"

"Life is too short for needless sacrifices, Mother darling. Having made
the greatest, we refuse to suffer more than we need. Sometimes, if you
are starving for food, a bare crust will keep you alive. We are
subsisting on bare crusts and are grateful."

"I consider Captain Dalton has not behaved at all well. He knew his
position and went out of his way to make you care!"

"Ah, no!--it just happened!" said Honor, her eyes suddenly flooded with
tears.

Mrs. Bright looked at her daughter's white and sorrowful face, and away
again. She could not bear to see the suffering there. All the traditions
of her life caused her to stand aghast at the idea of dalliance with a
sin so subtle and alluring as this. It should be the root-and-branch
method. Nothing else would suffice to save her child! Yet her own eyes
overflowed in sympathy.

"Oh, my poor little Honey!" She held out her arms and Honor took refuge
in them to weep unrestrainedly. "We are trying to be so good!" she
cried.

After kissing her daughter tenderly, Mrs. Bright said: "You cannot
temporise with forbidden fruit, Honey. Eve did, you know. You are but
human, therefore fallible, however good you are trying to be. The time
will come when the heart, torn with longing, becomes too weak to resist.
Specious arguments are insidious and irresistible, and you will go down.
_Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall!_ That is why
we pray, _Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil_. Our
Lord understood human nature better than we ever shall, that is why
there is only one thing to do, and that is, to fly from temptation. We
pray to be 'delivered,' but praying alone doesn't suffice if we are to
be honest with ourselves and God. There is nothing that will save us,
but _doing right_."

"W