he did not reply. Then
she rose and carried the tea-cups and plates to the washstand, where
she began rinsing them carefully.

"When your father comes home I shall not be here, you know," she said
simply; "but you will be very happy together, and I am sure he would
enjoy a pretty home!"

The radiance in Nan's face faded suddenly. The same dull pain was at
her heart that she had felt and shrunk from yesterday. Only now it did
not pass away, and all the evening she seemed to be haunted by a
peculiar sense of impending misfortune. It was as though she had been
reminded of some unhappy occasion that she had tried to forget. Every
once in a while after that, when she saw Miss Blake laboriously toiling
to renovate some dilapidated piece of furniture, or heard her
discussing with Delia the remaining possibilities of this carpet or
that pair of curtains, she felt an almost uncontrollable desire to cry
out--so sharp was the sudden sting of regret that bit at her
conscience--and so keen the pain that pierced her heart.

Miss Blake left her to enjoy her holidays in perfect freedom, but as
soon as they were spent the books were brought out again and lessons
resumed as strictly as if the discipline of an entire school depended
on it.

But study had grown to have no terrors for Nan, and she was not at all
aware of the thorough course she was being put through, because it was
all accomplished in such an unobtrusive fashion. Miss Blake had a
system of her own which she put into practice, and the girl followed
her unconsciously with an interest that showed how wise an one it was.
Latin and mathematics proved the most troublesome of the tasks, and
would perhaps have led to some serious differences of opinion if Miss
Blake had not confessed herself at the start "rusty" in these
particular branches and suggested that they "go over them together."

"I really never was very strong in either of them, and it will do me
good to review," she explained.

So, spurred on by the thought of competition, Nan did her best; went
through the declensions with a rush, and quite outstripped her
fellow-student in the matter of algebraic problems.

History was always simple enough with Miss Blake to make it seem like
the most dramatic of romances, and the girl discovered a fresh interest
in the Roman heroes when the scenes of their exploits was so
graphically described to her, and when she could build up the ancient
city for herself by the aid