ny
circumstances.'

'Then in that case you must be prepared for congratulations and a round
of dinners.'

'I prefer congratulations to condolences,' returned Audrey a little
wickedly; and then, as though to atone for her joke, she suddenly knelt
down before her sister and put her arms round her. 'Dear Gage, I do feel
such a wretch for having upset you like this. No wonder Percival owes me
a grudge. Now, do say something nice to me before I go--there's a
darling!' and, of course, Geraldine melted in a moment.

'I do pray, with all my heart, that you may be happy,' she sighed, and
then they kissed each other very affectionately. 'Give my love to
mother, and tell her I am not well enough to come to her to-day,' were
Geraldine's parting words as Audrey left her.

Mr. Harcourt came out of his study the moment he heard the door close.

'Well,' he asked, with a shade of anxiety in his tone, 'have you made
any impression, my dear?'

'No, Percy,' returned his wife sadly. 'She is bent on taking her own
way--the Blake influence is far too strong.'

'Ah, well,' in a tone of strong disgust, 'she is making her own bed, and
must lie on it. It was an evil day for all of us when your father
engaged Blake for his junior classical master. I wanted him to have
Sowerby--Sowerby is the better man, and all his people are
gentlefolks--but there is no turning the Doctor when he has got an idea
in his head: no one but Blake would do. And now mischief has come of it.
But, all the same, I won't have you making yourself ill about
it--remember that, my love. You have got me to think about, and I don't
choose to have my wife spoiling her eyes after this fashion. It is too
damp for you to go out, for there has been a sharp shower or two; but I
have half an hour to spare, and can read to you if you like.' And to
this Geraldine gratefully assented.

It may be doubted whether she heard much of the brilliant essay that Mr.
Harcourt had selected for her delectation, but it was very soothing to
lie there and listen to her husband's voice. The sentences grew involved
presently, and there was a humming, as though of bees, in the quiet
room. Mr. Harcourt smiled to himself as he went on reading--the sleep
would do her more good than the essay, he thought; and in this he was
right.

When Mrs. Ross received her daughter's message she at once prepared to
go up to Hillside, and spent the remainder of the afternoon there.

Geraldine had awakened from he