remaining with Bessy; and she was not sorry to have a
farther period of delay and reflection before taking the next step in
her life. These at least were the reasons she gave herself for deciding
not to leave; and if any less ostensible lurked beneath, they were not
as yet visible even to her searching self-scrutiny.

At first she was embarrassed by the obligation of meeting Dr. Wyant, on
whom her definite refusal had produced an effect for which she could not
hold herself blameless. She had not kept her promise of seeing him on
the day after their encounter at the post-office, but had written,
instead, in terms which obviously made such a meeting unnecessary. But
all her efforts to soften the abruptness of her answer could not
conceal, from either herself or her suitor, that it was not the one she
had led him to expect; and she foresaw that if she remained at Lynbrook
she could not escape a scene of recrimination.

When the scene took place, Wyant's part in it went far toward justifying
her decision; yet his vehement reproaches contained a sufficient core of
truth to humble her pride. It was lucky for her somewhat exaggerated
sense of fairness that he overshot the mark by charging her with a
coquetry of which she knew herself innocent, and laying on her the
responsibility for any follies to which her rejection might drive him.
Such threats, as a rule, no longer move the feminine imagination; yet
Justine's pity for all forms of weakness made her recognize, in the very
heat of her contempt for Wyant, that his reproaches were not the mere
cry of wounded vanity but the appeal of a nature conscious of its lack
of recuperative power. It seemed to her as though she had done him
irreparable harm, and the feeling might have betrayed her into too
great a show of compassion had she not been restrained by a salutary
fear of the result.

The state of Bessy's nerves necessitated frequent visits from her
physician, but Justine, on these occasions, could usually shelter
herself behind the professional reserve which kept even Wyant from any
open expression of feeling. One day, however, they chanced to find
themselves alone before Bessy's return from her ride. The servant had
ushered Wyant into the library where Justine was writing, and when she
had replied to his enquiries about his patient they found themselves
face to face with an awkward period of waiting. Justine was too proud to
cut it short by leaving the room; but Wyant answe