' he observed, half aloud; 'I am awfully glad for his
sake; but it always seemed to me as though Miss Ross were a cut above
us. If only I were sure that he was glad, too.'

And here a troubled look crossed the boy's face; he was thinking of the
story Captain Burnett had told him yesterday, and of the strange dazed
look in Michael's eyes: 'And not a man of them flinched; for they were
Englishmen, and Englishmen know how to die.' 'Ah, and to live, too!'
thought Kester, as he roused himself at last and sat down to his Greek.

When Audrey heard that Michael was really coming home, she felt as
though she had nothing more to wish. She had read his letter at least a
dozen times; its brotherly tenderness and anxiety for her welfare had
touched her to the heart.

'I am very grateful for your confidence,' he wrote, after a few earnest
wishes for her happiness. 'I would like, if it were possible, to keep my
old place as Mentor--we have always been such friends, dear, such true
and trusty comrades; and I do not think that Mr. Blake will object to my
cousinly surveillance. I could not afford to lose you out of my life,
Audrey; so let me subscribe myself, now and for ever, your faithful
friend and brother--MICHAEL.'

Audrey sighed gently as she put down the letter; it touched, but it did
not completely satisfy her. Michael had not said he was glad to hear of
her engagement. He was truthful almost to a fault. The conventional
falsehoods that other men uttered were never on his lips. If he could
not approve, he would take refuge in silence. 'Silence never damages a
man's character,' he was fond of saying; but many people found this
oppressive. Audrey had secretly longed for some such word of approval.
If Michael had only told her that he applauded her courage in marrying a
poor man, if he had praised her unworldliness, she would have been
utterly content; but the letter that Michael had written with a breaking
heart held no such comfort for her. He had accepted her decision without
a word, and though his message of congratulation to Cyril was all that
could be wished, there was no further allusion to him.

'Michael thinks I have been rash,' she said to herself a little
sorrowfully. 'I suppose he, too, considers that Cyril is rather too
young. If Michael were only on our side, I should not care what the rest
of the world thinks;' and then she folded up the letter.

But on the day Michael was expected her face was so radiant that Cy