ou went away; nor Mr. North either.
They have finished that ride by strolling off together," said Mrs.
Harrington.

Elsie started, and the warm color faded from her face.

"What! Elizabeth; has she been roaming about? and--and----"

"With Mr. North, Elsie."

The tone in which this was conveyed said more than the words. At first
Elsie looked bewildered; then, as if her gentle spirit had received the
shock of a painful idea, she fell into troubled thought.

"And you saw her go away," she said, in a low voice. "In what
direction?"

"We did not know how or when she went, but certainly did see her and Mr.
North together."

"Where?"

"Down yonder, going into that low tavern."

Elsie gazed into her friend's face, startled and astonished.

"She would not go there. You must be mistaken, Mrs. Harrington. No
person could be recognised from this distance--it's all nonsense."

"Ask her," said Mrs. Harrington, "for here she comes."

Elizabeth came up from a hollow in the woods and joined the party. She
seemed completely worn out, and sat down on a fragment of rock, panting
for breath. She was very pale, as if some great exertion had left the
weariness of reaction upon her. She had evidently rested somewhere
before joining them.

"Elizabeth, where have you been?" said Elsie, looking anxiously at her
sister-in-law.

"Down in the woods."

Elizabeth pointed to the forest that sloped back from the precipice.

Before Elsie could resume her questions Mrs. Harrington broke in with a
faint sneer on her lips.

"And where did you leave Mr. North?" she said, fixing a cunning,
sidelong glance on Elizabeth.

"I have not seen Mr. North," answered Mrs. Mellen, with apparent
indifference, though the hot color mounted to her face, brought there
either by some inward consciousness or the perceptible sneer leveled at
her in the form of a question.

"Not seen Mr. North," exclaimed the widow, "dear me what things optical
delusions are!"

Elizabeth did not hear or heed this, for that instant Mr. North came up
to them very quietly and sat down near the widow.

"Have you had a pleasant ramble?" he said, addressing Elsie. "I saw you
and Hawkins in the woods and had half a mind to join you."

"But changed your mind, and went--may I ask where?" said Elsie, with a
shade of pallor on her face; for it seemed as if the man had surprised
her with bitter thoughts of his deception in her mind, and she could not
refrain from revealing some