able
than Mollie, and Audrey was determined to delay her visit as long as
possible. Just now she had a good excuse. Geraldine was a little
delicate and ailing, and either she or her mother went daily to
Hillside.

Audrey breathed more freely when she had sent off her note; she had
given it into Cyril's hand at luncheon--a sudden impulse made her choose
that mode of delivery.

'I wish you would give this to your mother,' she said, addressing him
suddenly as he sat beside her. 'She wants me to have tea with her
to-morrow; but it is impossible, I have so much to do just now.'

'I could have told her; there was no need for you to write or to
trouble yourself in any way. I am afraid my mother is rather exacting;
it is a Blake foible.' He smiled as he spoke, and there was no special
meaning in his tone; he seemed to take it as a matter of course that
Audrey's visits to the Cottage had ceased. 'It will be all right,' he
said, as he put the letter in his breast-pocket; and then he stopped and
called some boy to order. 'You will stay in after luncheon, Roberts,' he
said severely, and after that he did not speak again to Audrey.

But that letter, strange to say, brought things to a climax. The very
next morning Mollie gave Audrey a note.

'It is from mamma,' she said, rather timidly. 'Would you like me to
begin my piece, Miss Ross, while you read it?'

'Yes, certainly; but it does not seem a long letter.' And, indeed, it
only contained a few words:

'DEAR MISS ROSS,

'I must see you. If you will not come to me, will you tell Mollie
when I may call? But I must and will speak to you alone.'

Audrey twisted up the paper in her hand; then she stood behind Mollie
and beat time for a moment.

'Mollie,' she said hurriedly, as she turned over the page, 'will you
tell your mother that I will come to her this afternoon a little before
three? I shall not be able to stay, but just for half an hour;' and then
she sat down and quietly and patiently pointed out how an erring passage
ought to be played. But there was a tired look on her face long before
the lesson ended.

All her life long Audrey never forgot the strange chill sensation that
came over her as she read that note; it was as though some dim,
overmastering force were impelling her against her own will. As she
crushed the letter in her hand, she told herself that circumstances were
becoming too strong for her.

Her face was very grave that afternoon as s