; but still I never dreamed of his loving you as
more than a dear friend."

"He does n't," sighed Polly.

"Well, he ought; and if I could get hold of him, he should!"

Polly clutched Fan at that, and held her tight, saying sternly, "If you
ever breathe a word, drop a hint, look a look that will tell him or any
one else about me, I 'll yes, as sure as my name is Mary Milton I 'll
proclaim from the housetops that you like Ar" Polly got no further,
for Fan's hand was on her mouth, and Fan's alarmed voice vehemently
protested, "I won't! I promise solemnly I 'll never say a word to a
mortal creature. Don't be so fierce, Polly; you quite frighten me."

"It 's bad enough to love some one who don't love you, but to have them
told of it is perfectly awful. It makes me wild just to think of it. Oh,
Fan, I 'm getting so ill-tempered and envious and wicked, I don't know
what will happen to me."

"I 'm not afraid for you, my dear, and I do believe things will go
right, because you are so good to every one. How Tom could help adoring
you I don't see. I know he would if he had stayed at home longer after
he got rid of Trix. It would be the making of him; but though he is my
brother, I don't think he 's good enough for you, Polly, and I don't
quite see how you can care for him so much, when you might have had a
person so infinitely superior."

"I don't want a 'superior' person; he 'd tire me if he was like A. S.
Besides, I do think Tom is superior to him in many things. Well, you
need n't stare; I know he is, or will be. He 's so different, and very
young, and has lots of faults, I know, but I like him all the better for
it, and he 's honest and brave, and has got a big, warm heart, and I 'd
rather have him care for me than the wisest, best, most accomplished man
in the world, simply because I love him!"

If Tom could only have seen Polly's face when she said that! It was so
tender, earnest, and defiant, that Fanny forgot the defence of her own
lover in admiration of Polly's loyalty to hers; for this faithful, all
absorbing love was a new revelation to Fanny, who was used to hearing
her friends boast of two or three lovers a year, and calculate their
respective values, with almost as much coolness as the young men
discussed the fortunes of the girls they wished for, but "could not
afford to marry." She had thought her love for Sydney very romantic,
because she did not really care whether he was rich or poor, though she
never da