ut when the moment of trial came she had
not in truth followed his lead at all. She made the attempt, and in
making the attempt gave him her permission to go from her; but when
she realised the fact that he was gone,--or going,--then she broke
down utterly. Then there came these contentions between her and her
brother, and that storm on the hill-side.

After that she passed some months of wretchedness. There was no
possibility for her to droll away her love. She had taught herself to
love the man whether he were good or whether he were bad,--whether
he were strong-hearted or whether he were fickle,--and the thing
was there present to her, either as a permanent blessing, or, much
more probably, a permanent curse. As the months went on she learned,
though she never saw Frank himself, that his purpose of marrying
Gertrude Tringle was not likely to be carried out. Then at last she
wrote that comprehensive letter of five lines,--as Houston had called
it. It had been intended to be comprehensive, and did, in fact,
contain much more than it seemed to say. "If you can bring yourself
to return to me, and to endure whatever inconveniences may be
incidental to your doing so, I hereby declare that I will do the
same; and I declare also that I can find for myself no other content
in the world except what may come to me from such an agreement
between us." It was this that she said in that last line, in which
she had begged him to come to her, if at the last moment "Tringle
pere" should prove to be hard-hearted. All troubles of poverty, all
the lingering annoyance of waiting, all her possible doubts as to his
future want of persistency, would be preferable to the great loss
which she found herself unable to endure.

Yes; it would be very well that both her brother and her
sister-in-law should be absent when he came to her. To neither of
them had she said a word of her last correspondence;--to neither of
them a word of her renewed hopes. For the objections which might be
raised by either of them would she care little if she could succeed
with Frank. But while that success was still doubtful it would be
well to get at any rate the assistance of her sister-in-law. On the
Sunday afternoon Mr. Docimer would certainly be away from the house.
It was his custom to go off among his friends almost immediately
after lunch, and his absence might be counted on as assured. But with
his wife it was different. That project of sending her to church