not be very, very angry. I know it is true that when you
asked me that question, I nodded my head as you say in
your letter. If I had sworn the twenty oaths of which you
speak they would not, as you say, have bound me tighter.
But neither could bind me to anything against mamma's
will. I thought that you were very generous to come to me
as you did;--oh, so generous! I don't know why you should
have looked to such a one as me to be your wife. But I
would have done my best to make you happy, had I been able
to do as I suppose you then wished me. But you well know
that a man is very different from a girl, and of course I
must do as mamma wishes.

They say that as the business here about the brewery is so
very unsettled they think it probable that you will not
have to come back to Baslehurst any more; and that as our
acquaintance has been so very short, it is not reasonable
to suppose that you will care much about me after a little
while. Perhaps it is not reasonable, and after this I
shall have no right to be angry with you if you forget me.
I don't think you will quite forget me; but I shall never
expect or even hope to see you again.

Twice in writing her letter Rachel cut out this latter assertion, but
at last, sobbing in despair, she restored the words. What right would
she have to hope that he would come to her, after she had taken upon
herself to break that promise which had been conveyed to him, when
she bent her head over his arm?

I shall not forget you, and I will always be your friend,
as you said I should be. Being friends is very different
to anything else, and nobody can say that I may not do
that.

I will always remember what you showed me in the clouds;
and, indeed, I went there this very evening to see if I
could see another arm. But there was nothing there, and I
have taken that as an omen that you will not come back to
Baslehurst.--

"To me," had been the words as she had first written them; but there
was tenderness in those words, and she found it necessary to alter
them.

I will now say good-bye to you, for I have told you all
that I have to tell. Mamma desires that I will remember
her to you kindly.

May God bless you and protect you always!

Believe me to be
Your sincere friend,

RACHEL RAY.

In the morning she took down the letter in her hand and gave it to
her mother. M