of Leonidas Force. Strange that my dear ones
should imagine that I, of all people, could forbid anything they wish, or
insist on anything they dislike. I must set their dear hearts at ease
without delay."

Immediately after breakfast, leaving the other members of the family to
disperse and pursue their various avocations, he followed his wife into
her sitting room, where he found her at her worktable, in her usual corner
between the fireplace and the side window.

He closed the door, turned the key, and came and sat beside her.

She looked up in his face uneasily.

He took her hand gently within his own and said:

"Elfrida, dear, why can't you trust me? Why have you troubled yourself for
days with a question that should have been settled satisfactorily on its
first arising? Tell me."

She started slightly, and looked at him intently.

Had he discovered anything? Did he suspect anything?

But no! The honest black eyes fixed on hers had no expression but perfect
love and faith.

"Why didn't you tell me, wife, that Odalite had given her heart to
Anglesea? Did you think that I was so selfish as to sacrifice my own
child--your child--to my private ambition? No, Elfrida! No, dear! Never
think so hardly of me."

She could not reply. She burst into tears, covered her face with her
hands, and sobbed convulsively.

"Don't! Don't, Elfrida! You distress yourself with thinking that I am
disappointed in my plans for our dear girl. But I am not, really. It came
upon me quite suddenly, you see, and I was not prepared for the thought of
such a change. And so, you see, just at first, perhaps, I might have
expressed more feeling of disappointment at the time than the matter
justified. And----Well, I suppose Anglesea has told you, and you distress
yourself on my account."

"Anglesea has told me nothing that passed in his interview with you, dear
Abel. Indeed, we have not exchanged a word on the subject since he spoke
to you of it," said Mrs. Force, trying to suppress her sobs and calm her
emotion.

"Then why should you grieve so, dear? I am really not so much
disappointed, after all; for, indeed, Anglesea behaved in such a frank,
noble, generous manner, confessing the whole case to me, telling me how
they--himself and Odalite--drifted into this attachment unawares, until it
was too late to recede; and how, when he perceived that he loved her with
all his heart and soul, he would have gone away rather than have sought to
wi