their minds. I
have known such things happen."

"I shall never change mine."

"Perhaps not; but others might."

"Ah!" and Dare turned sharply towards Mr. Alwynn, scanning his face with
sudden eagerness. "You think--you think, possibly--"

"I don't think anything at all," interposed Mr. Alwynn, rather taken
aback at the evident impression his vague words had made, and anxious
to qualify them. "I was only speaking generally; but--ahem! there is one
point, as we are on the subject, that--"

"Yes, yes?"

"Whether you consider any decision as final or not"--Mr. Alwynn
addressed the clouds in the sky--"I think, if you do not wish it to be
known that anything has taken place, you had better come and see me
occasionally at Slumberleigh. I have missed your visits for the past
week. The fact is, Mrs. Alwynn has a way of interesting herself in all
her friends. She has a kind heart, and--you--understand--any little
difference in their behavior might be observed by her, and might
possibly--might possibly"--Mr. Alwynn was at a loss for a word--"be, in
short, commented on to others. Suppose now you were to come back with me
to tea to-day?"

And Dare went, nothing loath, and arrived at a critical moment in the
manufacture of the screen, when all the thickest Christmas cards
threatened to resist the influence of paste, and to curl up, to the
great anxiety of Mrs. Alwynn.

One of the principle reasons of Dare's popularity was the way in which
he threw his whole heart into whatever he was doing, for the time; never
for a long time, certainly, for he rarely bored himself or others by
adherence to one set of ideas after its novelty had worn off.

And now, as if nothing else existed in the world, and with a grave
manner suggesting repressed suffering and manly resignation, he
concentrated his whole mind on Mrs. Alwynn's recalcitrant cards, and
made Ruth grateful to him by his tact in devoting himself to her aunt
and the screen.

"Well, I never!" said Mrs. Alwynn, after he was gone. "I never did see
any one like Mr. Dare. I declare he has made the church stick, Ruth, and
'Blessings on my friend,' which turned up at the corners twice when you
put it on, and the big middle one of the kittens skating, too! Dear me!
I am pleased. I hope Mrs. Thursby won't call till it's finished. But he
did not look well, Ruth, did he? Rather pale now, I thought."

"He has had a tiring day," said Ruth.

CHAPTER XIII.

At Slumberleigh you